SchoolAuction.net

A shout out to SchoolAuction.net! Fabulous customer support~~timely, helpful and thorough. Thanks!

Vantagens:

We appreciate that SchoolAuction.net is forever improving itself. Supprt truly listens to feedback and then goes about making changes. We appreciate the easiness of the software to use for our Spring Gala and auction needs. We were especially pleased with showing off the catalog last year. Once our pics and descriptions were in and we published it to our families, we were really proud of how the catalog looked. It was very professional and gave our families a huge preview of what was to come at the event.

Great platform!

Comentários: We loved using SchoolAuction.net and have already made plans to use it for our next event.

Vantagens:

This was an extremely easy platform to learn and set up. Anytime we got stuck and were not sure what to do, we were able to quickly find the answer in the help menus. The customer support was excellent!

Desvantagens:

The only complaint we had was with the third party processor. However this was something that was outside SchoolAuction.net's control and their customer services in helping us navigate the problem was amazing.

Good for School Auctions only

Comentários: It worked fine for the year we used it. I was frustrated by having to figure out a lot of work arounds to get what I wanted to do. Not very customisable and very limited creatively.

Vantagens:

What I was as able to create looked very good, but there was so much more I wanted to be able to do but couldn’t.

Desvantagens:

Not very customisable for different types of organisations. Really is created to run school auctions. Very little muted in what one could create using this software.

Answered our prayers

Comentários: We had been using a different auction package for a few years. It had a dated, inefficient interface. It tripped us up in the middle of our event. We needed something more modern and responsive. We were investigating more expensive, top-tier packages when another volunteer saw SchoolAuction.net in an ad. We read up on it and found it had the features we wanted, but seemed like just a small startup (loved the story, but could they support us?). I called and had their founder on the phone in no time and he quickly put me at ease with their ability to meet our needs and support our events. We decided to try it out and were not disappointed. The documentation was amazingly clear and very easy to follow. We got rapid support when we needed it. Including a few more calls to their founder who also helped us get connected with a payments gateway. We pulled off a great event and were even able to re-use the software for other events within the same year. ALL of our events yielded higher revenue than in past years as a result of their great tools and we saved money over the other packages we evaluated.

Vantagens:

Easy to learn and use. Great documentation. Superb customer service. Comprehensive feature set and flexible enough to meet needs outside of our original auction intent. Cannot recommend highly enough.

Desvantagens:

Would have enjoyed a little more customization capability in the site look-and-feel, but the included templates were good enough to meet our needs.

Very good software for running a fundraising auction

Comentários: They are very easy to do business with. I highly recommend to use their studio for a live virtual event; they take care of all the technical details to make it look good.

Vantagens:

Got lots of emails and support about what to do at each stage of preparation. Easy to add donors and photos of auction items. Like that there's one window for bidding and viewing the video. This software is much better for the auctioneer than the other software I have used.

Desvantagens:

The flowchart in the dashboard is somewhat useless; clicking on the steps only referenced help videos that I don't have time for; would be better to jump to the referenced setup menu. Missed sending out virtual event reminders on the day before; could have used a reminder (nowhere does it mention this). Sofware is geared to set up for a live auction event with bid sheets, etc. Have to manually change each item and ended up missing one.

Easy to use during the event

Comentários: Those of us tasked with entering items and organizing were done so far ahead of schedule compared to prior years, that we had to go back and correct issues that arose later. Next time, we’ll just be patient. A good problem.

Vantagens:

Mobile/Tablet compatible, SaaS Intuitive, very little training for volunteers. Very easy to integrate credit card processing connection. Help videos to show volunteers. Extensive text-based help database as well. Multiple users at once; admin can set permissions. Option for online auction.

Desvantagens:

Some signage/descriptions signage was only available in one export size/orientation and it wasn’t our desired size. Can’t add new user while in the screen to add new item. Must switch menus. Indicator for volunteer at check-out to pull certificate needs to be larger and/or a pop-up should be utilized. Managing seats at gala tables; doesn’t indicate well when particular table hits capacity. No option to suppress unavailable physical bidder paddle numbers (when using existing paddles). Silent auction tab sheet doesn’t continue to a second page for more entries. No place to include other expenses from event so we can build complete picture of our success.

Worth the learning curve! Switched from software we had been using for the past 20+.

Comentários: We really enjoyed using schoolauction.net and will continue to do so for our school gala/auction event. In fact, we were so pleased that we are looking at how we might be able to use it for other events as well. There was a learning curve, especially for those team members who aren't especially tech-savvy , but the majority found it very easy to use and were thrilled that we made the switch!

