Ready to buy fundraising auction software?
Great! It will help you organize your auction data.
Next step? Decide on which software to buy.
(Nearly 40 companies are competing, so you’ve got some choices.)
Here’s what I’ve observed. Most programs have similar overarching functionality, such as the ability to sell event tickets, run online auctions, let guests bid on their phone (ie, mobile bidding), and facilitate invoicing/checkout.
But like most tech-related tools, the differences are in the details.
Some programs are more intuitive.
Some offer more advanced reporting.
Some have better online auction functionality, like including more robust features (EG: offering both extended bidding and max bid), letting you upload substantially more images and videos to showcase an auction package, or easily letting you transfer a guest’s event contributions into other donor management software, such as Blackbaud, SalesForce, or DonorPerfect.
It’s hard to know where to begin, so below is a list to get you started.
These are the companies my clients most often use.
A couple of closing comments:
- Even your “software soulmate” can have quirks you don’t realize. For example, one event was delayed by a speaker who talked longer than expected. My client wanted to make a modest change to the timeline to accommodate the longer speech. Instead of closing the online auction at 8:15 pm, she wanted to close it 10 minutes later, at 8:25 pm. When she logged into the software to change the online closing time, she learned that the program would only let them close the auction on the quarter — that is to say, at 8:00 pm, 8:15 pm, 8:30 pm, 8:45 pm, etc. Had the speaker not created a delay, this unusual constraint would never have been noticed.
- The popularity of a software brand tends to depend on one’s location. A few software companies have a strong national or global presence, but most seem to be regional players. Thus, if you live in an area where Software X is popular, it might be because Software X is based there. Don’t discount other software because you haven’t heard of them; it might just be a matter of location.
If you have demos from the above companies and still can’t find what you want, check out this complete list of auction software companies.