Auctioneer licences in Illinois, Tennessee and Virginia: the rules

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Kooky

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Illinois, Tennessee and Virginia each license the person who calls the bids, and they have built three quite different systems. One runs the trade through its real estate division. One makes a newcomer work under a sponsor before trading alone. One asks for an 80-hour course, an examination and a surety bond, and then leaves online auctions out of the scheme altogether.

This guide reads the three systems side by side, from what the states themselves publish: the Illinois Auction License Act as printed in Public Act 103-0236 and the application form of the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation; the licensing and fee pages of the Tennessee Auctioneer Commission; and, for Virginia, Chapter 6 of Title 54.1 of the Code of Virginia, the Auctioneers Board Regulations and the Board's own pages. It covers who needs a licence, age and training, the examination, fees, the money that stands behind a sale, renewal, moving between states and the question a property seller asks first: can this auctioneer sell real estate? Where a source was silent, or could not be read, the text says so rather than filling the gap.

Virginia Auctioneers Board Regulations, 18VAC25-21-30; Illinois Auction License Act, section 10-30, as printed in Public Act 103-0236; Tennessee Auctioneer Commission, principal auctioneer requirements.

Three regulators, three designs

In Illinois the licence comes from the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, and inside that department from the Division of Real Estate. The application form, numbered IL 505-0790 and dated January 2026, is sent to that division. The Act confirms the link in its money rules: section 10-50, as printed in Public Act 103-0236, says that from 1 July 2023 the fees and penalties collected under the Act go to the Division of Real Estate General Fund. An Advisory Board sits beside the department. Section 30-30 gives it seven members: five licensed auctioneers, one member of the public, and one licensed real estate broker or managing broker. Terms run for four years. The sections of the Act amended by that Public Act carry a note that they are scheduled to be repealed on 1 January 2030.

Tennessee regulates through the Tennessee Auctioneer Commission. Applications are filed online through the state's licensing system, which the Commission calls CORE. The Commission issues several kinds of licence rather than one, and the difference between them shapes a Tennessee career from the first day.

Virginia has an Auctioneers Board inside its Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation. Section 54.1-602 of the Code of Virginia sets the Board at five members: three Virginia licensed auctioneers and two citizen members, serving four-year terms. The citizen members may not be licensed in, employed by or financially tied to similar professions, and the section names real estate brokers and salespersons among them. The same section lets the Board make licensing regulations, examine applicants and fine, suspend or revoke a licence for cause. The Code records that the section was last amended in 2026.

Who needs a licence, and who does not

Virginia's Code is the most explicit of the three about scope. Section 54.1-600 defines an auction as sales of goods or real estate by means of exchanges between an auctioneer and members of the audience. An auctioneer is any person who conducts or offers to conduct an auction. Section 54.1-603 then says that, unless exempt, no person or firm may sell at auction without a licence from the Board. An auction firm is any entity other than a sole proprietorship that performs the acts of an auctioneer, and it holds a separate firm licence.

Section 54.1-601 lists twelve groups outside the chapter. They include people auctioning their own property; people appointed by a court; trustees; attorneys acting under a power of attorney; and sales made under a public authority or a judicial order. The list also covers livestock markets, leaf tobacco sales, automobile auctions, sales for charities where the person selling is unpaid, and collateral and self-storage sales. The exact wording of each exemption is in the section itself.

Tennessee draws its line through its licence types. The Commission describes a principal auctioneer as a person who, for compensation, by means of an auction, offers, negotiates or attempts to negotiate a listing contract, sale, purchase or exchange of goods. An affiliate auctioneer is someone employed, directly or indirectly, by an auctioneer to engage in auction activity. The fee schedule adds two more: a bid caller, and a public automobile auctioneer. The pages read for this guide do not set out Tennessee's exemptions.

Illinois makes unlicensed work a ground for discipline. Section 20-15 of the Act lists 29 grounds on which the department may act, and the sixth is practising or conducting auctions without a licence. The Act's own definitions and its list of exemptions were not among the sections read for this guide.

Age, schooling and classroom hours

Virginia and Tennessee both set the minimum age at 18. In Virginia the rule is in the regulations, at 18VAC25-21-20. In Tennessee the Commission states it for both the affiliate and the principal licence.

