# SchoolAuction.net Reviews 2026. Verified Reviews, Pros & Cons | Capterra > Is SchoolAuction.net the right Auction solution for you? Explore 236 verified user reviews from people in industries like yours to make a confident choice. Source: https://www.capterra.com/p/106652/SchoolAuction-net/reviews --- SchoolAuction.net 4.7 (236) Provider data verified by our Software Research team, and reviews moderated by our Reviews Verification team. [Learn more](https://www.capterra.com/our-story/) * * * Last updated March 13th, 2026 # Reviews of SchoolAuction.net Ease of use 4.5 Customer Service 4.8 ## Pros and Cons in Reviews SC Sue C OwnerEvents Services, Self-employedUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “SchoolAuction.net offers so much flexibility in terms of customization, including the ability to extensively tailor my registration and ticketing fields, reporting and data downloads, email communications, and so much more.“ November 17, 2025 JM John M Technology SpecialistPrimary/Secondary Education, 11 - 50 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “Some of the pre-event setup options are tricky to find. When the software is being used for a once a year event it takes some time to remember workflow to get options configured exactly as they need to be.“ December 17, 2024 SC Sue C OwnerEvents Services, Self-employedUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “The service team is warm and friendly and it feels very much like a hardworking small business and not a multi-layered corporate entity where you cannot reach a human to help you.“ November 17, 2025 EH Elise H DirectorChild Day Care Services, 2 - 10 employeesUsed the software for: Less than 6 months. “Also I hated that I couldn’t just type in either item description or donor when I was reorganizing the sections. Since I didn’t know that’s how it was going to only going to be done by item description, I wrote in “$50 gift card” but I didn’t put “$50 gift card to ….”“ March 16, 2025 PR Peggy R VolunteerReligious Institutions, 51 - 200 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “I like that they created the Acorn Plan since that met our volume better and it works well for controlling our costs.“ September 17, 2025 EH Elise H DirectorChild Day Care Services, 2 - 10 employeesUsed the software for: Less than 6 months. “Our system seemed to have a meltdown in the middle checking in and logging credit cards.“ March 16, 2025 NH Noelle H FounderNon-Profit Organization Management, Self-employedUsed the software for: Less than 6 months. “A lot of customization available on their software package, which may be nice for some people but it should be more streamlined.“ September 27, 2025 NH Noelle H FounderNon-Profit Organization Management, Self-employedUsed the software for: Less than 6 months. “You have to wait up to an hour to get a response.“ September 27, 2025 ## Showing most helpful reviews Showing 1-25 of 236 Reviews Sort by: Most Helpful Rating Company Size Reviewer's Role Length of Use Frequency of Use Marc K. CEO Construction Used the software for: 2+ years ### "SchoolAuction is a great system - especially for volunteer staff events!" December 17, 2024 5.0 Excellent experience both in digital only and live events. I have used the system many, MANY times across multiple schools as my kids were going through school and have come away with a great experience. It's always the system I recommend. Pros LONG time user and huge fan of the team. So easy to set up and use - especially for volunteers! Cons The core of the system is very strong! Some functionality, like "in event" games and digital auctions are a little less refined. Switched from [Microsoft Excel](https://www.capterra.com/p/176574/Excel/) DIY access based system was not cutting it. Also very difficult to process payments. This led to LONG lines during the event. Review Source Response from Northworld February 17, 2025 Marc, Thank you for your continued support and for sharing your insights! We're delighted to hear that you've had excellent experiences with SchoolAuction.net across multiple events. Your feedback on refining our in-event games is greatly appreciated and will help guide our future updates. Thanks for being a loyal user and for recommending us! SC Sue C. Owner Events Services Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Amazing Service with SchoolAuction.net!" November 17, 2025 5.0 I have been utilizing SchoolAuction.net for over a decade, for a variety of events presented by a number of nonprofit organizations. I'm extremely happy with the platform and have referred other organizations to SchoolAuction.net. Their support team is unparalleled in their personal responsiveness to any issues that might arise, and on one occasion an issue I came across that currently had no solution was solved with the next update. The service team is warm and friendly and it feels very much like a hardworking small business and not a multi-layered corporate entity where you cannot reach a human to help you. Big fan over here! Pros SchoolAuction.net offers so much flexibility in terms of customization, including the ability to extensively tailor my registration and ticketing fields, reporting and data downloads, email communications, and so much more. The user interface is also incredibly intuitive, very easy to follow without unnecessary complexity or confusing terminology. Cons I only have two wishes, one