Invaluable has been the second name in arts and antiques marketplaces for a decade, the one auction houses list on alongside LiveAuctioneers to reach a slightly different set of buyers. On October 1, 2026, it changed hands: Liquidity Services, the Nasdaq-listed operator of surplus and liquidation marketplaces, completed its purchase of Auction Holdings, the parent of Invaluable, AuctionZip and RFC Auction Systems, for a base price of $80 million. The chief executive stays, and nothing on the rate card has changed yet.
A change of owner is a good moment to look at what you are paying and why. This guide covers Invaluable’s published fees for auction houses and bidders, who the bidder relationship belongs to under its terms, what the sale might mean, and the alternatives, both own-website platforms and other marketplaces. We build one of the alternatives, so read the Circuit section with that in mind. Every fact about Invaluable comes from its own pages or the acquisition filings, listed at the end, and was checked on October 5, 2026.
What Invaluable Is, and Who Owns It Now
Invaluable, LLC is based at One Beacon Street in Boston. It says it serves thousands of auction houses, with about 4 million registered bidders, buyers from 184 countries, and roughly 200,000 bidders active in a given year. The company’s filings for the acquisition put gross merchandise sales through the marketplace at more than $500 million in its 2025 financial year. Around 400 auction houses use its Private Label product, a branded bidding site that sits on top of the marketplace.
Until this month Invaluable was venture-backed, having raised a $33.75 million round led by Insight Venture Partners in 2014. Its new owner, Liquidity Services, runs marketplaces for government and business surplus. It is not Auction Technology Group, which owns LiveAuctioneers, Proxibid and the-saleroom; the two largest arts and antiques marketplaces in North America now belong to two different public companies.
What Invaluable Charges
Invaluable publishes less of its rate card than LiveAuctioneers or HiBid. What is public:
The buyer fee. Invaluable’s terms state that a fee is charged on every online purchase through the service, in addition to the auction house’s own charges. This is the online buyer’s fee, quoted on Invaluable’s own pricing parity page as 5%, that sits on top of your buyer’s premium when a lot sells to an Invaluable bidder.
The pricing parity program. Auction houses can opt to absorb that buyer fee so that Invaluable bidders pay the same premium as room bidders. In exchange the auction house pays Invaluable a per-lot commission on hammer, applied as a flat rate per lot according to the hammer price:
| Hammer price of the lot | Auction house pays Invaluable |
|---|---|
| $0 to $4,999 | 5% |
| $5,000 to $9,999 | 4% |
| $10,000 to $14,999 | 3% |
| $15,000 to $19,999 | 2% |
| $20,000 and above | 1% |
The rate is not progressive: a $12,000 lot pays 3% on the whole amount, not 5% on the first $5,000. For an auction house selling mostly in the low thousands, that is a 5% commission by another name.
Private Label. Invaluable’s branded-site product is offered with no upfront cost or listing fees on Silver and Gold plans. Silver covers registration, bidding, custom styling and keyword alerts; Gold adds a custom app, hosting on your own domain, SEO and transactional emails. Prices are not published.
What is not published. The standard house commission outside the parity program, any difference between live and timed rates, catalog fees, and the rates for Invaluable Payments and Invaluable Shipping. Ask for the full schedule in writing before comparing.
Who the Bidders Belong To
This is the part of the terms worth reading twice. A bidder’s account is with Invaluable. The auction house approves each registration for its sale, and the bidder agrees that Invaluable may provide account information to auction houses “whenever necessary”. Invaluable’s privacy policy adds that if an auction house requests more information about a user, Invaluable may share it “if we determine that is in our interest”. The terms also prohibit users from collecting and using other users’ email addresses.
In practice auction houses receive what they need to invoice a winning bidder. What they do not get is the list: the underbidders, the watchers and the registrants who never bid, which is where the next sale’s buyers are. A Private Label site improves the branding but does not change whose account it is. Compare this with an own-website platform, where the bidder registers with the auction house and the record, with every bid and every interest, sits in the auction house’s own CRM.
What the Sale to Liquidity Services Might Mean
Nobody outside the two companies knows, and we are not going to guess at fee changes. Three things are reasonable to say.
The buyer paid $80 million for a business with more than $500 million of gross merchandise sales, and will want to grow revenue from it. Marketplaces grow revenue through take rate, payments and shipping services, and advertising to sellers. Auction Technology Group’s own reports show how that plays out: its take rate across arts and antiques rose from 10.3% of merchandise value in its 2025 financial year to 17.7% in the first half of 2026 on its newer definition, as payments, shipping and marketing products were added. See our piece on who owns the auction marketplaces for the numbers.
Liquidity Services’ existing marketplaces sell surplus and liquidation stock. Invaluable’s auction houses sell fine art and antiques. Whether the buyer leaves Invaluable alone as a separate brand or integrates it with its other platforms will decide how it feels to list there in two years.
Whatever happens, the bidders registered on Invaluable belong to Invaluable, and now to its new owner. That is the same as last month; the sale just makes it visible.
Alternatives That Run the Sale on Your Own Website
Circuit Auction AI
Circuit runs the auction house inside the website you already own. It installs as a WordPress auction plugin and covers consignment intake, AI cataloging, timed auctions with staggered closing and bid extensions, live auctions with a clerk console and real-time online bidding, absentee bids, a built-in auction house CRM, invoicing, consignor settlement, shipping, multi-currency and 40+ languages. Bidders register with you, on your domain, and your buyer’s premium is the only premium they see.