Classroom time differs. Virginia requires an 80-hour course at a Board-approved auctioneering school, completed before the applicant asks to sit the examination; the Code, at section 54.1-603, also allows an equivalent course. The regulations on school approval say the curriculum must include real estate, which fits a state whose definition of an auction covers land as well as goods. Tennessee asks a new affiliate for a 50-hour approved auction education programme, which is 30 hours fewer than Virginia's course. A Tennessee principal must in addition supply a copy of a high school diploma or a GED certificate.

Illinois' application form asks whether the applicant graduated from high school or holds an equivalency certificate. The form does not state a minimum age or a number of classroom hours, and the section of the Act that sets the qualifications was not read, so this guide gives neither.

Virginia and Illinois both publish questions about an applicant's record. Virginia's regulation requires disclosure of felony convictions within ten years of the application and of certain misdemeanour convictions within three years, those involving dishonest acts, sexual offences, drug distribution or physical injury, together with any disciplinary action by a board in any jurisdiction. Illinois asks about misdemeanour and felony convictions and administrative sanctions, with minor traffic violations left out. Its form also asks about delinquent state taxes or child support, an employer's workers' compensation obligations, and any licence that was refused or disciplined.

Tennessee's two-step ladder

Tennessee's published requirements make a newcomer serve time under someone else. The first licence is the affiliate licence. To hold it, a person needs a sponsor: a principal auctioneer who has been actively licensed for at least one year.

The upgrade to principal asks for six months as an affiliate and an Affiliate Log showing 1,000 points, which the Commission describes as the substantial equivalent of working five auctions from beginning to end. The time and the points are separate conditions on the Commission's list.

A principal must also maintain a place of business in Tennessee, except as section 62-19-117 of the Tennessee Code provides, and must show evidence of an escrow account.

The order of the third step is drawn from the Commission's list of requirements; the page does not say whether the examination must be passed before the application is filed.

The examination and the paperwork

All three states use the same testing company, PSI. Virginia's Board says the examination is offered daily, costs US$40 and can be taken at five places in Virginia, as well as in Johnson City in Tennessee and Salisbury in Maryland. The Board sets out the sequence: the applicant sends the licence application to the Board; the Board reviews it and says whether the applicant is approved; the applicant registers with PSI; after a pass, the surety bond falls due and is posted to the Board; the Board then processes and mails the licence.

Illinois works the other way round. Its form describes one route, licence by exam, and tells the applicant to attach the PSI score report as proof of having passed the Illinois Auctioneer Licensing exam. The examination therefore comes before the application. Two more forms travel with it. The first is the 45-Day Permit Sponsor Card, form IL 505-0663, which the department says is required to apply; a managing auctioneer signs it, and a self-sponsored applicant completes it on their own behalf. The second is the Consent to Examine and Audit Special Accounts, described in the section on client money below.

Tennessee names its two examinations, the PSI Affiliate Auctioneer Examination and the PSI Principal Auctioneer Examination. Its pages do not give the examination fee, and nor does the Illinois form.

What each licence costs

The published application fees range widely. Illinois charges US$200, payable online since 5 June 2024 or by cheque or money order, and the form says in capitals that it is not refundable. Tennessee charges US$225 for a first affiliate application and US$275 for the upgrade to principal, and says its application fees are non-refundable too. Virginia's regulation, at 18VAC25-21-70, sets the individual licence fee at US$25 and the firm licence at US$55.

The chart flatters Virginia, because its fee is only one of several costs. A worked example, using only published figures: a new Virginia auctioneer pays the US$25 licence fee and the US$40 examination fee, US$65 in all, before the tuition of the 80-hour course and the premium a surety company charges for the bond, neither of which the state sets. The Board also announces a technology fee of US$7.25 a year, in force from 1 July 2026 until 30 June 2030 under House Bill 30 of 2026, which it says applies to certain fees and pays for software upgrades; the page does not say how it attaches to an auctioneer's licence, so it is left out of the sum.