is for a greater number of SMS text messages per event, and the other is for a photo upload that enables downloading at full size for print purposes. But these do not detract from my enjoyment and appreciation of the platform. Switched from [Greater Giving](https://www.capterra.com/p/127257/Event-Software/) I liked the ease and simplicity of SchoolAuction.net much more. It's a lot less complicated for new volunteers to learn, as well as being very intuitive so there is typically very little need for support. Review Source Response from Northworld January 29, 2026 Sue, Thank you so much for this incredible review, and for being part of the SchoolAuction.net community for over a decade! We’re truly grateful for your continued trust and for referring other organizations our way. Hearing that the platform’s flexibility, customization options, and intuitive design have made your events easier to manage means a lot to our team. We also appreciate you sharing your feature wishes. Feedback like this helps inform future improvements, and we’re always paying close attention to what our longtime customers value most. Most of all, we’re thrilled to hear your kind words about our Support team. Providing responsive, human help is something we take great pride in, and we love that it’s made a difference for you. Thanks again for being such a strong advocate for SchoolAuction.net — we’re lucky to work with customers like you! – The SchoolAuction.net Team 🦉 EH Elise H. Director Child Day Care Services Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "Overall Okay First Experience " March 16, 2025 3.0 Overall, pretty good first experience. Thank goodness we have ran multiple auctions in the past so we used what we knew and the software to be able to pull it off. Also if I didn’t have an excel genius correcting entering issues that happened on spot and figuring out how to do that, we would be screwed! Pros Everything was in one place which made it nice. Liked the different options of bid sheet styles. Liked that started bid was already placed on bid sheet and pictures with donors were on there made it nice with lots of items on the table. It was nice that multiple people could be running multiple computers at once Cons I hated the pre-numbering of items. We organize our tables then number. It took much time to redo all of that the day before. Also I hated that I couldn’t just type in either item description or donor when I was reorganizing the sections. Since I didn’t know that’s how it was going to only going to be done by item description, I wrote in “$50 gift card” but I didn’t put “$50 gift card to ….” as the item name which would made life so much quicker. When I got to my last section all my items were in there so I had to use the drag feature instead of the type box to reorder. It took way longer. Also I requested my live items start at 1000 and they still loaded in at 1 all the time. I didn’t realize that if we actually had a gift card to be picked up that they should be under pick up item not gift card because we didn’t need a gift card created. I would have like to have an override for an automatic minimum suggested bid for auction. I had to double check lots of my bid sheets to make sure because we have always done a $1 raise or $5 raise. There was a lot missed when baskets where getting loaded in so double checking at the end to correct those took a lot of time. Our system seemed to have a meltdown in the middle checking in and logging credit cards. Some people would look like they got flag but they would be fine on other computers. One of my people found the app at the last minute. It would have been nice to have an app the whole time. I had to do a lot of pictures from my phone and then email myself. Then saving them to my computer to be able to use them on the sight. It would have saved me a tons of time. It would have been nice to have another zoom meeting with someone a couple of weeks before the auction to go over the day of features to make sure we had them. Alternatives considered [Auctria](https://www.capterra.com/p/112910/Auctria/)[Givebutter](https://www.capterra.com/p/172048/Givebutter/) Reason for choosing SchoolAuction.net The one on one zoom call. I like that everything was all in one place and the software included everything. Review Source Response from Northworld March 19, 2025 Hi Elise, Thanks so much for taking the time to share your detailed feedback—we truly appreciate it. You mentioned an issue regarding an app, but since we don't have one, we'd love some clarification to better assist you. Additionally, we host a free webinar every Thursday called "Event Night Walk-Through," which covers many common challenges and would be a great resource for your team moving forward. We'd like the opportunity to discuss your experience further and explore how we can make your next event smoother. We did reach out to your school this morning, but unfortunately, the person we spoke with didn't take a message. Please feel free to give us a call directly at 503-715-1112—we look forward to helping out! JM John M. Technology Specialist Primary/Secondary Education Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Super Easy on Auction Night and Highly Recommended!" December 17, 2024 5.0 SchoolAuction.net has been a great, economical, easy solution to managing fundraising auctions. I have used competitors' software in the past, and SchoolAuction.net