List of silent auction software vendors (including mobile bidding)

This is the text I received from GreaterGiving, inviting me to bid in a school’s online silent auction.

This is a good post to share with your other Gala Chairs who are seeking to invest or change their auction software, but don’t know all the players.

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It’s been five years since I published a list of silent auction software vendors.

Or rather, it was a list of mobile bidding software vendors.  Back then, mobile bidding had been growing in popularity.  Sharing a list of companies selling the tool seemed like a good idea.

I struggled with what to name the post — Mobile bidding?  Electronic bidding?  Text bidding?  Online bidding?

The industry hadn’t yet settled on common terms. Each vendor had its own branded name to describe the concept of bidding on a device (phone, iPad) instead of a paper bid sheet.  

In 2013, not all traditional silent auction software vendors had updated their code to accommodate mobile bidding.  Some partnered with the newcomers, allowing companies like BidPal (now called OneCause) to tap into their robust auction management software systems while they themselves raced to build out their own tool for mobile bidding.

BidPal was one of the first silent auction software vendors to offer mobile bidding. One client used the BidPal (now, OneCause) platform for its own silent auction. This screenshot shows the alerts I received.

Simultaneously, the mobile bidding companies worked to build out their auction management platform to offer the functionality that had traditionally been the domain of  long-standing companies like GreaterGiving, Maestrosoft, and AuctionTracker.

Everything changed quickly.  It’s still changing.

CEOs have been fired.  Employees have switched companies. Name changes are prolific.  Mergers and acquisitions are common.

It’s time to share an updated list.

I offer this list without commentary on price or quality of service.  At least 25 of the companies listed below offer some form of mobile bidding.

In addition to the list below, some companies  offer payment processing to the nonprofit auction industry but do not also offer a silent auction management system.  I didn’t include them in the list.

Regardless of your budget, there is a silent auction software package to fit your pocketbook. 

Some of these systems start at less than $100 for small events.

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1. 32auctions.com (Madison, WI)
2. AuctionCoChair.com
3. AuctionHarmony.com (Minneapolis, MN)
4. Auction & Events Solutions (AES) – www.AESAuctions.com (Englewood, CO)
5. Auction Express XT from Sterling Sound Data – www.CharityAuctionSoftware.com (Chicago, IL)
6. Auction Frogs – www.auctionfrogs.com (Boise, ID)
7. AuctionStar – www.barcodedauctions.com (Houston, TX)
8. Auction Systems / Auction! – www.AuctionSystems.com (Colorado Springs, CO)
9. Auctria.com (formerly known as CharityAuctionOrganizer). (Canadian software company)
10. AuctionZoom / BidStation- GoAuctionZoom.com (Vancouver, Canada)
11. BenefitEvents.com (New York, NY)
12. BidCoz.com (Nashville, TN)
13. BiddingForGood.com (Cambridge, MA) – sold in 2015. Now owned by FrontStream Holdings
14. BiddingOwl.com (Gaylord, MI)
15. OneCause (formerly Bidpal) – onecause.com/ (Indianapolis, IN)
16. Bid-Partner.com (Buffalo, MN)
17. CharityAuctionsToday.com (Willowbrook, IL)
18. ClickBid ClickBidOnline.com (Grand Rapids, MI)
19. CommunityAuctionServices.com (product is called EasyAuction) (Colorado)
20. Community Brands: Bought 3 auction software vendors in 2017. 1) Gesture – formerly known as AuctionsByCellular (ABC) in Westmont, IL. 2) GiveSmart in Atlanta, GA 3) 501Auctions in New York, NY.
21. CrowdComms.com (product is called GalaBid). (Based in UK, with representation in Seattle.)
22. Givergy.com (New York, NY with UK headquarters). Formerly Daana.
23. GreaterGiving.com (Atlanta, GA)
24. Handbid.com (Centennial, CO)
25. iBidMobile.net (New York, NY)
26. MaestroSoft.com (Bellevue, WA)
27. Northwest Software Technologies (Maxgiving)- www.Auction-Tracker.com (Boise, ID) On December 31, 2017 Northwest Software Technologies, Inc. was wholly acquired by and is now a division of MaxGiving, LLC of Boise, ID.
28. QTEGO.com (Indianapolis, IN)
29. Ready Set Auction – www.ReadySetAuction.com. RSA is a division of SofterWare, Inc., which owns DonorPerfect, EZCamp, & other nonprofit/school software)
30. SchoolAuction.net (Portland, OR)
31. Proven Benefit (Sold II software) – www.ProvenBenefit.org (Manlius, NY)
32. Salesforce.com – SalesForce is a large software program for organizations. There is a small component of this program designed for auctions, called “Auctions for Salesforce.” If your nonprofit already uses SalesForce, you might be inclined or required to use this component. (San Francisco, CA)
33. WeDoCharityAuctions.com (Indianapolis, IN)
34. WinningCause.com (Minneapolis, MN)

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Did I overlook some silent auction software vendors?

Let me know below and I’ll add them.