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WinningBidder.com provides simple online auction software for nonprofits. Tweak a few settings, upload your items, then share your auction site with supporters. Optionally, add no-risk vacations and other fun experiences to your auction with a single click. There are no setup fees or platform fees; winning bidders may leave an optional tip at checkout to keep the software free.
Provider
Geronimo Solutions
Located In
United States
Deployment
Cloud, SaaS, Web-Based
Training
Documentation, Videos
Support
Knowledge Base, Phone Support, Chat, Email/Help Desk
WinningBidder.com serves schools, charities, foundations, sports teams, and other fundraisers.
Content Source: WinningBidder.com
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WinningBidder.com Reviews
Pros
I also really appreciated the ability to supplement the auction with items from winning bidder where we generated 40% or 80% of the sales price.
I loved the ease of using it and getting it shared on social media platforms. Seeing the items and the bids in real time was great.
This was very user-friendly and I was very happy with the results. I also like that it was easy to share the link and the QR codes.
I also loved the ease at which the winning bidders were billed and then sent the appropriate certificates without any involvement needed from me.
Cons
Sometimes would get an error that didn’t give me any information on what was going wrong, so that was frustrating.
Had some problems with folks needing refund and to pay again. Seems to have a little difficulty handling large volume of bids on final day.
Travel Pledge allowed us to include a silent auction for our annual poker tournament when we would not have been able to have one without them due to lack of inventory and time.
Without TravelPledge We have no Silent Auction.
"First time using an online auction platform, it was a great experience!"
Pros: Ease of set up and management. Can have the auction running for longer and bidders don't have to be present at the event. You can categorize your auction items. Also, Winning Bidder sends out the invoices and collects the payment, but you can also do it yourself.
Cons: There wasn't anything I didn't like! It was easy to set up and to use!
"Best choice for nonprofit online auctions"
Overall: Outstanding experience with them... I'd use them again in a heartbeat when I next have the need for an auction, and I also would READILY recommend them to colleagues in the industry. They should be more widely known as I'm sure many non-profits would prefer to utilize a system that didn't cost them a percentage.
Pros: Absolutely the thing I was looking for most was low-cost way of doing our online auction, that would hopefully not be too difficult to use. WinningBidder.com is free to use other than the credit card processing fees, and even those are optionally paid by your winning bidders when they pay...which 100% of our winners did, so it ended up being completely free for us as an organization. With that, I expected to encounter issues like it being difficult to use or having to navigate through 100 ads in order to get there... or that my auction bidders would, too. Instead, I found it easy to use and get set up for my items, and easy to set the features. I also really appreciated the ability to supplement the auction with items from winning bidder where we generated 40% or 80% of the sales price. While not everything we posted sold at that minimum price, the things that did still helped our bottom line.
Cons: The "item value" line -- it isn't shown to the bidders, and yet it's mandatory to complete. I did a lot of research about the reasonable value of items that don't have a prescribed value (such as an autographed hockey puck), and then it was frustrating to feel like I did that for nothing... wish there was a way to opt out of using that line, but it's minor in the grand scheme of things. Also, DURING the auction, you cannot view the current bid on the back end of the site without hitting a separate bid report or going to the front end to look. It would be a nice addition to have a place you can go for an overview of your auction's current status. Recommendation for future change, but overall just a minor inconvenience.
"WinningBidder is a winning platform for auctions!"
Overall: The ease of setting up the auction was great. The printing poster feature could be changed a little bit - we had to re-create our own posters to include a QR code so that bidders could bid in person. The online auction platform was very user-friendly and easy to navigate. I enjoyed that I could pay directly through the emailed link (after winning) and it's nice that they offer for the winning bidder to pay the credit card fee. We're a non-profit so having the bidders pay their own fees is ideal! We really enjoyed that you could mark multiple winners for some of the items. Overall, I would say that we enjoyed this platform better than who we used last year (accelevents) and we will most likely be using this platform for next year's auction!
Pros: User-friendly platform. Easy directions...simple format
Cons: Some people who were bidding liked to see the names of people who they were bidding against; some people did not want to see the names. I enjoyed the fact that it sent me a simple message letting me know that I was outbid. The printing poster feature was a little off - we had to re-create our own posters - the image was cropped funny on some of the posters.
"Folds of Honor at Stoney Point"
Overall: Once we straighten out the problem of establishing the account and having Travel Pledge to verify my checking account, no problems. They need to make it easier to set up the account.
Pros: Easy to place bids. Easy to add or subtract items.
Cons: Very difficult to set up the account. I was originally told that the account was set up and I had starting the LIVE AUCTION only to find that my authorization and account set up had not been approved and was not set up. Had to get my daughter (I am terrible with computers) to straighten everything out. Took more than 8 hours and several phone calls to resolve this problem/
"Winning Bidder Won in our book! "
Overall: We tried out and tested two different sites after completing a paper auction at our event last year. We decided on winning bidder and it did not disappoint! What drew us to winning bidder is of course that there were no platform fees, but also that it had many features other free products did not. We loved that people could enter an automatic max bid, that we could have categories, and acknowledge sponsors. We also love that bidders were sent text updates. The closing process was smooth, and reporting was quick and easy to pull. We wish it would have had a “sign out” or “pickup” reporting option, but searching the list and handing them out was easy enough!
Pros: It was simple, but had so many features like allowing the user to max bid and text updates.
Cons: People assumed that since they entered their card at the beginning, they would be automatically charged.
