Migrate from SellingLane CRM to Pipedrive

SellingLane Buyer records transfer as Pipedrive Person records with bidder ID, registration date, and verification status preserved as custom fields. The buyer name, email, phone, and address fields map directly. We preserve the original bidder tier or standing as a custom picklist field on the Person record. The verification status (approved, pending, suspended) is a custom field in SellingLane; we replicate the picklist values in Pipedrive's custom field builder and flag any buyer with a deprecated status value not in the active picklist.

SellingLane Lots map to Pipedrive Organizations because Pipedrive's Item (Product) object does not support the rich custom attributes that auction lots require. Lot number becomes the Organization name with a prefix (e.g., LOT-001). Item description, reserve price, starting bid, and estimate range transfer as custom fields on the Organization. Lot status (unsold, sold, withdrawn) maps to a custom picklist. We do not use Pipedrive's Product object for lots because Products lack the per-listing custom attribute capacity that auction catalogs require.

Bid records are linked to a Buyer and a Lot and carry bid amount, timestamp, bid type (floor, absentee, online), and status (winning, outbid, withdrawn). Because Pipedrive has no native bid object, we map bids to Activity Notes attached to the Organization (Lot) record with the Buyer Person referenced in the note body. Bid amount, bid type, and timestamp are preserved as custom fields within the note. Bid-ordering is validated against the original timestamp to confirm the winning bid is the last one by date. This approach preserves the bid stack without creating Deal records for every bid.

SellingLane organizes Lots by Auction Event (sale date, location, catalog name). Pipedrive has no Auction Event object, so we map events as Organization Tags applied to all Lots in a given sale (e.g., tag: Spring 2025 Auction), and we create a date field auction_date__c on each Lot Organization capturing the sale date. During scoping, the customer chooses whether to reconstruct full event groupings (tag-plus-date) or treat Lots as independent inventory records. We flag this gap explicitly and document the chosen strategy before migration begins.

Registration records include buyer ID, event ID, registration date, payment method on file, and buyer Paddle or bidder number. We attach Registration data as an Activity Note on the Buyer Person record with event context referenced in the note body. Registration date and payment method on file transfer as custom fields on the note. For events reconstructed as tags on Lots, we cross-reference the registration event ID against the matching tag to associate registrants with the correct sale.

SellingLane supports custom fields on auction listings but the schema is not publicly documented. We discover custom field definitions during the audit phase by querying SellingLane's field configuration endpoint and generate a complete field manifest. Custom field values migrate to corresponding custom fields on the Lot Organization in Pipedrive. Any custom field with a deprecated or deleted definition in SellingLane can silently drop values; we cross-reference every custom field against live lot records to confirm data completeness before committing the migration.

Item photos, condition reports, and registration documents attach to Lots and Buyers in SellingLane. We export attachments via the platform's file storage API and re-associate them in Pipedrive using file naming conventions that reference the parent record. Pipedrive stores attachments as Files linked via the API. We maintain a manifest mapping original file URLs to Pipedrive file IDs and record IDs so that the customer can verify attachment completeness post-migration.

SellingLane auction staff assigned as lot owners or bidder managers map to Pipedrive User records. We resolve owners by email match against the destination Pipedrive account. Any SellingLane owner without a matching Pipedrive User goes to a reconciliation queue for the customer's admin to provision before record import resumes. Inactive users in Pipedrive can own records if the customer chooses to preserve historical assignments.

SellingLane uses auction-specific workflow stages (e.g., Registered, Won, Lost, Paid, Closed). We map these to Pipedrive Deal stages within a configured Pipeline. If the customer uses multiple auction event types, we create multiple Pipedrive Pipelines with stage sets scoped per event type. Stage probability percentages are set as the customer specifies. Any stage with custom automation triggers in SellingLane is flagged for manual rebuild in Pipedrive Automations.

Lots and Buyers may carry classification tags in SellingLane (e.g., sale category, buyer tier, lot condition). We export tag sets and apply them as Organization Tags in Pipedrive. Tags used for buyer segmentation map to Person Tags. Note that tag-based automations in SellingLane do not transfer; we document every tagged record set that had an automation dependency for the customer's admin to rebuild in Pipedrive Automations.

Post-sale payment records include amount, method, date, and buyer association. Where the destination is a small auction house not using Pipedrive's Products or Invoicing add-on, we map payments as Activity Notes on the Buyer Person record with amount, method, and date preserved as custom fields. Trust-account balance carry-forward is noted as a custom field that the customer decides whether to populate based on their trust-account reconciliation process. Payments linked to Won lots are associated via the Lot Organization.