is exceedingly so much easier to use. I have recommended SchoolAuction.net to other non-profit organizations and they have seen great success with it too. Pros SchoolAuction.net so super easy to use on auction night. It is easy to bring a crew of volunteers up-to-speed to make the event go smoothly, especially when checkout time comes along. Support is also top-notch when you need to get in contact with them. Cons Some of the pre-event setup options are tricky to find. When the software is being used for a once a year event it takes some time to remember workflow to get options configured exactly as they need to be. Switched from [Greater Giving](https://www.capterra.com/p/127257/Event-Software/) Cost, difficulty of use, need for a central database server Review Source Response from Northworld February 17, 2025 John, Thank you for your review and for recommending us! We’re glad to hear that our software makes your auction night run smoothly. We also appreciate your feedback on the pre-event setup and will pass that along to the development team. Thanks again for your support and for sharing your positive experience! LT Litsa T. PTA Volunteer Primary/Secondary Education Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "Great platform!" February 28, 2024 5.0 We loved using SchoolAuction.net and have already made plans to use it for our next event. Pros 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! Cons 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. Alternatives considered [OneCause](https://www.capterra.com/p/145329/Fundraising-Software/) Reason for choosing SchoolAuction.net We are a small parent volunteer organization and OneCause seemed like it had more features and complicated things than what we needed. SchoolAuction.net seemed more streamlined and straight forward, which proved to be 100% true. Review Source Response from Northworld March 2, 2024 Litsa, Thank you so much for taking the time to share your positive experience with SchoolAuction.net! We are thrilled to hear that you found our platform easy to learn and set up, and that our help menus and customer support were able to assist you promptly whenever you needed guidance. Regarding the issue with the third-party processor, we will be switching to a different company this year - stay tuned! Thank you once again for your support and trust in our software. We look forward to contributing to the success of your future events! DS Doug S. Auction Chair Primary/Secondary Education Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Answered our prayers" August 28, 2019 5.0 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. Pros 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. Cons 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. Alternatives considered [ReadySetAuction](https://www.capterra.com/p/196653/ReadySetAuction/) Reason for choosing SchoolAuction.net Had all the features we wanted at a better price. Great support. Very open trial process. Very transparent on business model and costs. Switched from [ReadySetAuction](https://www.capterra.com/p/196653/ReadySetAuction/) ReadySetAuction had a dated interface that was very slow to operate. Too much clicking and paging through long lists of guests, donors, or items. Forms would not load on a single page on a high-res screen. You were always having to scroll around to complete each item entry. Very inefficient. In addition, it was limited to a single event and had a very narrow auction-specific workflow. SchoolAuction.net is flexible enough to support multiple events and event types on our small budget. Review Source MF Mark F. Technology consultant Religious Institutions Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "Very good software for running a fundraising auction" November 12, 2021 5.0 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. Pros 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. Cons 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. Alternatives considered [Greater Giving](https://www.capterra.com/p/127257/Event-Software/) Reason for choosing SchoolAuction.net People liked that they only had to use one screen, one device to both bid and see the video. Switched from [Greater Giving](https://www.capterra.com/p/127257/Event-Software/) The auctioneer's recommendation. Turned out to be better and learning curve was not bad. Review Source Response from Northworld March 24, 2022 Hi Mark, Thanks for your detailed review! We're glad that you appreciate the single-screen efficiency of our Virtual Live Auction feature, and that your auctioneer found the Auctioneer View easy to use. In response to the items you listed under Cons, I'll certainly share them with the rest of the team; the majority of the software features we add or change are a direct result of customer feedback. I did want to touch on one specific thing you mentioned; you DO have the ability to edit items in bulk vs. one-by-one. Feel free to email me at vanessa@northworld.com if you'd like our support article on how to do that. I'm happy to share anything that will help your organization with their next event! RH Rebecca H. Fundraising Chair Non-Profit Organization Management Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Good for School Auctions only" May 15, 2022 3.0 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. Pros 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. Cons 