7.1 Sponsor-Name Advertising and Buyer-Premium Disclosure
Key Takeaways
- Rule 1440.230(a): for advertising of a specific auction (print, classified, display, sale bills, brochures, internet, calendar and line ads paid by a licensee or seller, and websites), clearly disclose the name of the sponsoring auctioneer or that sponsor's properly registered assumed business name — not a license number.
- A sponsored auctioneer's name may be added; it does not replace the sponsor-name element. License number belongs in the 15-10 seller contract (Chapter 6), not as the 1440.230(a) required ad element.
- 1440.230(b) exempts only the (a) name disclosure for radio and television, institutional advertising, signs, and publication calendars for which neither a licensee nor the seller paid. Paid internet and social posts for a named sale stay inside (a).
- 1440.230(d): if a buyer premium is charged or collected, clearly disclose on any advertisement that there is a buyer premium charge and the terms of that premium. (d) is broader than the (a) media list.
- False or incomplete ads stack 1440.230 with 15-5(1) (material misrepresentation) and 20-15(9) and (12) (untruthful or misleading advertising). 1440.230(c) terms-and-conditions posting is Section 7.3.
Sponsor-Name Advertising and Buyer-Premium Disclosure
On the 50-question PSI exam, 37 scored items sit in the Auction License Act and 68 Ill. Adm. Code Part 1440. Rule 1440.230 is titled Advertising; Buyer Premium; Disclosure. It is four subsections, not one "put your name on the bill" slogan. Item writers swap (a) with the 15-10 license-number duty, treat a radio spot as if it were a sale bill, or let a buyer-premium sale skip (d) because the premium is "in the terms." Parse the four subsections independently.
Two different words: Advertisement versus advertising for a specific auction
Rule 1440.10 defines Advertisement as any written, oral, or electronic communication that contains a promotion, inducement, or offer to conduct an auction or offer to provide an auction service, including but not limited to brochures, pamphlets, radio and television scripts, telephone and direct mail solicitation, electronic media, and other means of promotion. That definition is the universe of promotional speech.
Rule 1440.230(a) is narrower. It applies to all advertising for a specific auction. The parenthetical names the usual specific-sale media: print advertising, classified ads, display ads, sale bills, brochures, internet advertising, calendar ads and line ads paid for by a licensee or seller, and websites. The required element in that universe is the name of the sponsoring auctioneer or the sponsoring auctioneer's properly registered assumed business name. The name of a sponsored auctioneer may also be included.
Memorize what (a) does not require. It does not require a license number on the sale bill. License number is a 15-10 contract disclosure (Chapter 6). A question-bank era that said "license NUMBER required" on ads is testing the wrong rule. The advertising required element is a name.
Who must be named, and who may be named
The sponsoring auctioneer is the auctioneer or auction firm that issued the sponsor card (Rule 1440.10). If a sponsored licensee is crying the Saturday farm sale, the sale bill still has to carry the sponsor's name, or the sponsor's properly registered assumed business name from Rule 1440.210 (Section 7.3). Putting only the sponsored cryer's name is not (a). Putting the cryer in addition to the sponsor is expressly allowed.
"Properly registered" is not a slogan. Section 7.3 works the 30-day certified-copy filing under the Assumed Business Name Act. For this section, treat an unfiled DBA as not a 1440.230(a) substitute. "Barnstormer Sales" on the bill when the license still says Jordan Lee Auctioneer, and IDFPR never received the certified county-clerk registration, is not the assumed-name option.
Paid specific-auction media, including social media and websites
The parenthetical is a list of examples, not an exclusive code. Two payment traps sit in it:
- Calendar ads and line ads paid for by a licensee or seller are inside (a). The farm paper's auction calendar that you or the seller bought is a specific-auction ad. The sponsor name goes on it.
- Websites are inside (a) with no payment qualifier. A firm website that lists Saturday's lots is advertising for a specific auction. The sponsoring name, or registered assumed name, must be clearly disclosed.
Internet advertising is named. A paid Facebook, Instagram, or Marketplace post that promotes Saturday's farm sale is advertising for a specific auction. It is inside (a). The "it is just social media" answer is wrong. Radio and television are the (b) exemptions; paid internet for a named sale is not.
Work this checklist when an item describes a medium:
- Print sale bill, classified, display, brochure — (a) applies.
- Paid calendar line or paid internet/social post for a named sale — (a) applies.
- Firm or sale website listing that sale — (a) applies.
- Radio, television, a yard sign, institutional brand copy, or a calendar nobody paid for — (b) takes the name duty off; it does not legalize a false statement.