Circuit is built for collectibles auction houses: fine art, antiques, coins, stamps, watches, books, cards, militaria and the other fields where Invaluable’s bidders live. Pricing is a subscription with a no-commission Enterprise option.
Bidsquare Cloud
The white label product of the Bidsquare marketplace, with AI cataloging, a clerking console, invoicing and the option to co-list to Bidsquare, which was founded by a group of regional fine art auction houses. The closest own-site product to Invaluable’s audience. Full table: Circuit vs Bidsquare Cloud.
Auction Mobility
Branded bidding sites and native apps for established auction houses, owned by Auction Technology Group. A strong bidder experience; cataloging, settlement and CRM are outside the product. Full table: Circuit vs Auction Mobility.
BidJS (Bidlogix)
An embedded bidding engine at a fixed monthly fee, strong on timed and webcast sales. Full table: Circuit vs BidJS.
Alternatives That Are Also Marketplaces
LiveAuctioneers
The larger of the two, owned by Auction Technology Group. Its public rate card charges auction houses 5% of hammer plus per-event fees, and its bidders pay a fee on top of the premium. Most Invaluable auction houses already list there. See LiveAuctioneers alternatives for the full picture.
Bidsquare
A curated fine art, antiques and design marketplace with a smaller, targeted audience and no published commission. Worth a conversation for an auction house whose material fits its taste.
HiBid
Far cheaper, at 2% of online hammer plus small per-bid fees, with a general rather than a fine art audience. Right for estate and general sales, less so for specialists. See HiBid alternatives.
the-saleroom and Drouot Digital
For UK and French audiences respectively: the-saleroom is Auction Technology Group’s UK marketplace, Drouot Digital serves the French salerooms. European auction houses listing on Invaluable for an American audience will usually keep one of these for the home market.
The Hybrid: Own Site Plus Invaluable for Reach
Most auction houses that reduce their dependence on a marketplace do not leave it. The sale runs on their own platform, where their existing clients register and bid without a marketplace fee on either side. The catalog is also listed on Invaluable, or LiveAuctioneers, for the bidders who would not otherwise have found it. Every bidder who arrives that way is invited to register directly for the next sale, in the invoice footer and the thank-you email. Within a few sales the marketplace’s share of hammer falls to the bidders it genuinely brings, and that is the share worth paying 5% for.
How to Move Without Losing Your Bidders
- Set up the own-website platform first and run a test sale before announcing anything.
- Keep the Invaluable listing for one or two sales while the same catalog runs on your own site, with a reason to register directly such as a lower premium or early catalog access.
- Email every past buyer from the auction house. You have their details from every invoice. Tell them where future sales run and why it costs them less.
- Move the alerts. Category alerts, catalog announcements and condition report requests go out from your own CRM from now on.
- Measure after three sales. If Invaluable is still bringing a meaningful share of hammer, keep it; if not, you have your answer.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who owns Invaluable now?
Liquidity Services, Inc., a Nasdaq-listed company, completed its acquisition of Auction Holdings, Inc., the parent of Invaluable, AuctionZip and RFC Auction Systems, on October 1, 2026, for a base price of $80 million. Invaluable’s chief executive remains in place.
How much does Invaluable charge auction houses?
Under its published pricing parity program the auction house pays a per-lot commission on hammer of 5% below $5,000, 4% from $5,000, 3% from $10,000, 2% from $15,000 and 1% from $20,000, in exchange for removing the fee online buyers otherwise pay. Standard commission outside that program, and payment and shipping rates, are not published.
Does Invaluable charge buyers a fee?
Yes. Invaluable’s terms state that a fee is charged on every online purchase in addition to the auction house’s charges, quoted on its pricing parity page as 5%, unless the auction house has joined the parity program and absorbs it.
Is Invaluable owned by Auction Technology Group?
No. Auction Technology Group owns LiveAuctioneers, Proxibid, the-saleroom, BidSpotter, i-bidder, Lot-tissimo, EstateSales.NET and Chairish, plus the software companies Wavebid and Auction Mobility. Invaluable now belongs to Liquidity Services.
What is the best alternative to Invaluable?
For an auction house that wants to own its bidders and stop paying a percentage of hammer, an own-website platform such as Circuit, Bidsquare Cloud or BidJS. For an auction house that wants to stay on a marketplace, LiveAuctioneers for reach, Bidsquare for a curated audience, or HiBid for low fees on general material.
Can I use Invaluable and my own platform at the same time?
Yes, and most auction houses that move do so for a period. The sale runs on your own site and the catalog is also listed on Invaluable; marketplace bidders are invited to register directly for the next sale.
About Circuit Auction
Circuit Auction is an all-in-one auction management platform for professional auction houses specializing in collectibles. It runs on your own website under your own brand, with AI cataloging, live and timed bidding, a built-in CRM, automated invoicing and consignor settlement in one system.
Thinking about reducing your dependence on a marketplace? Book a demo and we will walk through the plan above with your own sale calendar.
Sources (checked October 5, 2026): Liquidity Services acquisition release, Liquidity Services 8-K exhibit, Invaluable pricing parity, Invaluable house services, Invaluable terms of use, Invaluable privacy policy, Invaluable Private Label pricing, Invaluable Advantage, Insight Partners on the 2014 round.