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. Alternatives considered [Greater Giving](https://www.capterra.com/p/127257/Event-Software/) Reason for choosing SchoolAuction.net Not my choice. Event planner that was hired choose. Switched from [Greater Giving](https://www.capterra.com/p/127257/Event-Software/) Hired an event manager and she choose School Auctria. Not my choice. Cost more than Greater Giving and didn’t do as much. Review Source Response from Northworld June 2, 2022 Hi Rebecca, Thanks for taking the time to leave a review. I wanted to point out that actually quite a large number of our customers are not schools; most of our new customers over the last few years have been other non-profits; as such, we have tools and templates available to create all kinds of auctions and fundraisers, including jog/read-a-thons, targeted fundraising campaigns, voting contests, golf tournaments, etc. Many of our customers even use our software to sell event or concert tickets, have an online store, or as a year-round give/donate page. To find out how to set these up, please contact our support team at support@schoolauction.net, or you can reach them by clicking the Help widget that appears on the far right edge of each page within our software. We'd love to help you take full advantage of your software plan, and help you raise even more money. PR Peggy R. Volunteer Religious Institutions Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Very Flexible Program and Outstanding Customer Service! " September 17, 2025 5.0 This is the fifth year that we have used School Auction for our primary online auction at our church. Our church has also used it for smaller events with equal success. My son recommended it to me as they use it for their much larger and complicated auction at his non-profit. I highly recommend it! Pros It has so many capabilities and is so flexible to meet our particular needs. The customer service is great - responses to my questions arrive in a short time! I like that they created the Acorn Plan since that met our volume better and it works well for controlling our costs. I just attended their Zoom introductory session and it was very helpful ~ an hour well spent. I'm signed up for their next two as a refresher. Cons There are so many options that I forget where they are ~ or maybe that is just my older age! The AI sometimes is helpful and other times not. Review Source Response from Northworld October 15, 2025 Hi Peggy, Thank you so much for taking the time to share this thoughtful review! We’re thrilled to hear that SchoolAuction.net has been a great fit for your church’s events year after year — and that the Acorn Plan and our webinars have been helpful along the way. We truly appreciate your continued support (and your son’s recommendation, too!). – The SchoolAuction.net Team 🦉 NH Noelle H. Founder Non-Profit Organization Management Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "Too cumbersome" September 27, 2025 2.0 Frustrating, overly complicated, slow online support, no phone support. Demos are helpful. If it were me< I would have the demos recorded and have phone help. Pros A lot of customization available on their software package, which may be nice for some people but it should be more streamlined. Cons I find it very difficult to use. I am just tryin to enter the option to buy a beverage and there are 20 boxes to fill out. It should be 2 - Beverage and cost. It's the same with everything. You have to wait up to an hour to get a response. Review Source Response from Northworld October 15, 2025 Hi Noelle, Thank you for sharing your experience. We’re sorry the software felt difficult to use. SchoolAuction.net is built to handle a wide range of fundraising events, which can take some getting used to—especially for a one-person team running their first fundraiser. Our support team spent several hours with you on Zoom to try to help, but we understand it can still feel like a lot at first. While our regular support is handled online, we do provide phone support on the day of your event to make sure everything runs smoothly. Your feedback about simplifying setup for new users is appreciated and will help us improve. – The SchoolAuction.net Team 🦉 RW Richard W. Treasurer Non-Profit Organization Management Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "SchoolAuction.net Review" April 25, 2021 5.0 We went with SchoolAuction.net because we needed to have an online event to accommodate covid concerns. Our desire was to have the people decide whether they would attend and bid on their phones or bid from home. Unfortunately, we had an outbreak in our organization and had to go totally online. Because of the design of the software, that was a seamless transition. We originally went with SchoolAuction.net as a one time use because of covid. The program convinced us to stick with it regardless of what next year brings. Pros This software was obviously designed by someone who has done auctions extensively. Every time I had a specific need, I found that they had already thought of that. Often times, to make a program work for your situation, you need to come up with some workarounds. That was never necessary with SchoolAuction.net. They had already anticipated the need. Support is within an hour at the most. They gave me a phone number to use the night of the auction, but we never needed it. It worked better than expected. Cons The ONLY thing