Marketplace Tiers and Authentication Schemes

Marketplace tiers let you divide one catalogue into bands that buyers can tell apart, for example a premium band of authenticated lots and an open band sold as seen. Each tier can have its own place in your storefront navigation, its own permitted sale formats, its own fee rates and its own trust treatment.

An authentication scheme is the standard you certify lots against. It defines the grades a lot can be given (called tiers inside the scheme) and the custody arrangements it can be sold under (called tracks). A marketplace tier can be bound to one scheme, and only lots in a tier with a scheme can carry that scheme's authentication details.

Both are optional. Listings with no marketplace tier are unaffected by anything in this guide.

Before you start

• You need the permission to manage settings. In the standard roles, Admin has it. Without it, Marketplace Tiers and Authentication Schemes do not appear under Settings. See Team members and roles.
• Both screens are available on every plan.
• If you want a tier to show authentication badging, create the authentication scheme first, then bind it to the tier.

Authentication schemes

Go to Settings → Authentication Schemes. The list shows each scheme with its number of Tiers and Tracks, its challenge windows and whether it is active.

Create a scheme

1. Click New Authentication Scheme (or Create a scheme if the list is empty).
2. Enter a Name. This is an internal name for the standard, for example House authentication standard.
3. Leave Is active on. Inactive schemes are hidden from listing forms, but listings that already use the scheme keep it.
4. Add a Description if it helps your team.
5. Optionally fill in the Dispute Windows: Tier challenge window (days) is how long after a sale a buyer can challenge the grade a lot was given, and Authenticity challenge window (months) is how long they can challenge authenticity. The screen notes that these values are stored now and enforcement will follow, so do not rely on them to block late disputes yet.
6. Click Create.

Add grades and custody tracks

Open the scheme to see two tabs underneath the form.

Tiers are the grades a lot can be certified at. Click New authentication tier on the Tiers tab and enter:

• Key: a stable internal key, for example grade_1. Lowercase with underscores is recommended.
• Label: what buyers see, for example Authenticated.
• Description: optional explanation of the grade.
• Position: display order, lower numbers first. You can also drag rows to reorder them.

Tracks describe how a lot is held while it is sold, for example in your custody or remaining with the seller. Click New authentication track on the Tracks tab and fill in the same four fields. Tracks matter for fees: a marketplace tier can set a different fee rate for each track in its scheme (see below).

Use Edit and Delete on any row to change or remove it.

Delete a scheme

Use Delete at the top of the scheme's edit page. Deleting a scheme also deletes its tiers and tracks, removes the scheme from any listings that used it, and unbinds it from any marketplace tier. A marketplace tier left without a scheme can no longer be saved with authentication badging, so rebind or change it afterwards. Consider switching Is active off instead if listings still use the scheme.

Marketplace tiers

Go to Settings → Marketplace Tiers. The list shows each tier's position, name, key, marker, trust treatment, bound scheme and whether it is active. Click a row to edit it.

Create a tier

Click New Marketplace Tier (or Create a tier if the list is empty). The form has five sections.

Tier

• Key: a stable internal key such as premium, lowercase with underscores. Up to 64 characters.
• Name: the display name buyers see, for example The premium catalogue.
• Slug: the tier's URL and navigation slug. It must be unique within your marketplace.
• Position: display order, lower numbers first.
• Is active: only active tiers can be chosen on a listing.
• Separate nav destination: gives the tier its own entry in your storefront navigation.

Trust treatment

This section decides what trust signals lots in the tier carry.

• Authentication scheme: the scheme this tier grants. Leave it on the None option (no authentication, sold as is) for a band sold without authentication.
• Trust display: how the tier's trust line is presented. Mark + tiers (premium) shows the full authentication badge and grade, and requires a scheme. Provenance line shows a line backed by the lot's own verification record and needs no scheme. Identity only shows seller identity only and is the default.
• Marker: the small symbol shown against the tier's lots. Filled square (premium) requires a scheme. Open ring and None do not. The default is None.
• Require seller identity verification: on by default. When on, a listing in this tier cannot go live or be scheduled until its seller has passed identity verification. Drafts are never blocked, so sellers can prepare listings first. The marketplace-wide Seller Eligibility setting on Settings → Auction Settings also applies, and whichever is stricter wins. See Identity verification.