Subsection (b): what (a) does not cover
The disclosure requirements in subsection (a) do not apply to radio and television advertisements, institutional advertising, signs or calendars run by any publication for which payment is not made by a licensee or seller.
Work each exemption:
- Radio and television. A 30-second radio buy and a local-TV spot do not have to recite the sponsoring auctioneer's name under (a). They can still be false under 15-5 and 20-15(9) or (12). (b) is a name-disclosure exemption, not a license to lie.
- Institutional advertising. Brand advertising that is not for a specific auction — "Lee Auction Co. — serving McLean County since 1998" — is outside (a). The moment the same flyer names Saturday's consignment and the lots, it is specific-auction advertising again.
- Signs. Yard signs and directional arrows are in the (b) list.
- Unpaid publication calendars. The newspaper or association that runs a calendar without payment by a licensee or seller is outside (a). If you paid for the line, you are back in (a).
(b) does not exempt websites, sale bills, paid internet, or paid classifieds.
| Medium | 1440.230(a) sponsor-name duty? | Typical PSI trap |
|---|---|---|
| Print sale bill, classified, display, brochure | Yes | "License number on the bill is enough" |
| Website listing a named sale | Yes | "Websites are institutional" |
| Paid internet or social post for Saturday's sale | Yes | "Social media is like radio" |
| Calendar or line ad paid by licensee or seller | Yes | Confusing it with the unpaid-calendar exemption |
| Radio or television | No (name only) | Treating (b) as a truthfulness exemption |
| Institutional brand ad with no specific sale | No (name only) | A flyer that also names Saturday's lots |
| Sign | No (name only) | Using a sign to dodge a nameless sale bill |
| Publication calendar not paid by licensee or seller | No (name only) | Assuming every calendar is unpaid |
Subsection (d): buyer premium on any advertisement
If a licensee conducts an auction or provides an auction service in which a buyer premium is charged or collected, the licensee shall clearly disclose on any advertisement that there is a buyer premium charge and the terms of the buyer premium.
Three exam points:
- Trigger is charging or collecting a buyer premium, as defined in 1440.10: any fee or compensation paid by the successful purchaser other than the purchase price, to the auctioneer, firm, seller, lessor, or other party.
- Any advertisement is broader than (a)'s specific-auction list. If a premium is in play, do not hide it in a medium that (b) excused from the sponsor-name duty. A radio script that never mentions the 10 percent buyer's premium still has a (d) problem if a premium will be charged.
- The charge and the terms. "Buyer's premium applies" without the rate, how it is computed (percent of hammer, a minimum, which lots), or who pays it is not the terms. 15-10(1)(D) separately requires the contract to state the premium and which party receives it. (d) is the public disclosure.
A 10 percent premium that appears only in fine print on sale morning, after ads ran "no extra fees," is (d), 15-5(1) (material to the buy decision), and 20-15(9) (substantial misrepresentation or untruthful advertising) and 20-15(12) (misleading or untruthful advertising).
Subsection (c) pointer and Article 20 hooks
(c) is the terms-and-conditions posting, delivery, and oral-announcement rule. Section 7.3 works it with the 1440.10 definition. For this section, know that (c) is not a substitute for (a) or (d). Announcing the sponsor's name from the block does not cure a nameless sale bill. Announcing a premium from the block does not cure ads that omitted the premium.
Discipline for the same facts: 20-15(9) and 20-15(12) for untruthful or misleading advertising; 15-5(1) when the ad misrepresents a fact material to a purchaser's decision to buy (absolute versus reserve, presence of a premium, identity of who is licensed). 20-15(2) is the catch-all for violating the Act or the rules, including 1440.230 itself.
Work every advertising item in this order: Is it advertising for a specific auction? Is the medium in (b)? Is the sponsor name or registered assumed name clearly disclosed? Is a buyer premium being charged, and if so did any advertisement carry the charge and the terms? Then ask 15-5 and 20-15(9)/(12).
A sponsored licensee is crying a McLean County farm sale. The printed sale bill names only that sponsored cryer and prints the cryer's license number. The sponsoring auctioneer's name does not appear. Under 68 Ill. Adm. Code 1440.230(a), which statement is correct?
Which communication is exempt from the Rule 1440.230(a) sponsor-name disclosure because of 1440.230(b)?
A licensee will collect a 10 percent buyer's premium on every lot. The print sale bill names the sponsoring auctioneer but is silent on any premium. A radio spot also omits the premium. Which 1440.230 analysis is correct?
A sponsored auctioneer pays for an Instagram advertisement that names Saturday's consignment, the address, and lot photos. The post uses only the sponsored auctioneer's nickname. Which statement matches Rule 1440.230?