4.1 Individual Auctioneer Requirements

Individual Auctioneer Requirements

The individual Illinois auctioneer credential is a Department license, not a passing PSI printout. 225 ILCS 407/10-5 is titled Requirements for auctioneer license; application. It is the live statutory gate for a natural person. The written exam is only paragraph (a)(4). The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR), Division of Real Estate, issues the credential after it receives a complete Department application, the remaining 10-5 qualifications, and the fee.

Chapter 1 explained why you sit the exam and how PSI scores the 50 items. This section is the license-file section: what 10-5 actually lists, what 68 Ill. Adm. Code 1440.110 and 1440.120(a) add to the paper, which criminal records the Department shall not require or consider, and which events a licensee must report within 30 days during the term of licensure.

The four 10-5(a) requirements — and only four

Every person who desires an auctioneer license under the Act shall:

1. Apply to the Department on forms provided by the Department, accompanied by the required fee. The current individual initial fee is $200 under 68 Ill. Adm. Code 1440.170(a)(1). 225 ILCS 407/10-50(a) makes fees established under the Act nonrefundable. The Division of Real Estate's individual exam-route form is IL 505-0790 (Auctioneer License Application).
2. Be at least 18 years of age. A 17-year-old with a diploma still fails 10-5(a)(2). Rule 1440.110(b)(1) and Rule 1440.120(a)(3) both require a certification that the applicant is 18.
3. Have attained a high school diploma or successfully completed an equivalent course of study determined by an examination conducted by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE). The statute names ISBE, not "any homeschool affidavit the applicant prefers." The administrative rules restate the same gate as high school or equivalent (e.g., GED).
4. Pass a written examination authorized by the Department to prove competence, including but not limited to general knowledge of Illinois and federal laws pertaining to personal property contracts, auctions, real property, ethics, and other topics relating to the auction business.

That exam-topic list is why the PSI outline is not "Illinois statutes only." Personal-property contract law, federal auction-adjacent rules, real-property issues that surface when goods sit on land, and ethics are inside the statutory charge. A candidate who memorizes only Article 10 and skips UCC-adjacent and ethics material is studying against 10-5(a)(4).

What Illinois does not require for an individual 10-5 license

Illinois does not require an 80-hour (or any-hour) pre-license auction school as a condition of 10-5(a). Illinois does not require an individual auctioneer to post a surety bond as a condition of 10-5(a). Both appear on other states' checklists and as exam distractors. Do not import them.

Auction schools do exist in Illinois, but they live in the continuing-education architecture (Part 1440 Subpart C) and in the 1440.170(c) school-fee schedule. A $2,000 auction-school initial fee is a school-license fee, not a hidden individual pre-license tuition mandate. Firm licensure, 45-day permit sponsor cards, and post-license CE are later chapters. They are not secret 10-5(a) schooling or bonding requirements.

Two applications: 1440.110 (exam) and 1440.120(a) (license)

Rule 1440.110 is the examination rule. Every person who applies for an auctioneer license shall take and pass a written examination authorized by the Division. The exam application filed with the Division or its designated testing service includes only two certifications: age 18 and high school or equivalent (e.g., GED). That is why PSI can seat you before IDFPR has your full licensing file.

Rule 1440.120(a) is the license application. Each applicant for an auctioneer license shall submit, on Division forms:

1. Name, address, and telephone number.
2. Social Security Number and date of birth — with a statutory-style use restriction described below.
3. Certification that the applicant is 18 years of age.
4. Certification of high school graduation or equivalent (e.g., GED).
5. The fee under 1440.170.
6. A properly completed sponsor card issued in accordance with Rule 1440.140 (the 45-day permit). The rule's cross-reference to former Act Section 10-35 is a stale citation: 10-35 is repealed. IDFPR still uses the 45-day permit sponsor card as an administrative form; Chapter 5 teaches that form. Do not treat repealed 10-35 as a live statutory section.
7. Proof of successful completion of the examination, unless the applicant is exempt from examination under Section 10-45 (nonresident reciprocity) and Rule 1440.160.
8. Other fitness information the Division requires, including personal history, criminal record, Illinois tax delinquency, Illinois student-loan delinquency, court-ordered child-support delinquency, and similar fitness facts.