that would have made the night easier has to do with proxy bidding. We had some people who don't use email or do anything on the internet. They have always been good supporters, so we wanted to provide them a way to participate. It was easy to print a catalog for them. Proxy bidding was easy to use. What I would like considered is to provide a way to sign them up so an assistant could bid from the catalog for them rather than the proxy method. It's so much easier to see your bids in the catalog. Also with proxy bidding the screen keeps resetting so you have to keep going back into their account. I know an issue is that the credit card companies want a valid email, but these people pay with check anyways so that wouldn't be a problem. Reason for choosing SchoolAuction.net Price was an initial selling feature as they had anticipated the needs during this covid season and put together an introductory package. Another selling feature was the meeting with Roger. It was like he knew every need we had and had designed the software for us. The primary reason for the decision, however, was because it was so obvious that the designer was very familiar with all kinds of auctions and had personal experience with them. Many products include an auction module as part of a software suite. SchoolAuction.net really focuses in on the auction which makes it easier to use and adapt to your needs. I know they have other features, however, and I am looking forward to seeing what other ways we can utilize the software. Review Source KO Kati O. Volunteer Education Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Easy Software!" May 9, 2022 5.0 Overall we are happy with schoolauction.net. They have been able to meet our needs every time- we have done paper silent auction bidding, mobile bidding, and live auction. During the pandemic, we hosted a virtual auction. All have been successful when it comes to using the software. I am excited to see that they are moving more types of events into the system. We might convert one of our other fundraisers into this system. Pros As a volunteer that has an FT job, it was my responsibility to select, implement and use a product for our school auction. The help videos are amazing, customer support is wonderful and overall it is a simple product for a complex need. We have been using this product for 4 years now and are so incredibly thankful we left our other highly rated platform. Cons We struggle with the mobile bidding vs the paper bidding but that is really not a problem with the software. It is more about knowing your audience. Review Source Response from Northworld June 2, 2022 Hi Kati, Thanks so much for the high praise and for your continued support. We strive to provide prompt and helpful customer support, so I'm glad you experience that as well. If you need any help in the future converting one of your other fundraisers into our software, don't hesitate to reach out by emailing support@schoolauction.net, or by using the Help widget that appears on the right edge of every page. Looking forward to helping you with your next event or fundraiser! CW Courtney W. Web Support Religious Institutions Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Best Auction Software We've Used!" July 11, 2019 5.0 Overall we've had an amazing experience with SchoolAuction.net. We just renewed our subscription for the 3rd year and enjoy using it for not only our annual auction but for other fundraising events throughout the year. I would highly recommend this software over any other. Pros This software was created with the average computer user in mind but also gives the customization tools for a super user! It has a beautiful website for the bidding audience and a fully functional database with excellent reporting for the auction team. I would say the best thing about this software is its ease of use for everyone, our bidders, ticket buyers, donors, and especially our volunteer team. I don't have to spend a bunch of time training them how to use the software, it has a very detailed search system and walk through function so my staff can learn how to use it on their own. Cons There's a few minor things I have complaints about but I've brought them up to the customer service department and they are working on making changes to those areas of improvement. Review Source Response from Northworld July 16, 2019 Thanks, Courtney! We really appreciate your feedback - stay tuned for announcements on the upgrades coming later this summer. TC Tony C. Board Member Used the software for: ### "Non-Profit Preschool with yearly Gala & Silent Auction fundraiser" September 14, 2015 5.0 I was referred by another local Austin non-profit to the SchoolAuction platform while researching online event and silent auction software in 2014. After conducting product reviews with the sales staff for two other vendors I was very pleasantly surprised when I called and spoke to Roger. One of the questions that Open Door was wrestling with was whether or not to implement mobile bidding. Keep in mind that this would be our first year using any event software. Our event had been growing in size and complexity and we wanted a tool that could give us competitive experiences with top tier non-profit events. Of course we wanted mobile bidding. Everyone was doing it. When I spoke to the other two auction software vendors they explained that mobile bidding would add between $1500 and $2500 to our annual licensing expense. Worse it was a scaling expense based on the amount of auction sales we had. While discussing our needs with Roger he offered up that mobile bidding wasn't the silver bullet that event organizers sometimes thought it could be. It required more thought on infrastructure (how good would wifi / cell coverage be at the event) as well as creating an limitation on who would participate in the auction (would everyone feel comfortable bidding through their phones or could we staff auction volunteers with mobile devices to facilitate bidding). Our event, while growing, is still more intimate than commercial and we receive the majority of our ticket sales and donations via mail & check rather than online sales because that's how our donors prefer to interact with us. Would pushing the silent auction to a mobile-only bidding solution really help us? Now so much. At least not now. I can't tell you how refreshing it was to know that the vendor I was talking to wasn't all that interested in up-selling me. It was really a conversation about right-sizing their features to our event. What's more SchoolAuction's pricing reflects that strategy. They offer flat fees rather than a small up front fee with scaling embedded costs. They don't force you to use their own payment processor with hidden fees. Last thing, as a software developer myself I'm pleasantly surprised by the usability of the School Auction tools. The help is very informative and easy to navigate. The User Interface is straight-forward and logical. I'm able to on-board new event volunteers and staff with minimal explanation and training. Nice work. Review Source VW Valerie W. Chief of Staff Used the software for: ### "The best tool for optimizing your fundraiser" February 4, 2015 5.0 I initially looked into online and mobile bidding tools for our company's silent auction due to new logistic challenges. Specifically, the event was growing and with limited opportunities to maximize our event space, we needed a solution to improve flow and reduce lines at the silent auction tables and check-out station. After conducting some research, SchoolAuction.net/TofinoAuctions.com clearly stood out as the best option. They offered all of the functionality we needed at a price that permitted us to maximize our fundraising and still provided exceptional customer service. Roger Devine gave us a thorough overview to ensure the software would meet our needs and that it would be a mutually beneficial relationship. While the interface is very intuitive and easy to use, their staff walked me through the entire process -- from setting up the event page in the beginning, to adding auction items and establishing communication templates. They ensured I was set up for success. They scheduled meetings a week and even day prior to touch base and verify that I had all the tools and information I needed. Their 24/7 support makes them an extension of your auction night team. I had a few last minutes questions and called into their support team, and my primary contact, Kris, was readily available to help with anything I needed. She was so gracious and patient even while I dealt with background noise and poor cell reception on my end. We primarily used this service for the mobile bidding tool, so that our guests could place bids from the convenience of their seats. Our event staff walked around with iPads to assist those who had trouble placing bids on their own, but the vast majority of our guests were extremely comfortable bidding on their own. The convenience of this service allowed us to raise more funds than the previous year, despite a lower FMV (fair market value) total from our donated items. Close to two-thirds of our guests used the self check-out, minimizing the check-out line and permitting our guests to leave quickly when the event concluded. Regardless of your experience with auctions or comfort level with technology, I would recommend this product. Roger, Kris, and the rest of the School Auction team will set you and your event up for success and optimize your fundraising potential. Review Source SP Sara P. PTA President Non-Profit Organization Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Awesome Auction Software" July 17, 2019 5.0 I have used School Auction.net for years and have loved working with \[SENSITIVE CONTENT HIDDEN\] and his team. Their product is affordable for PTAs and larger nonprofits. It provides everything an organization needs in order to run a successful event. Pros This auction software is easy to use from day-one. It's intuitive in every area from item in-put to ticket sales and running payments. Additionally, the videos and online help is awesome. Whenever we've had a question or an issue School Auction.net has been quick to help. Cons I wish it had a few more features that would cover all aspects of fundraising and not just auctions. I wish it could do jog-a-thons, allowing students to create their own personal fundraising pages. Reason for choosing SchoolAuction.net It's affordable and easy to use. Review Source Response from Northworld July 20, 2019 Sara, thanks so much for the review! We agree with your "con" - I can't say more at the moment, but: you are right. And stay tuned. DL Daniel L. Development Manager Non-Profit Organization Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "User Friendly, Easy to Engage Volunteers With! " November 28, 2016 