BiddingOwl.com

Benefits:

I would be hard-pressed to say what I like "most" about this software, but I think the fact that I didn't have to enter a data base was huge.

Drawbacks:

The only thing I can think of that was a teeny bit annoying was that I could not enter "one item with multiple bidders." If I had a single item that was open to 20 bidders, the item is displayed 20 times on the website. So, bidders must scroll past all of these to get to the next item.

In sum:

My overall experience with the BiddingOwl program was fabulous. We have used a personally designed Excel program in the past to manage our silent auction, and it was very vulnerable. This program is pretty much foolproof and efficient. We were able to conduct our auction online in this time of COVID-19 without much work or worry at all.

Benefits:

I love that there is no subscription fee. The costumer support is great and I love that you can "reset" your auction if most items stay the same from year to year, rather than having to re-enter all items every year.

Drawbacks:

The close out process took me a little bit to figure out (although I am not super tech savvy).

In sum:

This is our school's third year using BiddingOwl.com to run our online auction and to sell our auction tickets. It works perfectly for our needs and charges a very fair price. The customer support is great.

Benefits:

This is so user friendly. I also love that I can reach wider audiences with an online auction than a regular silent auction as I've used in the past.

Drawbacks:

I guess I wish that the registration process for bidders was a tiny bit easier. I worry that some people hesitate to register.

In sum:

This is absolutely wonderful. The layout is so easy on the eyes. Other online auction sites lay out the items in a way that is messy or confusing. This is clean and clear and attractive. Technology is not a strong suit for me, I have had to call the help desk 3 times in the last 18 months. [SENSITIVE CONTENT HIDDEN] is wonderful. She picks up the phone right away. She is patient and knowledgeable and kind. At first I was hesitant to use a site that charges a fee. But, I soon realized that the nominal fee is worth it.

Benefits:

Bidding Owl was so incredibly easy to use! Its a great site to manage auction items, bidders, donors, sponsors and more for an amazing price. Bidding Owl's customer service was top notch! They were always there to answer questions and help us. Whether you are an online expert or novice, first time fundraiser or a professional fundraiser, you will love this site and software.

Drawbacks:

Nothing. The software was so easy to use and manage.

Benefits:

We don't do many auction based fundraisers throughout the year, but we still always dread them as they approach. That is, we did, before finding biddingowl.com. Gone are the nightmares of using a paper-based auction system that we spent oodles of time organizing, tracking, reconciling, etc. Bidding Owl makes it easier for us to organize, but also for our users to engage in the auction. With tools like the 'auto bid up to a certain amount', people are more willing to spend money, meaning we raise more.

Drawbacks:

It's not the most visually appealing software on the market. Granted, we haven't used other auction tools specifically, but the ui / visual design of the software just feels a bit dated. Like early 2000s look. Design trends across the industry have moved on, and there's little excuse these days for not having a service that is visually attractive for the users to engage with.

In sum:

We've been able to (more easily) raise a lot more money through out online / fundraising auctions when using this software. We've also had comments from our supporters that it has made things easier on their end.

Benefits:

Great customer support, especially for a "newbie" like me. The overall look is generally nice and clean. The bidding and check out process is fairly easy from the consumer end. I like that we can save items from year to year. Once you've set it up once, the work has decreased immensely over the years.

Drawbacks:

I'd like to have a little more choice in font, colors, etc during the set up. It would make sense to have the logo (and other info) for a donor come up when they are chosen as a donor for an item. It would be helpful to keep bidders in the database when the auction is reset.

In sum:

After 10 years of doing the traditional live and silent auction, we decided to give the online auction option a try. After quite a bit of research, we chose BiddingOwl as our online software. We now make more than half of our total profit from the online part of our auction, and I am pushing to completely move to online only. BiddingOwl has made this shift incredibly easy and profitable. We are now able to reach a much wider audience. This is our fourth year using BiddingOwl and we will continue to do so!

Benefits:

Bidding Owl is incredibly user-friendly and offers a variety of options to customize the type of auction you are trying to build. I love how quickly we can add items, track bids and adjust features as needed.

Drawbacks:

We had a lot of donors, and the scrolling banner only offers a single-line scroll. 2 or 3 scroll lines to maximize the donor view would be a great addition.

In sum:

Our overall experience with Bidding Owl was fantastic! The customer service they offer is truly top-notch. They are polite, helpful and quick to respond. We look forward to utilizing this software again in the future.

Benefits:

Easy step by step process to set-up an auction. Allowed for multiple pictures of the items. Easy to use and manage the auction. Easy to close out the items and locate shipping information for winning bidders. Connects with PayPal for easy and quick payment.

Drawbacks:

We had one bidder who backed out of the purchase and I couldn't locate a place on the bidding site to cancel his bid and select the next highest bidder. I had to call customer support and they handled it quickly.

In sum:

Bidding Owl made our online auction run smoothly. It was easy to set-up and manage plus our bidders had a positive experience as well. Would definitely use Bidding Owl again.

Benefits:

Our school has had silent auctions in the past, but never an online one. When the Covid19 pandemic sent everyone into quarantine our school scrambled to find an alternative spring auction we had already started planning. Bidding Owl's software made it so easy to set up, edit, and promote before the auction started. While our 3 day auction took place we received a lot of feedback from our school's families on how easy they felt it was use and how professional everything looked. Post auction we have made more money than any of other other auctions in the past and the checkout process has been simple and straightforward. I can't wait to do another one!

Drawbacks:

I wish that it would show the opening bid before users had to click on the item to see its details. It would also be nice to have the option of more than 3 photos on some items.

In sum:

We will definitely be using Bidding Owl again and recommending it to other non profits in similar situations like us. Now that we know how wonderful online auctions are we'll never go back to paper!

Benefits:

I find it really user friendly for the most part. I like the ability to include items that are in our silent and live auctions without being charged a % fee for them. Bidding Owl has really reasonable rates and amazing customer service. I love that we have our own auction site name that is easy for people to remember and to use in marketing materials. I would love to try mobile bidding, which I think is a great feature, but the location we've used for many years for our auction event has really poor internet.

Drawbacks:

There are certain features I wish would be implemented, such as the ability to rearrange images and the ability for bidders to right click on items to open them in new tabs. Other auction sites have this feature, and I wish BiddingOwl had it as well. I also really wish we could store people's credit card information to make checkout more streamlined at the end of the live/silent auction event. I wish there was more flexibility in editing our home page design.

In sum:

I've been really pleased with the overall experience with Bidding Owl. I think its best feature is the customer service. They have helped me repeatedly, even when the problem is on my computer's end and not a site issue. I highly recommend Bidding Owl for a small to medium fundraising effort. Ours is a school parent club raising approximately $35k-$50k per year.