Before You List
Most vehicles need to be in your Selling tab as a Draft before they can be scheduled for auction. You then complete the required fields and photos before scheduling. The one exception is ARIES, which pushes vehicles in as Active. See Option 3.
Option 1: Add a Single Vehicle Manually
Go to My Autura and select the Selling tab.
Select Add Vehicle.
Enter the VIN. Year, make, model, and color fill in automatically.
If the vehicle has no standard VIN, toggle Non-standard VIN and enter details by hand.
Select Inspect Vehicle or click the placeholder image to open the listing details form.
Complete all required fields via Add/Edit Media and Edit Details buttons: photos (minimum 4), condition information, pricing.
Add any applicable fees: key fee, storage fee, doc fee.
Choose Public or Private for auction type (defaults to Public).
Save the listing.
TIP You can add several vehicles in one step. Enter VINs on separate rows or separate them with commas or semicolons. Each vehicle is created as its own Draft. |
WATCH OUT The Non-standard VIN toggle applies to the entire entry, not to individual VINs in the list. If you turn it on and include standard VINs in the same batch, those standard VINs will not decode and you will have to key in year, make, model, and color by hand for every one of them.
Upload in separate batches by VIN type: one batch of standard VINs with the toggle off so they decode automatically, and a second batch of non-standard VINs with the toggle on. |
NOTE All required fields must be complete and at least 4 photos uploaded before you can schedule the auction. The platform will show which fields are missing if scheduling is blocked. |
SUCCESS Vehicle saved as a Draft. Displays as "Ready to Launch" on the vehicle card, and is ready to schedule. |
Photos and Video
More and better photos give buyers confidence and lead to stronger bids. Four photos is the minimum. Exterior on all sides, interior, and any damage are worth capturing.
Upload all of a vehicle's photos at once. You no longer pick a photo type before every upload. Select the whole set in one pass, then label each photo afterward.
Open the vehicle and select + Add/Edit media on the Vehicle tab.
Select all of the photos for that vehicle at once. Dragging the files onto the control works too.
Step through the photos one at a time. Each screen shows one photo with the photo types below it.
Select a type to label that photo and move to the next one. Once a type is used, it drops off the list.
Damage/Other is the exception. It stays available and can be used as many times as you need.
Select Back to return to the previous photo. Its type is highlighted, and you can pick a different one to reassign it.
Delete a photo to drop it from the batch. Its type becomes available again.
When every photo has a type, the review screen shows the full set. + Add media adds more photos. Approve & Save saves everything.
NOTE Nothing is uploaded until you select Approve & Save. If you cancel, the whole batch is discarded and your vehicle is left exactly as it was. Nothing is added and nothing is removed. |
NOTE You can work in batches. Save two photos today, reopen Add/Edit media later, and add more. Photos already on the vehicle stay where they are and their types are not offered again. Reopening a vehicle that already has photos takes you straight to the review screen. |
WATCH OUT Driver front, Driver back, Passenger front, and Passenger back are marked with an asterisk, but you can still save without assigning them. The asterisk is a label, not a save requirement. You still need at least 4 photos on the vehicle before you can schedule it for auction. |
NOTE On a browser other than Safari on iPhone, HEIC photos may show as a filename or a gray box before you save. The photo still uploads and processes correctly. This is a preview limitation, not a failed upload. |
Damage and extra photos are now on the Vehicle tab as Damage/Other. The Additional media tab is for video only.
You can also link a video to your listing:
Open the listing form for the vehicle.
Go to the Additional media tab and select the option to add a video link.
Paste the URL of your hosted video (for example, a YouTube link).
Save. The video appears alongside your photos on the vehicle page.
Setting Your Price
Starting bid. Every vehicle needs a starting bid set at the vehicle level. There is no account-wide default. If you do not enter a starting bid, the vehicle starts at $10.
Fees are shown as part of the starting price. Any fee you add rolls into the starting price the buyer sees. For example, a $200 starting bid with a $250 fee displays as a $450 start.
Storage fees are not collected through the platform. They are disclosed on the listing and collected by you directly from the buyer if a vehicle is not picked up in time.
NOTE The system rounds the starting bid up to the nearest bid increment. Rounding is applied to the all-in starting price, meaning your starting bid plus any fees you have added. Buyers will see the rounded figure as the opening price, so the amount displayed may be slightly higher than the total you entered. |
Reserve price vs. floor price. These are not the same thing:
Field | What It Does |
Reserve price | The minimum amount you will accept. If bidding does not reach the reserve, the vehicle does not sell automatically. |
Floor price | A negotiable soft floor below your reserve. It is not a reserve. |
WATCH OUT If you enter only a floor price and leave the reserve blank, the vehicle effectively has no reserve and will sell to the top bidder at whatever the high bid is. If you have a minimum you must receive, enter it in the reserve price field. |
NOTE Buyers never see your reserve amount. If a reserve is set, the listing shows a buyer Reserve Not Met or Reserve Met only after that buyer has placed a bid on the vehicle. Buyers who have not bid see no reserve status at all, and no buyer sees the dollar figure. |
Option 2: Upload Multiple Vehicles with Upload File
From the Selling tab, select Add Vehicle and Upload File.
