Versteigerergewerbe Erlaubnis beantragen

If you want to auction off third-party movable property, land or rights on a commercial basis, you need a permit.

If you wish to auction off third-party movable property, third-party land or third-party rights on a commercial basis, you require permission from the competent authority. The permit may be subject to conditions if this is necessary to protect the general public, the client or the bidders.

In the case of partnerships (e.g. OHG, KG), the trader is any managing partner. In the case of legal entities (e.g. GmbH, AG), the permission of the legal entity is granted.

As an auctioneer, you may not:

• bid at your auctions yourself or through another person for yourself or buy auctioned items entrusted to you,
• allow relatives or your employees to bid at your auctions or to purchase auctioned items entrusted to you,
• bid for another person at your auctions or purchase auctioned goods entrusted to you, unless the other person has made a written bid,
• auction movable items from the range of goods that you carry in your commercial business if this is not customary,
• auction items
  • on which you have a lien or
  • if they belong to the goods that you offer in open sales outlets and that are unused or whose intended use consists in their consumption (consumer goods).

• Identity card or comparable identification document (copy)
• Non-EU citizens: residence permit (copy)
• Proof of the legal form of the company
  • Registered office in Germany:
    • Extract from the commercial register for a registered company
    • If applicable, a copy of the articles of association (e.g. for a civil law partnership (GbR))
  • Registered office abroad: documents from this country proving the legal form
• Proof of personal reliability
  • Residence in Germany:
    • Certificate of good conduct
    • Extract from the central trade register for natural persons and, if applicable, legal entities
  • Residence abroad: Documents from your home country proving that you have the personal reliability to perform the desired service
  • In individual cases, the authorities may request further documents that are suitable for making a statement about your personal reliability as an applicant.
• Proof of orderly financial circumstances
  • Residence in Germany:
    • Extract from the debtor register
    • Certificate from the insolvency court
    • Certificate from the tax office in tax matters
  • Residence abroad: Documents from your home country proving that you live in orderly financial circumstances

Prerequisites are

• personal reliability and
• orderly financial circumstances.

You will not receive a permit if

• Facts justify the assumption that you, as the applicant, do not possess the reliability required for commercial operations.
  As a rule, you do not have the necessary reliability if you have been convicted of a crime or of theft, embezzlement, extortion, fraud, breach of trust, money laundering, forgery of documents, receiving stolen goods, usury or an offense against the Unfair Competition Act in the five years prior to submitting the application and have been sentenced to imprisonment.
• you as the applicant are living in disorderly financial circumstances.
  This is usually the case if insolvency proceedings have been opened against your assets or if you are entered in the register kept by the insolvency court or the enforcement court.

Depending on the case, the fees can range from 50.00 to 1,500.00 euros.

You must apply for a permit for auctions in writing or in person at the competent authority.

After the examination, you will either receive the permit or a rejection notice. A permit may be subject to certain conditions. The subsequent inclusion, amendment and addition of conditions is also permitted.

You must apply for the permit before starting your business. You are only entitled to exercise the trade after the permit has been issued.

In addition to obtaining a permit, you must also register the business with the responsible municipality.

The authorities have rights of information and inspection vis-à-vis traders. At the request of the authorities, the parties concerned must provide the information required to monitor business operations. Furthermore, the authorities are authorized to enter the business premises in order to carry out inspections and visits.

As an auctioneer, you are also subject to the requirements of the Auctioneers Ordinance when carrying out your business. For example, you must

• prepare a list of the items to be auctioned no later than two weeks before the auction, in which the auctioned items of each client must be uniformly identified
• notify the competent authority and the Chamber of Industry and Commerce in whose district the auction is to take place in writing of each auction at least two weeks before the planned auction date, stating the place and time of the auction and the type of goods to be auctioned
• provide the opportunity to inspect the goods to be auctioned for at least two hours
• keep a record of each auction order and its execution

Upon application, auctioneers with special expertise, with the exception of legal entities, may be publicly appointed and sworn in by the competent authority. As a publicly appointed auctioneer, you must take an oath that you will perform your duties conscientiously and impartially.

Retailers and manufacturers of goods may only sell goods that they carry in their business operations at retail to the end consumer by way of auction as the holder of an auctioneer's license or through an auctioneer appointed by them.

• Anyone wishing to operate commercially as an auctioneer requires a permit from the competent authority.
• Certain requirements must be met
• Costs are incurred.
• Responsible: the trade authority responsible forthe place of business

Please contact the relevant trade authority.