Vantagens:

Easy to import info from previous software. Intuitive and generally very user-friendly. Good for those who can self-educate - lots of video tutorials and a comprehensive help center. Very quick customer service response through email.

Desvantagens:

Some team members struggled with the lack of phone support. We had an issue specific to our gala-style event, and thus I would not recommend this software for an organization whose priority is finding a seamless way to handle guests with regards to tickets, tables, table captains, and comped tickets. We were able to find workarounds but it got a bit confusing and we weren't able to use the reports and analytics that would have otherwise been very helpful.

Great cloud based producr

Vantagens:

We find the ease of use unparalleled. The fact that we can have multiple users concurrently connected to the system, making changes with different access. Rights is very helpful. Additionally, the fact that we can have multiple users doing dead entry on the night of our event is wonderful. We use this software for all of our fundraising events throughout the year.

Desvantagens:

Initially, we struggled with the way to customize the software. Once that was resolved, everything worked well.

Wonderful and Easy to Use!

Comentários: Overall- wonderful! A life saver for us!

Vantagens:

Everything was wonderful and super easy to use! This made our online auction do-able and simple. Customer service was amazing and I couldn't have been happier with it all! The checkout process was also very easy and made our lives so much simpler! We'll definitely use this software again in the future!!

Desvantagens:

Nothing, it was all very simple and easy.

a good way to satr

Vantagens:

Its a great way to introdusse yoursel in the auction world

Desvantagens:

much people didint know about this software, and sometimes they thing are school related

Easy To Use

Vantagens:

I like that it's web based and allows us to give access to multiple people. The ease of use for entering and managing items is simple. Managing tickets is also easy.

Desvantagens:

A big missing feature is a more robust table management portion of the software. Our events have anywhere from 300-1,000 guests and while I can enter the table number on the ticket, the organization and management of all our tables has to be done outside of the software. We also had issues with linking bidders. When two bidders were linked, only one of their bidder numbers worked. Couples would use both numbers thinking that the accounts were linked together.

The best we've found - it does everything.

Comentários: SchoolAuction.net has been an incredible upgrade from the software we used for a few years. It's a complete system that essentially provides everything you need in order to conduct an online and/or live auction, from selling tickets to selling items, assigning and printing bid sheets and bidder cards, as well as invoicing, tracking and receiving payments, and reconciliation. Essentially, it's a complete system. We compared many systems before converting to SchoolAuction.net 3 years ago, and once we chose this one, we havent looked back. Each year they have added new and exciting features (they even have mobile bidding and self-checkout with automated email reminders to pay), and their support is fast and clear. They also have very good tutorials and videos, which makes it easy for me to train new users each year (thank you for that, guys!). As a system administrator for several small-to-medium sized clients, I have a great deal of experience with various types and scopes of business systems, including overall operational systems, online commerce, financial and more. I am impressed that this one system offers so many features and functions all in one program, including credit card transactions. I give it an absolute "two-thumbs up"! I'm not impressed easily, but I'm definitely impressed with this program and their people. Robert Brannan
Auction Admin and Online Auction Chair
2015, 2016, 2017 Auctions

Excellent All-In-One School Auction Software!

Comentários: I have been using this software for the past two years and it is excellent and very user friendly! I have run the entire auction event from start to finish with this site and I have no complaints about it at all. The customer support is second to none. They have addressed every single ticket I have submitted in under 30 minutes and have always addressed my concerns. The front end is great and easily customized to meet your needs. The backend is straightforward to navigate for anyone with even a little technical ability. They allow you to migrate data between sites in order to preserve donor and item information which makes follow-on years very easy to implement. I have researched other products and I sincerely believe this is the best product for a mid to large size event. You will not be disappointed by this product or their customer service!

Vantagens:

Easy to use, end-to-end management of auction event. No need to use any other product for any other portion of the event. Easy to convert items from silent to online auction. POS is very professional and just as good as anything you would find in a retail store.

Desvantagens:

It is a little more expensive than some of the cheaper auction software out there, but I know this is because it contains much more functionality. If you have a very small event then it might not be worth the price, but for anything mid to large size this is the best product.

3 Year Returning Customer

Comentários: We have been a customer for 3 years, going on 4. To start with, the system had all of the base functionality that we needed to run our auction as is. Each year, we have used some of the new features (online check in/out, online bidding pre/post auction, etc) to improve our auction for our school community. The support, both the online help features and the ability to call/email, has been the best part of using SchoolAuction.net. Each year we have new volunteers running the system, so having the tutorials really helps. SchoolAuction.net has helped us to improve our auction each year.

