Calling bids in North Carolina, Georgia and Ohio: the licence rules

In this article

Written by

Kooky

Builder of Shaka, the payment router that pays every agent their commission on closing date.

About Kooky and Shaka →

An auctioneer who sells a farm in Ohio on Saturday cannot simply drive south and sell a house in North Carolina or Georgia the week after. Each of the three states licenses the person who calls the bids, each does it under its own law, and each gives a different answer to the question a property seller cares about most: does the auctioneer also need a real estate licence?

This guide reads the three rulebooks side by side, using only what the states themselves publish. For North Carolina that is Chapter 85B of the General Statutes. For Ohio it is Chapter 4707 of the Revised Code. For Georgia it is the guidance of the Georgia Department of Auctioneers, part of the Secretary of State's office, whose law changed on 1 July 2026. The guide covers who needs a licence, training, the examination, fees, the money that stands behind a sale, renewal, moving between states, and real estate. Where a source was silent or could not be read, the text says so.

North Carolina General Statutes, section 85B-4(d); Ohio Revised Code, sections 4707.11 and 4707.101; Georgia Department of Auctioneers, published answers to common questions.

Three states, three kinds of regulator

North Carolina puts auctioneers under a commission of their own. Section 85B-3 of the General Statutes creates a body of five members appointed by the Governor for three-year terms, with a limit of two complete consecutive terms. At least three members must be licensed, experienced auctioneers and one must represent the public.

Ohio does something unusual: it places the trade inside its Department of Agriculture. Section 4707.011 of the Revised Code gives the department the job of administering the chapter, and section 4707.02 says the licence is issued by that department. A commission sits beside it. Under section 4707.03 it has five members appointed by the governor with the consent of the Senate; four must be auctioneers with at least five years' experience and one is a public member. Section 4707.04 has the commission meet at least four times a year and set the standards for auction courses, while the department holds the licensing power.

Georgia's regulator sits inside the Licensing Division of the Secretary of State's office and appears on that office's pages as the Georgia Department of Auctioneers. It no longer accepts paper applications: everything goes through the Secretary of State's online licensing portal. The department also states that all new applications are considered under a new law that took effect on 1 July 2026, and that its rules are being reviewed and should be updated before the next renewal cycle. That matters for anyone reading older summaries of Georgia's requirements.

Who needs a licence, and who does not

North Carolina's definition already includes land. Section 85B-1 describes an auction as the sale of goods or real estate through exchanges between an auctioneer and an audience, in which the auctioneer accepts the highest or most favourable offer. Under sections 85B-2 and 85B-4(a), anyone who sells or offers to sell goods or real estate at auction in the state needs a licence unless an exemption applies. An auction firm needs one too.

The exemptions are listed in section 85B-2(a). They include an owner selling his or her own property, or the owner's attorney, unless auctions are the owner's regular business or the goods were bought to be resold at auction. Also outside the chapter are sales by a public authority, sales by court-appointed receivers, trustees, guardians, administrators and executors, sales under an order of the federal Bankruptcy Court, sales the law requires to be held at auction, regulated livestock markets, leaf tobacco sales, automobile auctions, sales by and for charitable or religious organisations, and one sale a year by and for a civic club. One exemption concerns land directly: a trustee's sale under the power of sale in a deed of trust on real property. The chapter then closes a door. Under section 85B-2(b), the exemptions for public authority sales, legally required sales, charity and civic club sales and collateral sales do not cover a person who organises or conducts auctions for pay.

Ohio's definition is built for the modern sale room. Section 4707.01 describes an auction as a sale of property at a predetermined date and time, conducted by verbal exchange, mail, telecommunications, the internet, electronic transmission or gestures between an auctioneer and bidders. Section 4707.02, in the version effective 9 April 2025, bars anyone from acting as an auctioneer or auction firm in Ohio without a licence, and from advertising as one. Its exemptions include auctions required by law other than judicial sales, auctions run by a public authority, owners selling property they did not acquire for resale, auction mediation companies, qualifying non-profit auctions, and licensed livestock dealers and motor vehicle auction owners who meet their own statutory conditions.

