US auctioneer licences: Texas, Florida and Pennsylvania compared

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Kooky

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In Texas, Florida and Pennsylvania, the person calling bids on a farm, a house or a commercial lot works under a licence issued by the state. The three each have their own statute, their own regulator and their own idea of how a newcomer should learn the trade. An auctioneer who is fully licensed in one of them has no automatic right to sell in the other two.

This guide sets the three rulebooks side by side, using only what each state's own law and regulator publish. Texas licenses auctioneers through the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, under Chapter 1802 of the Texas Occupations Code. Florida does so through the Board of Auctioneers, which sits inside the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, under Part VI of Chapter 468 of the Florida Statutes. Pennsylvania's State Board of Auctioneer Examiners applies an Act of 1983, known as Act 85. It covers who needs a licence, training, examinations, fees, renewal dates, the protection behind each sale, and what the sources say about selling real property.

Texas Occupations Code, sections 1802.052 and 1802.206; Florida Statutes, section 468.385; Pennsylvania Act 85 of 1983, section 7.

Who needs a licence in each state

Texas defines an auction in section 1802.001 of its Occupations Code as "the sale of property by competitive bid using any method, format, or venue". The licence, though, attaches to a narrower activity. An auctioneer, in the same section, is an individual who sells or offers to sell another person's property by live bid at auction, with or without compensation. Section 1802.051 then bars anyone from acting as an auctioneer or associate auctioneer in Texas without a licence issued by the department. The Department of Licensing and Regulation says in its published answers to common questions that the licence is needed only to conduct live bid auctions.

The Texas chapter lists the sales it does not reach in section 1802.002. Among them are court-ordered sales under the federal Bankruptcy Code, sales by government employees acting within their employment, charitable, religious or civic auctions where the organiser receives no compensation, auctions conducted through the internet, and auctions conducted while the auctioneer is physically outside Texas. A sealed-bid sale is outside the chapter when bids cannot be raised or lowered; the chapter applies again when the sealed-bid format lets bidders change their bids. One exemption concerns land directly: a trustee's foreclosure sale of real property.

Florida's rule is written as a prohibition. Section 468.385 of the Florida Statutes says no person shall auction or offer to auction any property in the state unless licensed under the part or exempt from it. The Board of Auctioneers describes three licences. An auctioneer is a person who holds a valid Florida auctioneer licence. An auctioneer apprentice is a person being trained as an auctioneer by a licensed auctioneer. An auction business is a sole proprietorship, partnership or corporation that arranges, manages or carries out auctions. Under subsection (7) of the same section, a business must hold the auction business licence or be exempt, and none of the three licences can be transferred. The exemptions themselves sit in section 468.383, which was not read for this guide.

Pennsylvania casts the widest net of the three. Act 85 defines an auction as covering any method of taking bids, the internet included. A negotiated transaction is not an auction. Section 3 requires a licence. Anyone who calls bids must be licensed; an agent who only negotiates or signs contracts for a licensee does not need one.

Where Texas exempts internet auctions, Pennsylvania licenses them. Under section 3(a) of Act 85, an online auction needs a Pennsylvania licence when the seller is in the state, and also when the real property being sold is in Pennsylvania. Section 3.1 lists six exemptions, which are not set out here.

Age, schooling and character tests

Texas and Florida both set the floor at 18. Section 1802.052 of the Texas Occupations Code requires an applicant for the auctioneer licence to be at least 18 years old, to be a citizen of the United States or a legal alien, to hold a high school diploma or a high school equivalency certificate, and to complete at least 80 hours of classroom instruction at an auction school approved by the department. The department's guidance adds a criminal history condition: no felony conviction within the five years before the date of the application.

Florida's section 468.385 puts the age rule as a bar: a person under 18 cannot be licensed. The second bar is conduct. A person who has committed an act that would be a ground for discipline under section 468.389 cannot be licensed either. Classroom training in Florida is one of two doors, not a universal requirement: the applicant must either have served as a licensed apprentice for one year or more, or have completed a course of at least 80 classroom hours.

Pennsylvania's Act 85 states no minimum age in the text read for this guide. Its test is one of preparation. An applicant must pass the examination and must fit one of five routes that mix school and supervised practice. Schools are sorted into two groups. A Group A course carries at least 20 credit hours, including 2 hours of practicum, and on its own satisfies the training requirement. A Group B course carries fewer than 20 credit hours and has to be topped up with time as an apprentice.

Learning under a licensed auctioneer

In Texas the junior licence is the associate auctioneer. The statute defines an associate as an individual who, for compensation, sells or offers to sell property at auction under the direct supervision of a licensed auctioneer. Section 1802.053 asks only that the applicant be a citizen of the United States or a legal alien and work under that direct supervision; it lists no schooling and no examination. An associate who has been employed for at least two years and has taken part in at least 10 auctions in that time may apply for the full licence without sitting the test. The 80 hours of classroom instruction are still required, and the department says the licence number stays the same on the upgrade.