SSN uses (1440.120(a)(2)). The Division shall make the applicant's Social Security Number available only to: the Illinois Department of Revenue (tax delinquency), the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services (court-ordered child-support delinquency), the Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC) (delinquency on a student loan authorized by ISAC), or by subpoena. The SSN is not a public-license-lookup field and is not a general-distribution identifier.

10-5(b): records the Department shall not require or consider

Section 10-5(b) is a statutory bar, not a courtesy. The Department shall not require applicants to report the listed information and shall not consider the listed criminal-history records in connection with an application for licensure or registration:

1. Juvenile adjudications of delinquent minors as defined in Section 5-105 of the Juvenile Court Act of 1987, subject to the restrictions in Section 5-130 of that Act.
2. Law-enforcement, court, and conviction records of an individual who was 17 years old at the time of the offense and before January 1, 2014, unless the nature of the offense required the individual to be tried as an adult.
3. Records of arrest not followed by a charge or conviction.
4. Records of arrest where the charges were dismissed unless related to the practice of the profession. Applicants shall not be asked to report any arrests, and an arrest not followed by a conviction shall not be the basis of denial and may be used only to assess an applicant's rehabilitation.
5. Convictions overturned by a higher court.
6. Convictions or arrests that have been sealed or expunged.

Item (4) is the most exam-tested nuance. Dismissed charges that are related to the practice of the profession sit outside the "shall not consider" shield. Dismissed charges that are not practice-related, and arrests that never became a charge, are off the table as a denial basis. Item (2) is date-locked: the person's age at the offense was 17, and the offense was before January 1, 2014, unless the person was tried as an adult.

10-5(c): 30-day reporting during licensure

Section 10-5(c) is not the application questionnaire. It is a during-the-term-of-licensure duty. An applicant or licensee shall report to the Department, in a manner prescribed by the Department, within 30 days after the occurrence if during the term of licensure:

(i) any conviction of, or plea of guilty, or nolo contendere to forgery, embezzlement, obtaining money under false pretenses, larceny, extortion, conspiracy to defraud, or any similar offense or offenses, or any conviction of a felony involving moral turpitude; or

(ii) the entry of an administrative sanction by a government agency in this State or any other jurisdiction that has as an essential element dishonesty or fraud or involves larceny, embezzlement, or obtaining money, property, or credit by false pretenses.

A nolo contendere plea to larceny counts. An out-of-state real-estate-board fraud sanction counts. A sealed juvenile adjudication does not get imported through 10-5(c). Rule 1440.250 is a parallel 30-day notice for Section 20-15(3) convictions and 20-15(5) other-license discipline; that rule is a Chapter 9 discipline topic. Do not collapse 10-5(c) into 20-15.

Worked licensing-file scenarios

Age versus the under-18 exemption. Dana is 17, holds a high school diploma, and wants to clerk farm auctions this summer for a fee. 10-1(c) and 1440.100(f) may let a person under 18 sell property under $250 under a licensed auctioneer's direct supervision, but that is an exemption, not a license. Dana cannot obtain a 10-5 license until age 18.

Bond and school. A commercial outline from another state tells Marcus he needs an 80-hour school and a $10,000 surety bond before Illinois will license him. 10-5(a) does not contain either requirement. Marcus still needs the application, age, diploma or ISBE equivalent, and the written exam.

Sealed record. Priya's 2012 misdemeanor was sealed. 10-5(b)(6) bars the Department from requiring or considering sealed or expunged convictions or arrests.

During licensure. Two years after licensing, Jordan enters a guilty plea to obtaining money under false pretenses. 10-5(c)(i) requires a report within 30 days after the occurrence. Silence until the next even-year renewal is a separate problem.

Completing the file

1440.120(c): all information an applicant provides is subject to audit for 5 years from the date the Division received the application. 1440.120(d): applicants have 3 years after the date of application to complete the process. If they do not, the application is denied, the fee is forfeited, and the person must reapply under the requirements then in effect.

A passing PSI printout that sits in a drawer for three years after an incomplete IDFPR filing does not ripen into a license.