A second worked example follows a Tennessee newcomer to the top of the ladder. The affiliate application costs US$225 and the upgrade US$275, so the two applications together come to US$500, again before course and examination costs. An out-of-state applicant pays the same US$225 or US$275.

Renewal fees are published in two states. Tennessee charges US$175 to renew an affiliate licence, US$225 for a principal, US$200 for a bid caller and US$125 for a public automobile auction licence, with a late renewal penalty of US$50. If that penalty is added to the renewal fee, which is the natural reading of a penalty but is not spelled out on the fee page, a principal who renews late pays US$275. Virginia charges US$55 to renew an individual licence and US$65 for a firm; its late renewal fees are US$80 and US$90, and reinstatement costs US$105 and US$115. All Virginia fees are non-refundable and are not prorated. Illinois leaves renewal fees to department rule under section 10-30, and the figure was not on the documents read.

Bonds, escrow and the seller's money

Each state has chosen a different way to stand behind the money an auctioneer handles.

Virginia uses a bond. The Code requires a surety bond from an authorised surety company in a reasonable amount fixed by the Board, and the Board has fixed it, at 18VAC25-21-30, at no less than US$10,000 for every applicant. Proof of a current bond is needed both to obtain a licence and to renew it. The Board adds that the bond company does not send a renewed bond to the Board on its own initiative.

Virginia's regulations then say what happens to sale proceeds. Under 18VAC25-21-150, money from personal property that is not paid to the owner on auction day must be deposited no later than the next banking day, and electronic payments on receipt. The account must be held at a federally insured depository in Virginia and labelled as escrow. For goods other than real property, the owner must be paid within 30 days after each auction. Real estate is treated separately: funds from a real estate auction are held in escrow until settlement under the agreement of sale. The written contract required by 18VAC25-21-110 must state the date on which owners will be paid and who disburses the funds.

Illinois uses audit rights. Every applicant, auctioneer or auction firm, must sign the Consent to Examine and Audit Special Accounts, form IL 505-0666, whether or not they hold such accounts. The form carries a box for applicants who do not accept escrow monies. The documents read for this guide do not mention a bond or a recovery fund in Illinois.

Tennessee asks a principal auctioneer for evidence of an escrow account before the licence is issued, and asks the same of a principal applying from another state. The Commission's licensing and fee pages do not mention a bond, and they do not describe a recovery fund or a charge towards one.

Renewal and continuing education

Virginia licenses for two years at a time, under 18VAC25-21-80. Renewal needs the fee, proof of the bond and at least six hours of Board-approved continuing education, a figure fixed by statute in section 54.1-603.1. The regulations count a credit hour as 50 contact minutes, so a worked example is simple: six credit hours are 300 minutes in the classroom, or five hours by the clock.

The statute counts courses required by the Certified Auctioneers Institute and programmes of the National Auctioneers Association and the Virginia Auctioneers Association; the hours must otherwise be in Board-approved courses. Auctioneers who have been licensed for 25 years or more and are 70 or older are exempt, and the Board may waive or reduce the hours for certified illness or undue hardship.

The regulation on failure to renew, 18VAC25-21-90, as re-read on 10 October 2026, sets three stages. A licensee who fails to renew within 30 days after the licence expires pays the late renewal fee. A licensee who fails to renew within six calendar months after the expiry date must apply for reinstatement. Where the licence has been expired for six months or more but less than two years, that means a reinstatement application, the reinstatement fee and, for an individual, proof of compliance with the continuing education requirement; a reinstated licence is treated as having been continuous. Where it has been expired for two years or more, the holder starts again, with a new application, the current entry requirements, the examination fee and the examination, unless they qualify through reciprocity. The date on which the Board receives the complete renewal application, with fees and documents, decides which stage applies.

Illinois asks for more hours. Under section 10-30, an auctioneer applying to renew must show at least 12 hours of approved continuing education completed in the pre-renewal period, twice Virginia's six, and the department may waive the requirement under its rules. Only auction schools licensed by the department may provide the courses, under sections 25-110 and 25-115, and only approved courses count. The same section bars renewal while fines, fees or civil penalties are unpaid, unless a payment plan is current. A licence that has lapsed can be restored within two years of expiry without sitting the examination again, under section 10-40, on proof of the 12 hours and payment of the fees and penalties set by rule. Expiry dates and the length of the renewal period are left to department rule.