Upload your file. The system creates a Draft for each vehicle automatically.
Complete required fields and photos for each vehicle individually before scheduling.
NOTE Upload File creates Drafts only. It does not auto-complete listings. You still need to add condition information, photos, and pricing for each vehicle before it can go to auction.
For file format, required columns, and pricing setup, see How to Bulk Upload Vehicles with a CSV File. Reviewing this guide before you build your file will save you rework from potential errors. |
NOTE Fixed in the September 14, 2026 release. Vehicles with no VIN now import correctly. Enter NO VIN, UNKNOWN, or NOT VISIBLE in the VIN column. These rows were previously rejected as duplicates. |
TIP When your vehicles are ready, use select mode in the Selling tab to bulk schedule them. The order you select vehicles sets the order they close, and you can set a staggered end interval so they close in sequence rather than all at once. See How to Schedule and Manage Your Auctions for details. |
Edit Multiple Vehicles at Once
If you need to make the same change across a group of vehicles, the Bulk Editor applies one set of values to all of them in a single action, instead of opening each vehicle. It works on Draft vehicles.
Go to the Selling tab and turn on select mode.
Select the vehicles you want to change.
Select Bulk Editor in the toolbar. A panel opens on the right, or full screen on a phone.
Fill in only the fields you are changing. Anything you leave blank stays as it is on every vehicle.
Select Review changes. This stays unavailable until at least one field is filled in.
Check the list of vehicles. You can search it, and remove or add back individual vehicles here.
Select Apply changes. The footer tells you how many vehicles are being updated.
The 12 fields you can change: Start status, Key status, Documentation type, Storage facility, Private/Public, Starting bid, Floor, Reserve, Key fee, Storage fee, Doc fee, and Notes.
Limits:
100 vehicles per batch
Whole dollar amounts only
Starting bid $1 to $100,000
Floor and Reserve $0 to $100,000
Key, Storage, and Doc fee $0 to $10,000
Notes up to 2,048 characters
You need the Manager role on the seller account
WATCH OUT Notes replaces the existing note on every vehicle you selected. It does not add to it. If a vehicle has a note you want to keep, leave the Notes field blank. |
NOTE The Bulk Editor only changes Draft vehicles. Published, scheduled, sold, and unsold vehicles cannot be bulk edited, even if the auction has not started and has no bids. Set your starting bids and fees while your vehicles are still Drafts. |
NOTE Select mode is shared with other actions, so you can select vehicles the Bulk Editor cannot change. It skips them. If the footer reads Updating 3 out of 12 vehicles, only 3 of the vehicles you selected are Drafts. That is expected. |
Every change applies to all of those vehicles or to none of them. There is no partial result. If you see Vehicles not updated!, a vehicle most likely left Draft between the review step and applying. Refresh, fix your selection, and try again. If you see There was an error on our end!, contact support with the time and roughly how many vehicles you selected.
TIP An upload file holds up to 100 vehicles and the Bulk Editor changes up to 100 vehicles. Upload your file, then select the same group and set starting bids and fees in one action rather than opening each vehicle. |
Option 3: Use Your TMS (TOPS or ARIES)
If you use TOPS or ARIES as your towing management system, vehicles can flow into Autura Marketplace automatically. The two integrations behave differently once the vehicle lands, so read the section that applies to you.
TOPS: When a vehicle is entered in TOPS, it appears in your Marketplace inventory as a Draft with details pre-filled. You complete condition information, photos, and pricing, then schedule it yourself.
ARIES: When a vehicle reaches disposition-ready status in ARIES, it is pushed to your Marketplace inventory in Active status. Active means the vehicle is already scheduled and open for bidding.
WATCH OUT Vehicles pushed from ARIES do not wait in Draft. They arrive Active, which means buyers can bid on them right away. Review pricing, photos, and condition information as soon as they land in your Selling tab so nothing goes to auction with the wrong price or a missing detail. |
NOTE TMS integration must be enabled for your account. Contact support before attempting to push Marketplace inventory after entry in your TMS. |
What Happens After the Listing Is Complete
Once all required fields are filled and photos are uploaded, your vehicle is ready to schedule for auction. See How to Schedule and Manage Your Auctions for next steps.
Need Help?
Contact Autura support if vehicles are not appearing in your inventory or if you are blocked from scheduling.
Email: [email protected]
Chat: use the in-platform chat bubble in the bottom right.
Phone: (888) 998-6085
Hours: Monday–Friday, 7 AM – 5 PM Pacific Time