What to Put in an Online Sale Catalog

An online catalog has no page limit and no print deadline. Every lot gets its own page, with room for as many photos as you want, a video, the full EPD printout and anything else a buyer might ask about. So the question is what a buyer needs in order to bid with confidence from three states away.

Here is what to put on each lot, and how to lay out the catalog around it.

What Does a Buyer Want to See on a Lot Page?

The same things they would check at the pen, plus the paperwork they would ask you to mail them. A buyer who can see the animal move, read the numbers and know the terms before they bid does not have to call you to ask for the basics.

On our platform each lot page takes unlimited photos, YouTube videos, PDFs, pedigree, EPDs, weights and notes. You type or paste the details into the lot, or attach a PDF such as the EPD page from your breed registry. The full list of what a lot page holds is on the features page.

What Goes on a Bull's Lot?

• Photos. A clean side profile, a rear view and a front view at minimum, shot on level ground with the bull standing square.
• Video. A short YouTube clip of the bull walking toward and away from the camera tells a buyer more about feet, legs and movement than a photo can.
• Pedigree. Sire and dam, and the sire of the dam.
• EPDs. Type them in or attach the registry printout. Note the date they were pulled, since the numbers update.
• Weights. Birth, weaning and yearling weights.
• Scrotal measurement and semen test results. Buyers look for them, so put them on the lot rather than making the buyer ask.
• Your notes. How he was developed, what he has been fed, his disposition, and anything you would tell a buyer standing beside you.

For the rest of the process, from dates to delivery, see online bull sales.

What Goes on a Bred Heifer or Female Lot?

A female buyer wants to know what she is bred to, when she is due and how she has been handled. Put all of it on the lot:

• Service sire or AI sire, and the clean-up bull if there was one
• Expected calving dates, or the calving window for a group
• How and when pregnancy was checked, and by whom
• Vaccinations and the health program she has been on
• Weights and disposition notes
• Pedigree and EPDs for registered females

For a cow and calf selling as a pair, describe both on the one lot. The bred heifer sales page goes deeper on female sales.

How Do You List a Pen of Heifers as One Lot?

A lot can be one heifer or a pen of 10. Buyers bid on the whole lot, and the lot page shows the head count. Since the bid is for the group, many sellers add a per-head figure in the lot details so a buyer can do the math at a glance.

Describe the pen the way you would describe an individual: the sires they are bred to, the calving window, the weight range, how they were sorted and whether they are uniform in size and age. Photos of the whole pen together, plus a few close-ups of individual heifers, help a buyer judge how even the group is.

How Should You Organize the Catalog?

With categories. Group the catalog so a buyer can skip straight to what they came for: yearling bulls, two-year-olds, bred heifers, pairs, open replacement heifers. In a consignment sale, categories can group the catalog by consignor or by type, and each lot lists whose cattle they are.

Put herd sires in a Reference Sires category marked display-only. They appear in the catalog with photos and EPDs, nobody can bid on them, and a buyer can look at the sire behind the sale bulls without leaving your sale website.

Set an opening bid and a bid increment on every lot. Add a reserve only where you need one. Buyers see Reserve Met or Reserve Not Met on the lot, so save reserves for the lots that need a floor price. Set a buy-it-now price too, because any lot that does not sell moves to buy-it-now after the close.

What Belongs in the Catalog Besides the Cattle?

A few pages buyers look for before they register:

• Sale terms. Payment deadline, accepted payment, health papers, breeding or pregnancy guarantee, delivery and pickup. Our sample sale terms have blanks for each.
• A bidding guide. How to register, how maximum bidding works and what extended bidding means at the close. Copy our sample bidding guide and put your ranch's name on it.
• Sale dates. When the catalog went live, when bidding opens, when the lots close and when buy-it-now ends.
• Contact information. Your phone number and email, in plain view. Buyer questions go to the ranch.

When Should the Catalog Go Live?

Two to three weeks before the close is a common choice. Buyers study the lots, watch the videos and register ahead of time, so they are ready when bidding opens several days before the close. Lots can go live one at a time as you finish them, or stay hidden until the whole catalog is ready.

You can edit any lot after the catalog is up, so a late semen test or an updated preg-check does not hold up the launch.

Want a Second Set of Eyes on Your Catalog?

Tom has run online auctions since 2007. Tell him what you are selling and he will tell you what buyers will want to see on each lot. Send him a note.