In Florida the junior licence is the auctioneer apprentice. Every apprentice application, and every apprentice licence, must name a licensed auctioneer who has agreed to supervise. Section 468.385 says the apprentice may not conduct an auction, or contract to conduct one, without the supervisor's express approval, and that an auction may be run by an apprentice only with the sponsor's prior written consent and an active apprentice licence. The supervisor has to review the apprentice's records. The section fixes the length of service at one year or more and names no minimum number of auctions; the detailed training rules are in section 468.3855, which was not read for this guide.

Pennsylvania's apprentice auctioneer must be sponsored by a qualified sponsor, defined in Act 85 as a currently licensed auctioneer residing in Pennsylvania. A sponsor may employ no more than one other apprentice. The Act protects the arrangement from being bought: an apprentice may not pay an auctioneer merely to be listed as an employee. If the apprentice is left without a sponsor, the licence becomes invalid, and a change of sponsor must be reported within ten days.

Examinations and retakes

Texas uses an outside testing firm, PSI Services, to deliver its auctioneer examination. Section 1802.056 says the test is designed to measure general knowledge of the auction business, the principles of conducting an auction and the Texas laws relating to auctioneers. The department gives the pass mark as 75 per cent.

The retake rule in Texas is strict. The department allows two attempts within the one-year application period. Section 1802.058 provides that an applicant who fails twice within one year may not reapply for one year, and the department counts that year from the date of the second failure.

Florida's examination is written and approved by the board. Under section 468.385 it tests general knowledge of three areas of Florida law: the provisions of the Uniform Commercial Code that are relevant to auctions, the law of agency, and the auctioneering part of Chapter 468 itself. The Department of Business and Professional Regulation says it offers examinations by computer through its vendor Pearson VUE, on a daily basis. The pass mark and the number of attempts allowed are not given on the pages read for this guide.

Pennsylvania requires the examination on every one of its five routes, including for people who have already worked for two years in another state. The board says the examination is conducted daily through Pearson VUE. For retakes it points to section 1.23(c) of Title 49 of the Pennsylvania Code, a regulation that was not read for this guide.

Fees, terms and renewal dates

The Texas department sets out its application charges as two parts. The auctioneer application costs US$100, made up of a US$50 licence fee and a US$50 fee for the recovery fund. The associate application costs US$75: a US$25 licence fee and the same US$50 fund fee. Under section 1802.054 an applicant who lives outside Texas must also file an irrevocable consent to service of process.

A worked example shows what the two Texas routes cost at the application stage. A candidate who goes straight to the examination pays US$100. A candidate who first takes the associate licence and upgrades after two years pays US$75 and then US$100, or US$175 in all. The example counts application fees only. It leaves out school fees, the examination fee and the yearly renewal fees in between, because the department's page refers to section 67.80 of its Auctioneer Rules for those amounts without stating them.

Renewal in Texas is annual, and it applies to an inactive licence as well. Each renewal requires six hours of continuing education, two of them on laws and rules. The holder of an expired licence may not act as an auctioneer.

Florida's Board of Auctioneers lists a fee of US$155.00 for each of its three licence types: apprentice, auctioneer and auction business. Licences expire on 30 November of every odd-numbered year, which makes the cycle two years long. For the cycle that ended in 2025, the board extended the deadline to 1 December 2025 because 30 November fell on a Sunday. On that calendar the next expiry is scheduled for 30 November 2027. The board marks continuing education as not applicable to any of the three licences.

Pennsylvania's Act 85 fixes the calendar but not the prices. Licences run for a maximum of two years and expire on the last day of February of each odd-numbered year; a renewal application may be filed within the 60 days before expiry. The next expiry on that calendar is scheduled for 28 February 2027. Because the date is fixed, a first licence can run for much less than two years. As a worked example, a licence issued on 10 October 2026 would run for a little over four and a half months before its first renewal. Section 6 of the Act leaves licence, examination and other fees to board regulation. The one amount the Act itself states is the US$100 registration fee for a trading assistant; the board's fee schedule was not read for this guide.

Texas's recovery fund and its claim limits

Texas does not ask its auctioneers for a bond. The Department of Licensing and Regulation says no bond or other financial security has to be lodged with it. What stands behind a Texas auction instead is the Auctioneer Education and Recovery Fund, paid for by the US$50 fee collected with each application.

The fund has a target balance of US$350,000. Under section 1802.153 of the Occupations Code, if the balance on 31 August is below that figure, each licensee pays an additional fee at renewal equal to the greater of US$50 or a pro rata share of the amount needed to bring the fund back to US$350,000.