5.0 Our organization has used School Auction for over 4 years for our major gala event. We are committed to creating an enjoyable event, and School Auction has been our key assist to making the event run smooth. The tool is useful because it automates so many core functions at a gala fundraiser: Pre-planning, the tool is easy to use for helping to sort and ID guests. It's a great repository for our Gala Auction items to keep track of items, and can be used to print out the descriptions of silent auction items for the event. During the night of, we're able to collect the credit card information of our donors at check-in (no messy exits), and are able to update all information night of real time. We organize a training for our volunteers a few days before the event, which helps to familiarize the team with the tool. It is a good idea to have one or two "Go To" leads for the night of to assist with questions. Best of all, if you have questions or concerns the night of the event, School Auction will answer your questions! I've found the team to be very helpful and response to email communications and assistance. One of my favorite parts of School Auction is the data analysis we are capable of - it helps easily ID through charts and graphs what amount of our revenue came from particular items, and using the same software year over year makes for easy comparison. Very useful and I would recommend! Pros Very user friendly. The data for after event comparison is very helpful in designing and planning what is most effective. Review Source MH Michelle H. Development Director Education Management Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Great solution for our FIRST ever School Auction!" July 30, 2019 4.0 Pros \+ Clear, friendly user interface made it easy to enter data and to train volunteers quickly how to use. + Check-in/out feature was outstanding, facilitated quick, easy, accurate check-out processing even though we used the "basic" model. + Event website and online auction features felt customized and branded for our school. + Amazing value. All the functionality and gloss of other more expensive school auction software products! Cons \+ A little restricted on the type of reporting/reports we could run. Had to run a couple different ones to get the info I needed. + Some of my issues could probably have been resolved if my volunteer team had been larger and I had more time to understand how School Auction net worked....so I don't really think the "cons" had much to do with the actual product Review Source Response from Northworld July 31, 2019 Thanks, Michelle! We're working on reporting by the way - yes, you can currently generate any report you may need... but that process can be (and will be) streamlined a bit to get you more quickly to some common reports. Check in with the support team for more info on that as you get ready for next year's auction. SS Sue S. Volunteer Used the software for: ### "Wonderful product with outstanding support service" February 1, 2015 5.0 While looking upgrade our silent auction event, I researched at least five online services. I had a good idea of what I needed, though my research taught me about additional services available that were helpful. A little background...my organization, until this year, had done nearly everything manually from recording reservations to checkout, and beyond. Transitioning from manual to digital is not always easy especially when the technological capabilities of the volunteer base varies. All of my volunteers found the software very easy to use. Further, and almost more important, the guests repeatedly praised the ease of checkin and checkout. Happy guests lead to better fundraising! SchoolAuction.net stood out on several fronts. It had all that I needed and then some (though most did). However, SchoolAuction.net offered customer support that was amazing. From rapid response to email questions, to giving me a lot of telephone time to walk me through the software from beginning to end. It was a personal touch that was not only appreciated, but gave me confidence and an understanding of the software. In addition, I knew that if I had another question, they would be there to talk to me on the phone. Additionally, SchoolAuction.net was the only service I found to offer a subscription based service. Not only did not my organization implement the technology for the initial event, we have used it since in a different way for fundraising, and hope to use it for a golf event in the spring. Lastly, SchoolAuction.net allowed me to not only offer express checkout, but to allow my guests to checkin online in advance, an option many used. Those guests who checked in in advance were able to provide their credit card number (securely), and receive their bid number before arriving at the event. Once they did arrive, they did not need to stop at the table. They were able to walk right in. I would strongly recommend SchoolAuction.net and look forward to using them for the next event! Review Source MW Michele W. Auction Coordinator Used the software for: 2+ years ### "So easy to use, very comprehensive, tracks EVERYTHING!" August 28, 2017 5.0 Pros 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?! Cons 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!! Review Source RW Rachel W. Auction Co-chair Non-Profit Organization Management Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Perfect for