Georgia's department answers the question through examples. It reads the law as requiring a Georgia licence from anyone who performs auctioneer acts or conducts auctioneering business in the state, such as keeping a storefront there, taking consignments there, or holding physical property there for auction. It adds that Georgia law contains no exemption for online auctions. The department names one exemption, under section 43-6-19 of the Official Code of Georgia: a non-profit auction for causes the department lists as disabilities, research and wildlife preservation. The full text of Georgia's chapter was not read for this guide, so other exemptions may exist.

Age, schooling and the apprentice route

All three states set the minimum age at 18. North Carolina and Georgia both ask for a high school education: section 85B-4(b) of the North Carolina statutes refuses a licence to anyone who is not a high school graduate or the equivalent, with an exception for people licensed before 1 July 1999, and Georgia's department lists a high school diploma or GED.

North Carolina offers two ways in. Under section 85B-4(d), a candidate either holds an apprentice licence and serves as an apprentice for two years, or completes at least 80 hours of classroom instruction in auctioneering at an approved institution. Either route still ends with the examination. The apprentice applies in writing, supplies statements from at least two residents attesting to good moral character, and names a licensed auctioneer as supervisor. Section 85B-4 keeps the apprentice on a short lead: no auction contract may be signed and no auction held without the supervisor's express approval, and the supervisor reviews the apprentice's contracts and records. An apprentice licence can be renewed no more than three times.

Ohio's current statute, as read for this guide, lists no apprenticeship. Section 4707.07, in the version effective 29 December 2023, asks for an applicant who is at least 18, has completed a course of study in auctioneering at an institution approved by the commission, has the general knowledge the section asks for, and meets the financial responsibility rule described below.

Georgia requires graduation from an approved auction school. The number of classroom hours Georgia requires was not stated on the pages read.

Character is tested as well. North Carolina refuses a licence, under section 85B-4(b), to a person who in the preceding five years pleaded guilty or no contest to a felony or was convicted of one, or of fraud or an act of moral turpitude. A state criminal record check is mandatory under section 85B-3.2, and a national check applies to anyone who has not lived in North Carolina for the past five years. The same section says a conviction does not mean automatic refusal: the commission weighs a set of factors before deciding. Ohio's section 4707.02 looks back ten years for a felony or a crime of fraud or theft.

The examination

North Carolina's examination covers auction law, ethics and business mathematics, and section 85B-4(d) requires it to be offered at least twice a year. A candidate who fails twice cannot sit again for six months. The person an auction firm designates must pass a written examination too, unless that person is already a licensed auctioneer.

Ohio tests far more often. Section 4707.08 schedules written examinations twelve times a year and asks for a complete application on file 14 days before the sitting. The retake ladder is spelled out. After a second consecutive failure, the candidate waits for the following scheduled date. After a third, the candidate goes back to auction school. After a fourth, the wait is at least one year.

Georgia's examination is a laws and rules test run by an outside testing company. The checklist published in the Secretary of State's application guide lists, for a first licence by examination, the application and fee, an Auctioneer Recovery Fund fee, an escrow account, the auction school certificate, a secure and verifiable identity document and an affidavit of citizenship. An application must be complete at least 15 days before a department meeting to appear on that meeting's agenda, and the guide sets a 60-day period for curing deficiencies in an application.

What a first licence costs

North Carolina's statute sets ceilings; it does not publish a price list. Section 85B-6 lets the commission charge up to US$125 for an application, up to US$75 for the examination and up to US$250 to issue or renew an auctioneer licence. An apprentice pays up to US$125 to apply and up to US$125 for issue or renewal. Application and examination fees are not refunded. The same section stops cities and counties from adding their own fees or licences. The amounts the commission currently charges within those ceilings were not read for this guide.

A worked example, at the statutory maximums. A candidate who takes the 80-hour classroom route would pay at most US$125 + US$75 + US$250 = US$450 for application, examination and licence, plus a recovery fund contribution of up to US$50, so US$500 in all.