A person who has lost money through a licensed auctioneer's conduct can claim against the fund, within limits. Section 1802.206 says the department may not pay one aggrieved party more than US$15,000 for all claims arising from a single auction. Section 1802.205 confines the claim to actual damages, which exclude attorney's fees, speculative damages and lost profits. A payment is not the end of the matter for the auctioneer. Section 1802.207 requires the auctioneer to repay the fund with interest at 8 per cent a year, and section 1802.252 lets the commission revoke the licence after a payment and bars a new licence until the amount and the interest are repaid.

A worked example shows why the gap matters. Suppose three sellers at the same Texas auction each prove actual damages of US$15,000 against the same auctioneer. Their claims total US$45,000. Under the US$100,000 figure in the statute as now published, all three could be paid in full. Under the US$30,000 figure in the department's guidance, the total would exceed the limit by US$15,000. If the fund did pay one seller US$15,000 and the auctioneer repaid it exactly one year later, the interest at 8 per cent would be US$1,200, for a repayment of US$16,200. Which figure governs a real claim is a question for the department.

Pennsylvania's bond and Florida's fund

Pennsylvania takes the opposite approach to Texas. Section 7 of Act 85 requires a bond of US$5,000, payable to the Commonwealth. No one may operate without an active bond, and a person who holds a judgment against a licensee may sue on it.

The bond is paired with a rule on client money. Section 21 requires money received from a sale that belongs to others to be held in a separate custodial or trust account. Failure to maintain an escrow account is one of the grounds for discipline listed in section 20.

Florida's protection is a fund, though this guide can describe it only in outline. Part VI of Chapter 468 contains a run of sections whose titles set out the scheme: section 468.392 creates the Auctioneer Recovery Fund, section 468.393 provides for a surcharge, and sections 468.395, 468.396 and 468.398 follow. The amounts in those sections were not read for this guide and are not stated here.

Is a real estate licence also needed?

This is the question a real estate auctioneer most needs answered, and it is the one the auction statutes answer least directly. In all three states, the texts read for this guide regulate the act of auctioning. None of them says in terms whether a person who auctions land must also hold a real estate broker's or salesperson's licence. That answer, where it exists, lies in each state's real estate licensing law, which this guide did not read.

What the auction laws do say about real property is still useful. Pennsylvania's Act 85 defines property as real and personal property, so a sale of land by auction falls squarely inside the auctioneer licence. The Act names real property again in its online rule: an online auction of real property located in Pennsylvania requires the Pennsylvania licence. The Act contains no real estate broker or salesperson requirement of its own.

Texas touches land in two places. Section 1802.051 of the Occupations Code limits the entities a licensed individual may act for as an auctioneer to two kinds: an auction company owned or operated by a licensed individual, and a real estate brokerage firm operated by a broker licensed by the Texas Real Estate Commission. The chapter therefore anticipates auctioneers working inside brokerages. It also exempts, as noted earlier, a trustee's foreclosure sale of real property. Whether an auctioneer outside a brokerage needs a commission licence to sell real property is not addressed in Chapter 1802.

Florida's section 468.385 speaks of auctioning "any property" and does not mention real estate or the state's real estate licensing chapter.

Moving a licence across state lines

None of the three states simply accepts another state's licence, but each offers a way in.

Texas grants a licence by reciprocity when the department has a reciprocity agreement with the applicant's home state and the applicant lives in that state. The department says the 80 hours of classroom instruction are not required on this route, and points to section 1802.059 for the conditions. The states with which Texas has agreements are not listed on the page read for this guide.

Florida has a dedicated application for out-of-state auctioneers, which the board labels as an initial licence by reciprocity or endorsement, and it publishes a document on reciprocity and substantially equivalent examinations. The governing section is 468.387.

Pennsylvania's section 12 sets three conditions. The board must find the other state's requirements comparable. The other state must give Pennsylvania licensees reciprocal rights without extra licensing. And the applicant must meet every other requirement of the Act, the US$5,000 bond included. The board decides each application by vote.

For a single sale, Pennsylvania offers something the other two sources do not describe. Under section 3(g.1), the Act provides a special licence for one specifically identified auction. The application is due at least 20 days before the auction. The Act does not state the fee.

What unlicensed auctioneering costs

Texas treats practising without a licence as a Class B misdemeanour under section 1802.301. For licence holders, section 1802.251 provides for disciplinary action and administrative penalties. No dollar amounts for them were read for this guide.

Pennsylvania's penalties rise with repetition. Under section 29(a) of Act 85, a first offence is a summary offence carrying a fine of up to US$500, imprisonment of up to three months, or both. A second or later offence is a misdemeanour of the third degree, with a fine of US$2,000 to US$5,000, imprisonment of one to two years, or both. On the civil side, sections 29(b) and 20 allow a civil penalty of up to US$10,000.

An auctioneer's licence is a state document. Crossing a state line means starting the questions again: who regulates, what training counts, and what protects the seller.

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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