DIY Data Migration Playbook

Visit your site URL. If it resolves to your branded auction site — even password-protected — you are clear to proceed. If you see a Bidsquare-branded page or a DNS error, stop and contact your onboarding manager before uploading anything.

The most common failure points in user uploads:

Navigate to Users › Users Search › Add User › Bulk Userlist CSV Upload and download the sample template. Never build your own template from memory — column headers are case-sensitive and must match exactly.

Upload your CSV. The system shows a validation summary before confirming — red errors must be resolved, yellow warnings are advisory. Hover any highlighted row for the specific issue. Confirm the upload, then verify the records-created count matches your expected row count.

Do not check Send Sign-Up Email during the upload itself. Confirm the upload results first, then notify customers as a separate, deliberate step.

How the sign-up email works

The Batch Actions → Send Sign-Up Email option in the Users list triggers the Complete Registration email template. This sends each user a personalised link that takes them directly to the login flow on your White-Label site. When they land on that page they are prompted to set a password and complete any missing profile details — address fields, for example, if those were not included in your upload. There is no temporary password. The system handles newly uploaded accounts gracefully: on first visit, the user sets their own password from scratch.

Using MailChimp or another email system instead

Many auction houses prefer to send a migration announcement from their own email platform — MailChimp, Klaviyo, or similar — rather than using the Bidsquare sign-up email. This is completely valid and often produces better open rates because the email comes from a familiar sender. Include your White-Label site URL and tell customers to visit and register or log in.

Either way, the experience for the user is identical: the first time any uploaded user lands on your White-Label site — whether they arrived via the Complete Registration link or just typed in the URL — they are walked through the same first-time setup flow to set their password and complete their profile.

Navigate to Consignments › Commission and Rules › Add New. Create every commission structure you use — flat rates, step-down tiers, VIP rates. Name them descriptively: Flat 25%, Standard Step-Down 35/25/10, VIP Flat 10%. Staff select rules by name when assigning consignors — ambiguous names cause errors.

One rule must be set as Default — this auto-fills when creating new consignments. Set this to your most common rate. The default can be changed at any time without affecting existing consignments.

Download the sample CSV from Consignments › Consignors › Upload CSV before building your file.

• Each row is a consignor record — one per seller, not one per consignment.
• The CommissionRule column must exactly match a rule name from Step 2.
• The Email column should match the email of the corresponding user account from Step 1 — this is how the link is established.
• The PayeeName field is what appears on settlement documents — use the legal entity name, not the contact name, where these differ.

Navigate to Consignments › Consignors and use the CSV upload option. After upload, spot-check several consignor profiles to confirm the linked user account appears on the Bidder tab. A missing Bidder tab means the link was not established — usually a mismatched email address.

Consignor Login is off by default per consignor. Once profiles are uploaded and linked, enable it in bulk via the consignor list or individually on each profile. Only enable after item cataloguing is complete — consignors can see their items the moment Login is enabled, even before the auction is published.

Past auctions can be created manually via Auctions › Create Auction or via CSV upload. Use descriptive event names with the sale date. Set the auction type (Live or Timed) to match the original event. The auction will be used as a container for your historical lots — it does not need to be published at this stage.

Item uploads are done from inside each individual auction — navigate to Auctions › [auction] › Lots & Items › Upload CSV. There is no bulk upload that routes items across multiple auctions in a single file. Work through your historical events one at a time, verifying each before moving to the next.

Navigate to the auction's Lots & Items tab and use the Upload CSV option to access the template download. Download fresh each time — never reuse a saved template, as column names change with platform updates.

Key columns for a historical migration:

• LotName — the only required column for all upload types.
• LotNumber — required when loading items into an auction.
• StartingBid — required when publishing items to an auction.
• ReferenceNumber — your internal legacy ID. Carry this through — it appears on barcode labels and makes future cross-referencing possible.

Upload your CSV into the auction's Lots & Items tab. Review the validation summary — red errors must be resolved before the upload can proceed. After confirming, check that the records-created count matches your expected row count, and spot-check a few lots before moving on to the next event.

Navigate to the auction's Lots & Items tab and select Upload CSV › Post Sale Data. Download the sample file from that screen before building your file — the post-sale upload expects different columns from the standard item upload. It updates existing lot records rather than creating new ones.

• LotNumber — must exactly match the lot number already in the system from Step 5.
• SoldPrice (also: Hammer Price) — the final winning bid amount. Numeric only, no currency symbol.
• ItemStatus — set to Sold or Unsold.
• BuyersPremium — the total buyer's premium as a dollar value. Can be left blank if platform-specific BP is configured and the correct platform is supplied.
• Email — the winning bidder's email address. Must match a user account in the system — this is how the sale is linked to a buyer for invoicing. Without it, the lot cannot be invoiced.

  Although a post-sale data upload can auto-create a basic user profile when it encounters an email address that doesn't yet exist, this is not the recommended approach. Auto-created profiles are minimal — they do not contain billing address, shipping address, phone number, or other details that a properly uploaded user record would include. Missing shipping addresses in particular cause issues downstream with tax calculations, as the system cannot determine the correct sales tax nexus without a valid address.

  The correct flow is to ensure user accounts are fully created via the user upload (Step 1) before running any post-sale data uploads. If users have not yet been loaded, the email will not resolve against a full profile and the lot will show Reg N/A until a proper user account exists and is matched.

Bidder assignment — one of these two columns is also required:

After uploading, spot-check several lots in the Lots & Items tab. Lots showing Reg N/A in the Bidder column were not successfully linked to a buyer — usually a mismatched email address between your post-sale file and the user accounts loaded in Step 1. Resolve these manually by clicking the pencil icon on the lot.

Image files must follow a naming convention that matches the identifier you'll use to bulk-assign them. The most common convention for migrations is Lot Number: [LotNumber]_[Sequence].jpg — for example, 101_1.jpg for the first image on Lot 101, 101_2.jpg for the second. Alternatively, use Item ID (the system barcode number) or Reference Number if those are more consistent in your source data.

Navigate to Auctions › [auction] › Lots & Items › Bulk Load Images. Select the rename-by convention that matches your file naming. Upload your image folder. Files that don't match any item are silently skipped — spot-check a sample of items after upload to confirm images attached correctly.

If you are migrating thousands of images, discuss batching strategy with your Bidsquare onboarding manager before starting. Very large single uploads can time out. A phased approach — auction by auction, or in batches of a few hundred images — is more reliable and easier to verify.

Before making any historical event public, confirm:

• All lots have lot numbers assigned (Lotted/Unlotted counter shows 0 Unlotted)
• Post-sale lots show real buyer names — no Reg N/A remaining
• Spot-check hammer prices match your source records
• Images are loading correctly on a sample of lots

In the Auctions list, click the Cloud Published toggle for each historical event. The catalog becomes visible on your website immediately. Historical events published this way appear in your auction archive — buyers and consignors can browse past results and consignors with portal access can view their historical settlements.