Vantagens:

The support, both the online help features and the ability to call/email, has been the best part of using SchoolAuction.net. Each year we have new volunteers running the system, so having the tutorials really helps.

Desvantagens:

The first 2 years we did not understand the difference between the Tacking and Item Numbers and how to change the Item Number using the Tables feature, which caused some headaches for tracking our physical items. Now that we know the difference, that issue is behind us.

Such a Great Product

Comentários: I love so much about SA - the ease of putting things in, the on-line catalog, etc. This product helped us so much with our dinner & auction. I really enjoy using it. We will be using it again for the upcoming year as well!

Vantagens:

This program was very easy to use! Most things felt natural. If I ever got stuck, the help section almost always has the answer. We had used a different product in the past and it was horrible. This product is light years ahead of it! Switching over was an easy task and I enjoyed using it.

Desvantagens:

A few times we had to reach out to get questions answered that we couldn't find the answer to. That said, they reply is always prompt and helpful! I also wish we could arrange catalog numbers by subgroups/categories.

Amazing system for auctions/fundraising and excellent support staff

Comentários: Extremely wonderful. I started working with them about 4 years ago I think and [SENSITIVE CONTENT HIDDEN] was the first one who I met over the phone. He did the training for me and it turned out to be a 1-on-1 session since the others didn't show up. He was extremely helpful and I will never look to another software system for our auctions.

Vantagens:

The system is very easy to use, very versatile. We are able to use it for two main events - gala/online auction and also golf outing, so it's a better value for us. Several key features - donor/customer database, website design, virtual auction function, very configurable. Probably many other things I can't think of...

Desvantagens:

There are a few features that would be nice to be configurable, but I realize you can't do that for everything. One example was we had to have "Buy Tickets" this year, but since it was virtual, it would have been nice for this to say "Buy Sponsorship" since that's all we were selling.

SchoolAuction.net - not just for schools!

Comentários: We use this software to run our gala auction, which is in its 16th year. Our event is in February and I have already set up our event page (it is August) and begun entering items. We are able to customize and brand our event pages and all guest interfaces with organization and event logo and verbiage. When we moved from paper and spreadsheet auction administration to this platform our guests raved about the event organization and it has definitely been reflected in our fundraising.

Vantagens:

SchoolAuction, aka Tofino, is an extremely user-friendly auction platform that incorporates simple administration with a guest friendly interface. It stores guest and donor data from prior events to make ticket sales and item entry a breeze. Reporting is comprehensive and easy to customize, although the native reports are so thorough you should rarely need to make your own.

Desvantagens:

I don't have anything negative to say. It can be a bit pricey for smaller organizations, but we have found it to be very worth the price.

Great Software!

Comentários: Overall the program was great and I plan to keep using it. I've already recommended it to a few other people.

Vantagens:

I loved this software, its easy to set up, and easy to manage all aspects of your auction. It was great to be able to have everything related to the event in one place.

Desvantagens:

The only issue we had was on the night of the auction when we were entering bids, it seemed like it was not working, but then we realized you could not use the tab button. It was a few minutes of total stress that the program wasn't working in the most important moment, but we called the support and it got figured out fast and we were back on track

So easy to use, very comprehensive, tracks EVERYTHING!

Vantagens:

It tracks every single aspect of auction. Items donated, who donates, past years they've donated, value. You can assign item to categories (for ease of sorting). I was able to sort items to silent auciton, night of (Gala) online... and it made transitioning form Gala night, to online auction, very smooth. And you can pull from previous years' data (mailing lists etc) which saved a lot of time. Customer support was great too. I emailed a few times as I got familiar with software, and received and email back within AN HOUR or so. Even had someone there when I called one time. It just really is easy to use. Lastly- it's cool that you can run your auction on this, but you can use the software for other school events where you need to track ticket sales, etc. You get use of it for a year-- so why use it for just one event?!

Desvantagens:

I wish there was a way to ask people purchasing a 'sign up item' to list the child the sign up belongs to. A place to add in a bit more data-- would save us some owrk. but I will look into it for this year!!

