SDL Graham Penny, the new name for the most successful auctioneer in the East Midlands, has today launched a new membership card scheme to offer speedy registration to bidders attending its auction rooms.

Bidders holding a SDL Graham Penny membership card will be able to bypass the normal registration process as their contact details and identification will already be stored on the bespoke cloud-based software.

Auctioneer and managing director Andrew Parker, commented: “It’s essential for us to get the contact details and see the ID of all our bidders in the auction room to qualify our prospective purchasers, however we know that it can be frustrating filling out our form every time to attend our auctions.

“Our new membership card system will mean card holders simply need to show their card for scanning when they enter the auction room and then they can be given a bidding card straight away.”

Pre-registration will be taking place at the Derby, Nottingham and Leicester September auctions where prospective bidders can submit their ID for adding to the new system. A membership card will then be posted to them in time for the next auction. Once a buyer is registered and owns a membership card, on arrival at the registration desk a member of the SDL Graham Penny team will scan the card and give out a bidding number. There will be no need to show ID on arrival as it will be securely saved on the system.

Since inception in 2006, SDL Graham Penny has sold more than 5,000 lots across the East Midlands and raised over £500m for clients. Formerly Graham Penny Auctions, it joined the SDL Group in early 2016, making the SDL Auctions network the fourth largest in the UK and the biggest outside of London.

Andrew added: “We hope in the future that we can expand the system to expedite the exchanging of contracts too, to provide an even more efficient auction purchase for our customers.”