Tennessee's renewal fees are published; the length of its renewal period and its continuing education hours are not on the pages read for this guide.

Selling real estate at auction

This is where the three states part most clearly.

Illinois starts from the position that real estate needs a real estate licence. Among the 29 grounds for discipline in section 20-15 of the Auction License Act, the twenty-third is offering or advertising real estate for sale or lease at auction without a valid broker or managing broker licence, unless exempt. The exemption is found in the other statute. Section 5-20(14) of the Real Estate License Act of 2000, as printed in the same Public Act, says a person who holds a valid auction licence and a valid real estate auction certification may conduct real estate auctions without a broker's licence, under section 5-32 of that Act. The Auction License Act connects the two: its licensed auction schools may teach the course for the real estate auction certification if the Real Estate Administration and Disciplinary Board approves it. So an Illinois auctioneer has two published routes to a property sale, a broker's licence or the certification added to the auction licence.

Virginia starts from the opposite end. Its definition of an auction, in section 54.1-600, covers sales of goods or real estate, so the chapter that licenses auctioneers expressly reaches land. Section 54.1-607 allows a sale of real property to be advertised as absolute only if every lot in the sale meets the definition of an absolute auction, one in which the property passes to the highest bidder. The Board's page points readers to section 54.1-2103 of the Code, which it labels as the real estate licensure exemptions. The text of section 54.1-2103 was not read for this guide, so the exact terms on which a licensed auctioneer is exempt from the real estate licence are not restated here; they are the place to look before any sale of land.

Tennessee's published definition of a principal auctioneer speaks of a listing contract, sale, purchase or exchange of goods. The Commission's licensing and fee pages say nothing about real estate, and the statute was not read. Whether an auctioneer's licence is enough to sell land in Tennessee is therefore an open point in this guide.

In Illinois the property question is answered in the real estate statute, in Virginia in the auction chapter itself, and on Tennessee's licensing pages not at all.

Moving between states

Virginia offers four ways in: examination, universal licence recognition, reciprocity and reinstatement. Under section 54.1-603 a non-resident may qualify either by meeting the same rules as a resident or by holding a valid licence from a state with which the Board has established reciprocity, and in both cases must file an irrevocable consent to service of process on the department's Director. The regulation, at 18VAC25-21-40, adds three conditions for the reciprocal route: an agreement exists, the other state's requirements are substantially equivalent to Virginia's, and the applicant is currently licensed there. The Board keeps a list of the states concerned in a separate document that was not read.

Tennessee recognises 19 reciprocal states, according to the Commission's affiliate page, without naming them on that page. An affiliate from one of them submits a Certification of License dated within 90 days of the application and a Consent for Service of Jurisdiction form, and needs a sponsor who is licensed in Tennessee. A principal from a reciprocal state must be at least 18 and submits the same certification and consent, plus evidence of an escrow account.

The Illinois form covers the examination route only. It does not mention reciprocity, and the reciprocity section of the Act was not read, so the conditions are not given here.

Standards and discipline

Illinois publishes a ceiling: under section 20-15 the department may impose fines not exceeding US$10,000 for each violation. The department must give written notice of the charges at least 30 days before a hearing, and the licensee has 20 days to file a sworn answer. Section 20-110 allows the department to issue cease and desist orders, and section 20-115 requires an action against a licensee to begin within five years of the violation.

In Virginia the Board's disciplinary powers come from section 54.1-602, and the regulations set standards of practice. Advertisements must show the auctioneer's or firm's name and Virginia licence number. Shill bids and false bids are prohibited, and an owner or licensee may bid only if notice has been given beforehand. Records, including the contract, are kept for three years from settlement and must be produced within ten days of a Board request. Under section 54.1-606, a person without a licence may not advertise as being in the auction business.

Tennessee's disciplinary rules were outside the pages read.

Kooky, from Shaka

Kooky edits Agents Estate and builds Shaka, the payment router he made for real estate professionals. One payment comes in, and every agent, agency and party in the deal receives their signed share on closing date.

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