school auction" July 24, 2019 5.0 Pros This software is easy to use, once you invest the time into learning it. It helped that I had used a different software to implement the same event prior; running an auction is complicated regardless of the software! This product made it a lot easier. I loved that it was web based so the whole team could have access. The ability to sell tickets and take straight cash donations online was very helpful. The customer support was great- they were very responsive and helpful. The data entry was a breeze during the event. Cons My main complaint was around the reporting. Each time I wanted to print out or share details about the event (example: inventory while we were collecting items or sales afterwards) I ended up downloading relevant columns of data and manipulating it in excel to get what I wanted. I would have liked a little more flexibility. For example if I could have set up a variety of custom reports that I could run throughout the planning and execution it would have been helpful. But overall it was still totally worth it. Review Source Response from Northworld July 26, 2019 Thanks for the helpful feedback, and for being such a great customer! SK Sharyn K. Business owner Retail Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Auction.net software is easy to use and allows many users to participate simultaneously. We love it " June 21, 2017 5.0 Increased revenue each year of use Pros Prior to finding Auction.net, we developed all aspects of our auction manually, which was time consuming and inefficient. Although several people divided the work, it still required one person to edit the entire effort and attempt to bring it all together. Auction.net allows all of us to develop the auction effort simultaneously, as well as edit the work in progress. It is easy to use, and customer service is only a click away. Cons We like to make year over year financial comparisons, which is difficult to do with this software. We have successfully merged our donor data base over each year, but have not found a clean way to produce a comparative financial record year over year without exporting and massaging the data. Review Source Response from Northworld June 21, 2017 Hi, Thanks, Sharyn! We love working with you too! One small note - it's SchoolAuction.net, not Auction.net. We're not insulted - just don't want anyone else reading this to get confused... SchoolAuction.net DM Deanna M. Fund Development Chairperson Education Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Works Well" April 20, 2022 4.0 Pros This software does everything we need - we've used it for online silent bidding, virtual live bidding, and in-person silent and live auctions. I feel they are responsive to our questions and needs. We don't have any problems with credit card processing or refunds. Cons The software is a bit clunky and not overly intuitive or fast. Review Source Response from Northworld May 11, 2022 Hi Deanna, I appreciate you taking the time to leave a review. I'm glad you're utilizing our software for so many types of auctions - that's exactly why we designed it to be so versatile as opposed to a "one size fits all" platform, which doesn't work for many organizations. We're thankful to have you as a customer and look forward to helping you with your next event! DJ Devon J. Development Manager Non-Profit Organization Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Highly recommended" June 11, 2021 5.0 Ultimately what matters most is how it works for our supporters. Following our last auction, which was both online and live, we surveyed participants. The vast majority gave the Tofino system high marks. One commented, "I thought this platform was visually pleasing and extremely easy to use. I had no difficulties whatsoever." Pros There are real people behind this program who are happy to answer questions and help as much as possible. Cons Data reports and exports aren't the best. Review Source JW Jennifer W. PTA co-President Education Management Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Great budget software but not top notch" July 10, 2019 4.0 It was good, but we are unfortunately going with another auction site, as it provides the things that schoolauction.net doesn't provide. Once SchoolAuction begins to provide these things, we will be much more likely to go back to them. Pros This was a great starter auction site for our group. It showed us that we are capable of achieving incredible results and brought back many customers from year to year. Cons The back end was very slow in many different locations (so not due to internet speed). The requirements were large: having to input the donor and all of that info and then the items. It's a lot. Also, there was no text capability when sending large emails. My auction attendees would have preferred texts and really hesitated to look into their emails. Texts are more "annoying" and people can't ignore them as easily. Also, and this is HUGE: there were pages upon pages of items. I asked but was told that it was not possible to get all items on one page. Other auction sites have all items on one page. I highly believe that if the items were all on one page, we would have had MANY more bidders. Review Source Response from Northworld July 11, 2019 Thanks, Jennifer. We really appreciate the thoughtful critique. Talk to a Capterra advisor for free and get results within 15 minutes.