Ohio's figures are fixed in section 4707.10 and section 4707.08. The auctioneer examination costs US$25. The licence costs US$200 when issued in the first year of a two-year period and US$100 in the second year. A worked example: a candidate examined and licensed in the first year pays US$25 + US$200 = US$225; one licensed in the second year pays US$25 + US$100 = US$125, and then meets the US$200 renewal sooner.

Georgia's fee amounts were not read for this guide. No Georgia fee is quoted here.

The money behind a sale: bonds and recovery funds

A seller hands an auctioneer property and, for a time, the proceeds. The three states protect that money in different ways.

Ohio asks the new licensee to put up security. Section 4707.11 requires US$25,000 in the form of an irrevocable letter of credit, a cash bond or a surety bond, kept in place for three years after the first licence, with exceptions. Licences issued before 1 July 2003 are exempt. An auction firm licence carries US$50,000 under section 4707.074.

Behind that sits Ohio's auction recovery fund. A person with actual and direct losses caused by a licensee can reach it by two roads. Without a court judgment, section 4707.26 has the person file a verified complaint with the department, and a hearing must be requested within 30 days of the department's notice. With a final judgment, section 4707.261 sends the applicant to a court of common pleas. Section 4707.28 requires that application within six months of the end of all proceedings, and requires that any letter of credit or bond was pursued first. Punitive damages, attorney's fees, court costs and interest on the judgment are not paid. Section 4707.29 caps the fund's liability at US$50,000 for violations committed by any one licensee; for a licensee who has provided a letter of credit or bond under section 4707.11, the section sets the limit at US$25,000.

North Carolina relies on a fund alone. Section 85B-4.1 lets the commission collect up to US$50 a year from each licensee and requires at least US$200,000 to be kept in the recovery fund. The limits in section 85B-4.7 are tighter than Ohio's: US$10,000 for one transaction, however many people claim on it; US$10,000 for one licensee in a calendar year; US$20,000 for one licensee in total.

A worked example shows how the North Carolina limits bite. Suppose three sellers in the same auction hold judgments against one auctioneer for US$6,000, US$5,000 and US$4,000, a total of US$15,000. The fund can pay no more than US$10,000 on that transaction, leaving US$5,000 uncovered. If a second transaction the following year produced another US$10,000 payment, the licensee's lifetime limit of US$20,000 would be reached and a later claimant would receive nothing from the fund.

The route to the North Carolina fund normally runs through a court. Under section 85B-4.2, the claimant must have sued the licensee, told the commission in writing within 60 days of filing, obtained a final judgment for conversion or fraud, and had execution returned unsatisfied. The application then has to be filed within one year after the proceedings end. Small losses have a shortcut: section 85B-4.5 lets the commission pay a loss of US$2,500 or less without a prior judgment, on a notarised complaint filed within one year of the act. A payment has a consequence for the auctioneer. Under section 85B-4.8, the licence is suspended automatically and comes back only when the fund has been repaid in full with interest.

Georgia's application checklist names an Auctioneer Recovery Fund fee and an escrow account, so a fund exists and a contribution is collected at licensing. The amount of the fee and the fund's payment limits were not on the pages read.

Renewal dates and continuing education

The three calendars do not line up. A North Carolina licence runs from 1 July to 30 June of the following year and is renewed one year at a time, under section 85B-4(e). An auctioneer who lets it lapse can renew without sitting the examination again if the renewal is filed within 24 months of expiry; section 85B-6 sets a reinstatement fee of up to US$75. The commission may require up to six hours of continuing education a year under section 85B-4(e1). The number of hours it currently requires was not read.

Ohio renews every two years. Section 4707.10 has licences expire on the last day of June, in odd-numbered years for licensees whose names begin with A to J or X to Z and in even-numbered years for names beginning K to W. Section 4707.101 requires eight hours of continuing education in the two years before renewal: three hours on required topics and five hours of electives, among them real estate auctions. A licence that ran 12 months or less needs four hours.

