Poster Auctions International

What Poster Auctions International does

Poster Auctions International, Inc. is a privately held New York-based auction house founded in 1983 that conducts triannual auctions of rare and vintage posters, typically three sales per year. The company serves serious individual collectors, art dealers and galleries, and casual enthusiasts, with a focus on works by recognized artists such as Toulouse-Lautrec, Cheret, and Cappiello. Its operations are conducted at 26 W. 17th Street, New York, under governing law of the State of New York, with a headcount in the 11-50 range.

The company's core technology stack is the Auction Mobility platform, provided by Auction Mobility LLC as a third-party service provider, which powers the auctions.posterauctions.com website and native iOS and Android applications. This platform handles lot management, real-time and timed online bidding, payment processing, user registration, and account management. A proprietary Poster Price Guide database, accessible by subscription, indexes 40,000+ posters across 40+ years of auction history and 70+ auctions, and is differentiated by a five-year authorship authenticity warranty and a standardized A+ to D condition grading system with detailed catalogue references.

PAI monetizes through four streams: a 25% buyer's premium on all successful bids, consignment commissions on behalf of sellers, tiered subscriptions to the Poster Price Guide ($4.99/week, $14.99/month, $149.99/year), and storage and handling fees on uncollected lots. Distribution is direct-to-collector through online bidding, absentee/order bids, and live auction floor participation, with the auction platform itself serving as the principal marketing channel. No venture capital, private equity, or institutional investor ownership is disclosed, and the company appears to be independently owned and operated. Notable transactional evidence includes a Toulouse-Lautrec poster sold for $300,080 in 2016 and documented multi-decade price appreciation on comparable works.

Name

Poster Auctions International

Legal name

Poster Auctions International, Inc.

Website

https://auctions.posterauctions.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1983

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Poster Auctions International is a privately held New York auction house founded in 1983 that runs triannual sales of rare vintage posters, charging a 25% buyer's premium and monetizing a 40,000-record Poster Price Guide subscription alongside its Auction Mobility-powered online and mobile bidding platform.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Auction House Services

NAICS

Art Dealers (459920), Used Merchandise Retailers (459510), Indoor and Outdoor Display Advertising (54185)

SIC

Services-Advertising (7310), Services-Mailing, Reproduction, Commercial Art & Photography (7330)

akta.pro primary industry

Auction Houses (Luxury Watches & Jewelry) (CRAKAKAF)

Keywords

• Vintage poster auctions
• Antique poster sales
• Collectible art auctions
• Poster price database
• Auction house services

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Buyer's Premium: 25% premium added to successful bid price on all items sold, paid by all purchasers without exception
2. Consignment Sales: Acts as agent for consignors to sell poster lots at auction. Consignors warrant good title to items.
3. Poster Price Guide Subscription: Subscription-based access to searchable database of 40,000+ posters and auction results with tiered pricing plans
4. Storage and Handling Fees: Handling and storage fee of 2% of purchase price per month for lots not removed within two business days after sale, with minimum 5% charge for property not removed within 30 days

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Poster Auctions International operates triannual live and timed online auctions of rare and distinctive vintage posters, acting as agent for consignors to authenticate, catalogue, and sell lots to collectors worldwide. The firm supplements its auction services with a subscription-based Poster Price Guide, a searchable database of 40,000+ posters and 40 years of auction results, used for valuation and market research.

Product overview

Poster Auctions International operates an auction platform for rare and vintage posters, combining live and timed online auctions with a subscription-based Poster Price Guide database of 40,000+ posters. The core offering includes the web-based auction platform and mobile apps (iOS and Android) that provide bidding, auction monitoring, and account management. The auction platform supports buyer premiums, order bids, authentication guarantees (5-year authorship warranty), and international shipping coordination. The platform is powered by Auction Mobility LLC's Auction Experience Management Platform.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Poster Auctions International Online Auction Platform Live and timed online auction platform for rare and vintage posters, enabling real-time bidding, auction monitoring, bid management, and auction registration through web and mobile interfaces for collectors, dealers, and casual enthusiasts.
• Poster Price Guide Subscription-based searchable database of over 40,000 posters spanning 40 years of auction results, helping buyers, sellers, dealers, and galleries establish poster values and research market trends.
• iOS Mobile App Free mobile application for iOS devices enabling optimal bidding experience on Poster Auctions International auctions, available on the Apple App Store.
• Android Mobile App Free mobile application for Android devices enabling optimal bidding experience on Poster Auctions International auctions, available on Google Play Store.

Quantifiable outcome

• Moulin Rouge / La Goulue by Toulouse-Lautrec sold for $300,080 in 2016
• +1 more outcomes

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Auction Mobility LLCcoreTechnology or IntegrationAuction Mobility LLC provides the auction experience management platform powering the Poster Auctions International website and mobile applications. The platform handles lot management, bidding systems, payment processing, user registration, and account management. Auction Mobility acts as a service provider and data processor on behalf of the auction house.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Sotheby's: Global auction house that periodically offers vintage posters within its broader art and luxury sales, competing at the high end of the same collector and estate market PAI targets.
• Bonhams: Global auction house with periodic vintage poster sales and a broader luxury goods platform, competing for trophy consignments and international collectors PAI serves.
• Christie's: Global fine art auction house that handles exceptional vintage poster lots as part of its broader sales calendar, setting ceiling prices and competing for top consignment estates.
• Phillips: International auction house focused on contemporary and 20th-century art with adjacent exposure to vintage print and poster collecting, competing for international collector share of wallet.
• Heritage Auctions: Large U.S. auction house with a vintage poster department that competes for the same high-value consignments while offering buyers a much wider collectibles catalog (coins, comics, sports, fine art).

Others

• Invaluable: Online auction aggregator that hosts competing auction houses including those selling vintage posters, providing an alternative buyer acquisition channel that competes for PAI's bidder attention.
• Auction Mobility: The auction platform technology provider powering PAI's website and apps. While not a competitor, it is the closest comparable technology vendor in the auction SaaS category, and any peer auction house evaluated alongside PAI will share this infrastructure dependency.

Direct peers

• Swann Auction Galleries: New York-based auction house that has run dedicated vintage poster sales for decades, including works by the same artists (Toulouse-Lautrec, Cappiello, Mucha). Directly competes for both consignors and bidders in PAI's exact niche.

Regional players

• Lyon & Turnbull: UK-based auction house with periodic prints and poster sales, competing for European consignors and bidders in the same vintage advertising poster category but primarily in a different geography.
• Dorotheum: Vienna-headquartered auction house that handles vintage posters and works on paper, competing for Central European consignments and overlapping with PAI's international bidder base.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Poster Auctions International