If seller agreements are enabled, lots in a tier using Mark + tiers (premium) or Provenance line also need a signed attestation of authenticity and title. See Seller agreements.

The option labels above are fixed on-screen names for the three treatments. You can call your own tiers anything you like; the labels only describe the style of treatment.

If you choose the full badge or the filled square without a scheme, the form will not save and explains why. Bind a scheme, or choose a treatment that does not need one.

Mechanics

Permitted auction mechanics limits which sale formats a listing in this tier may use: English ascending (incl. timed-with-reserve), Dutch descending, Sealed bid and Fixed price / best offer. Leave all boxes empty to allow any format.

The check runs when a listing is created in the tier, when its sale format changes and when it is moved from one tier to another. Assigning a tier for the first time to an existing listing is not blocked, so you can backfill tiers without errors.

Commission & fees

• Buyer's premium rate (%): charged to the buyer on top of the hammer price for lots in this tier.
• Seller commission rate (%): deducted from the seller's proceeds at settlement for lots in this tier.

Leave either empty to use your marketplace default from Fees, commission and sales models. Values must be between 0 and 100.

Custody-track fee overrides

If the tier has a scheme with tracks, this section shows a buyer's premium and seller commission box for each track. A track rate beats the tier rate, which beats your marketplace default. Leave a box empty to use the tier rate. If no scheme is bound, or the scheme has no tracks, the section says there is nothing to override.

How fee rates are chosen for a lot

For the buyer's premium, the most specific rate wins: a rate set on the lot itself, then the track rate, then the tier rate, then your marketplace default.

For seller commission, a rate set on the lot itself always wins. Otherwise the seller pays the lowest of: the tier or track rate, any commission rate negotiated with that seller, and any trade programme rate that applies to them. If none of those is set, your marketplace default applies. This means placing a lot in a tier never makes a seller pay more than a rate they have already agreed.

Other tier requirements

Some tiers can also restrict which kinds of item they accept, or require particular supporting documents before a lot can go live. These requirements are not editable on the tier form. If you need them set up or changed, contact Hammerd support.

Delete a tier

Use Delete at the top of the tier's edit page. Listings in that tier are left with no tier and fall back to your marketplace defaults for fees and sale formats. To take a tier out of use without touching existing listings, switch Is active off instead: inactive tiers cannot be chosen for new listings.

How a listing gets a tier

Tiers are assigned by your staff on the listing form. Open a listing from Sell → Listings and expand the Marketplace Tier & Authentication section (it starts collapsed).

1. Choose a Marketplace tier, or leave it on No tier. Only active tiers are listed.
2. If the tier grants a scheme, choose the same Scheme, then a grade under Tier and a custody arrangement under Authentication track.
3. Optionally fill in Signatory, the line crediting who authenticated the lot.
4. Save the listing.

When you save, Babylon checks the combination:

• A lot in a tier with no scheme cannot carry a scheme, grade, track or signatory.
• A lot in a tier with a scheme can only use that scheme, and only grades and tracks from it.
• The sale format must be one the tier permits.

If a check fails, the listing does not save and the message names the tier and what to change. The tier also feeds the lot's auction configuration and fee rates, as described above. For the rest of the listing form, see Listings and collections.

Common questions

The form will not let me choose the premium badge

The full badge and the filled square marker both need an authentication scheme bound to the tier. Create a scheme under Settings → Authentication Schemes, then select it in Authentication scheme on the tier.

A listing will not go live and mentions identity verification

The listing's tier (or your marketplace-wide seller eligibility setting) requires a verified seller. The seller needs to complete identity verification, or you can move the lot to a tier that does not require it.

I changed a tier's fee rates. Do existing lots change?

Fee rates are worked out from the lot's tier and track when fees are calculated, so lots that have not yet settled pick up the new rate. If a seller agreement has already been issued for a lot, check the rates printed on it; see Seller agreements.

Should every listing have a tier?

No. Tiers are optional. Listings without a tier use your marketplace defaults throughout.