Georgia's licences expire on 28 February of even-numbered years. Renewal opens about 90 days earlier, and the department requires eight hours of continuing education obtained in the previous two years, reported through an online tracking service. The Secretary of State's guide describes 1 to 31 March of the even year as a late period. Georgia's Rule 55-3-.04, one of the rules the department says are under review, treats failure to renew by 31 March as having the same effect as revocation. Reinstatement under that rule calls for an application, proof of eight hours of approved continuing education in the previous 24 months and the scheduled fees; after a lapse of more than two years the applicant either retakes the examination or shows a verified licence in good standing from a jurisdiction with substantially similar requirements.

Moving a licence across state lines

North Carolina's section 85B-5 offers a reciprocal licence to a person licensed in another state on two conditions: that state's standards are acceptable and no more lenient than North Carolina's, and it gives North Carolina licensees the same privilege. No North Carolina examination is taken. The applicant files an irrevocable consent to be served with legal papers. The licence hangs on the home licence: loss of that licence must be reported by certified mail within 10 days. A reciprocal licensee who moves to North Carolina can convert to an ordinary licence without the examination.

Georgia's department says it may reciprocate with states whose licensing requirements are substantially similar to Georgia's. It does not reciprocate with states that have no state-level licence. Its application guide has a separate reciprocity route, which calls for a verification of the out-of-state licence.

Ohio's section 4707.07 points to Chapter 4796 of the Revised Code, under which a licence may be issued to an applicant who holds a licence in another state. For a single sale there is another door. Section 4707.072 creates a non-resident one-auction licence for an auctioneer with two years' experience and at least twelve auction sales, for a fee of US$500 and a bond of US$50,000.

Selling real estate at auction

Here the three states part company most clearly, and the differences decide who may sign the listing.

Ohio requires two licences in one person. Under section 4707.021, only a licensee who is both an auctioneer and a real estate broker or salesperson under Chapter 4735 may sign an auction contract for real property. A broker without an auctioneer licence may contract only under the two conditions set out in that section, in each of which a licensed auctioneer signs the contract and conducts the auction. The rest of the chapter follows the same logic. Advertisements for a real property auction must name both the auctioneer and the real estate broker, under section 4707.22. Proceeds go into the broker's trust account, under section 4707.024. And when a real estate auction goes wrong, section 4707.262 has a court decide whether the real estate recovery fund or the auction recovery fund answers, with the combined payment never exceeding the actual and direct loss.

Ohio also fixes the kind of sale: section 4707.022 presumes every auction is a reserve auction unless the contract says otherwise.

Georgia's department states the rule in one sentence: a licensed auctioneer must also hold a licence from the Georgia Real Estate Commission to auction real property.

North Carolina's auction chapter says less. It writes real estate into the definition of an auction, so calling bids on land is licensed auctioneering. It exempts trustee sales under a deed of trust. And section 85B-4(g) lets licensed real estate brokers and firms skip the auction firm examination when they employ or associate with a licensed auctioneer for the auction work. The chapter as read contains no statement on whether the auctioneer also needs a real estate broker licence; that question is governed by other North Carolina law, which was not read for this guide.

The auctioneer's licence covers the calling of bids. Whether it also covers the land under the hammer depends on the state.

What breaking the rules costs

In North Carolina, auctioneering without a required licence is a Class 1 misdemeanour under section 85B-9, and the commission can seek an injunction. For licensees, section 85B-3.1(b) allows a civil penalty of up to US$2,000, with the money going to the school fund of the county where the violation took place.

Ohio's civil penalties run higher: up to US$5,000 for a first violation and up to US$10,000 for each later one, under section 4707.19. A licensee whose licence is revoked cannot be licensed again for two years under section 4707.16. One Ohio rule has no counterpart in the other two sources: section 4707.111 makes the state the sole regulator of auctions but requires the licensee to notify the local police chief or county sheriff at least 24 hours before an auction. The criminal penalties in Ohio's chapter, and Georgia's penalties, were not read for this guide.

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.

About Kooky and Shaka →