School Auction. Net

Comentários: This is the second year our school (public elementary school) has used School Auction.net for our auction. As a new auction chair last year, I had heard nothing but complaints about how non-user friendly the prior software we had been using for 4+ years was, and so I decided to change. After comparing several vendors, we settled upon SchoolAuction.net and have been very pleased. Everyone who had used the old software and then used SchoolAuction.net felt it was much easier to use and more intuitive in addition to providing new features for us such as an online auction that DOES NOT charge sales commission for your online auctions like many others. The software is also very robust, with auction functionality, POS and Online auction functionality. We held an online auction for the first time, our first year using the software and it was very successful, thus broadening the parent participation rate at our school and increasing the amount of money we raised. The parents who participated in events also loved the fact we could just email them their purchase receipts and checkout at the end of our events went much faster because of the ability to vault credit cards too. This year, using the system was even easier because we were able to import all our data from the prior year which significantly decreased the amount of time that volunteers needed to spend entering donation data. When we have had questions, the help desk/tech support has always been very responsive, usually responding in minutes or a couple hours at most. Their online documentation and video tutorials are also very useful. The system has worked so well that our school has also begun utilizing the software to manage POS transactions to process donations for our Back-To-School Day and ticket sales at our school Carnival etc. Overall, we have been very pleased with SchoolAuction.net

Great value for the price

Comentários: SchoolAuction provides a reasonably priced software to manage your non-profits charity event. We have an annual gala that includes table tickets, silent auction, live auction, paddle raise, and raffle. All items are managed through the software and paid for by the guest. I haven't come across a better value in the market.

Vantagens:

The customer service provided. Any issue or request was resolved in a timely manner.

Desvantagens:

The back end UI/UX is not particularly friendly which creates a significant amount of time in set up

Amazingly Effective Software

Comentários: The software team is knowledgeable, responsive and produces functional software. To have a tool like this during a quarantine period is remarkable and, in my opinion, likely saved some organizations from being forced out of business. The RTMP livestream is THE reason the software is as effective as it is....the developers were WAY AHEAD of the curve on this one!

Vantagens:

The software is full-featured handling an event from beginning to end. Other software developers spend time on "pretty" yet limited software. THIS software is functional! The development team spent their time on making first, a software package that works and second making that software pretty.

Desvantagens:

There are, at time, a lot of necessary mouse clicks to get to where one is headed.

Check-in and check-out was a breeze!

Comentários: It was my first time running a fundraising auction and this software made it possible! My colleagues who had been on the peripheral of event planning in prior years commented that SchoolAuction.net was worth the investment. It made the event run much more smoothly.

Vantagens:

SchoolAuction.net is very intuitive. After a demo, it was easy to just jump right in and get set up for our fundraising gala. I really appreciate how flexible it is. Our event wasn't quite ready for mobile bidding, but we still utilized so many other features. Our guests really noticed a difference from the previous event: we heard positive feedback on how much easier the check-in and check-out process was!

Desvantagens:

The sponsorship set up was confusing at first. We solicit year-long sponsors, instead of event-specific sponsors. But we were still able to utilize the sponsor recognition features, which was a huge plus!

User and Budget Friendly Mobile Bidding Software!!

Comentários: Our auction attendees enjoyed using the mobile bidding software. We were able to quickly check-in our guests and monitor the items up for bid. The pre-registration emails helped to prepare guests for what to expect at the event. During the night of the auction, we had NO problems with the mobile bidding and our guests loved the concept! Items went for more than expected and it was a great experience for our guests. The system was user friendly to enter the auction items, and made for a smooth experience! Overall a great product and very user friendly. I feel confident knowing we are planning to use School Auction.net for our next event!

Vantagens:

Our auction attendees enjoyed using the mobile bidding software. We were able to quickly check-in our guests and monitor the items up for bid. The pre-registration emails helped to prepare guests for what to expect at the event. During the night of the auction, we had NO problems with the mobile bidding and our guests loved the concept! Items went for more than expected and it was a great experience for our guests. The system was user friendly to enter the auction items, and made for a smooth experience! Overall a great product and very user friendly. I feel confident knowing we are planning to use School Auction.net for our next event!

Desvantagens:

One issue was that it was difficult for guests to know which items did not have actual bids on without going through all of the items. There were a few items that did not receive a bid at the end of the night, and a few guests stated that if they would have known, they would have placed a bid on it.

Great online auction software and service

Comentários: I've run our PTO online auction for two years now. Prior, we had used schoolauction.net with their old version and before I came on board, we reviewed as many options as we could find. We decided to stick with schoolauction.net not fully understanding the changes they were in the process of making, but with the understanding that it would be more customizable and easy to use. The revamped program is excellent. We are about to start our third year with it, and I am excited to see what updates are in store. The thing I love most is that you could run a great online auction with no design skills, but for those who do have graphics experience, the look and feel are almost fully customizable. There are a couple tweaks I would change, but they are totally nit-picky on my part. Excellent customer service - can't say enough about it. Very responsive by email or phone. We've had great success with our online auction through schoolauction.net and look forward to another year.

Vantagens:

Customizability; value

Desvantagens:

A couple quirks about layout but nothing major