Auctria Software

Pros

The affordability. This was our first attempt to use a software package for our silent auction and event management. The pricing meant we really couldn't pass it up. So many of the competitors wanted to send their team to our event, work the crowd and charge us thousands. I'm so glad I found a system that was willing to let us put in the time and just purchase the software.

Cons

The menu system is confusing, the system isn't intuitive. I wouldn't recommend it to organizations that don't have a tech-savy staff member. The system didn't auto check-out folks after the event, I had to initiate every checkout, even when cards were on file. When a card was on file, it was easy to accidently click "pay by cash" and then I couldn't undo to cash payment.

Pros

I loved the ease of how it worked! It was easy to sign in bidders - teach someone new how to use it

Cons

there wasn't anything that I didn't enjoy - it worked just fine. when it came to checking out - we were learning on the fly

It does everything I need to run our annual auction at a fraction of the cost of the competition.

Pros

This software does the job, and provides all the features I need at a fraction of the cost of the competition.

Cons

I am pretty tech savvy, so it works for me, but the software requires some knowledge and patience with basic database work. It is not as easy to use as some of the competition claims to be.

Made doing the auction sane.

Pros

Stripe hookup! Money comes in easily. Easier to process than Square, when in a hurry. Easy to print out a nice looking receipt that makes people calm.

Cons

Left nav very long. Sometimes hard to scroll down and click the thing you want. But a minor detail. Mostly great.

Pros

It had promise. Seemed like a good solution for people who would be able to pay with their own credit card and then check out using that same credit card.

Cons

IF everyone would have bought their own ticket with their own credit card and then if they had wanted to do self-checkout with that same credit card THEN this software would have been a dream. Nearly a third of our auction participants wanted something different. We didn't have enough computers to handle the anomolies. We didn't have enough training to know how to back out transactions or add a charge, or do a split charge (cash, check and/or credit). We didn't have enough log-ins to ensure system reliability. The system crashed halfway through checkout and NONE of the charges went through. It was a nightmare and now I'm stuck cleaning it up--and I still don't have the training I need to manage the failed transactions. I'm a volunteer for crying out loud and I don't want to spend my time on this.

Raising more money before - and during - our event; raising the bar on the quality of our event; time savings.

Pros

We like that it allows multiple users to work in it, allowing us to easily share the workload of preparing for our fundraising event.

Cons

Using the user guide to find the exact answer to a challenge. I end up having to reach out to customer support more often than not, but I do appreciate their prompt responses!

Pros

The User Guidebook is organized and very to use. The whole website is very easy to navigate. Thank you!

Cons

The design element on the event's website is very complicated. I think I just need to work on it more.

Pros

We love that it allows us to store information from year to year making it easier and easier to set up our annual auction. We also love the responsiveness of the support team!

Cons

Sometimes it is difficult to customize certain aspects of the online auction website to fit our individual needs but this has gotten better and better over the years as more and more features are added. We really are very happy with the product.

This made our event so much better!

We did purchase a domain name for our website name to make it easier to advertise our event. This was minimal and 100% worth it.

Pros

Auctria is simply amazing! It's extremely user friendly, and we had so many compliments on our website! We were able to display all of our silent auction items prior to the event. We even offered some buy it now items prior to the event at a higher value! Ticket and table sales were easy. We are so thankful for Auctria! The customer service was top notch. I had questions, we would send an email to Auctria and get answers back promptly. We even had links sent to us that would walk us through our questions. Super helpful!

Shortened the amount of time needed to prepare, run and get full reports on the auction.

Pros

Quick and easy item and bidder entry. Also inputting the winning bids on items and cashing out the bidders at the end of the evening goes so smoothly for everyone. Being able to print the bid sheets for all the silent auction items saves us a lot of time from having to create our own bid sheets (we did that for many years before Auctria). Since we only use it twice a year, it takes a bit of time to refresh our memories as to how to do everything, but not as much time as doing everything manually. The many reports available are easy to use and provide clear information.

Cons

Would be nice to be able to "hide" sections that we don't use when entering information on items and bidders. We've sent a request in to see if there's a way to enter tickets (as tickets vs as items) with numbers and assign them to specific bidders.

Pros

Best features include copying our old auction as a starting point for the next year's, ease of entering items and donors, the reports available, and the ease of billing and checking out our bidders. Customer support is awesome!

Cons

We always seem to have a few little hiccups printing materials but nothing that we couldn't resolve. In the end, everything looked just the way we wanted.

Pros

Our organizations was very impressed with the depth, versatility and ease of use of the product. I look forward to using it again at our next event with all of the things we learned at our recent gala under our belts.

Cons

Like with anything, there is a learning curve, and the tutorial could use some work. Perhaps with more images or videos. The product itself is fantastic.

Pros

Once it's set up, works great! The new features of quick bid entry are super easy and quick! The customizing of receipts is nice too.

Cons

Dashboard is a little busy. It has so many options, it's difficult to find things at times. Sometimes it was difficult in finding the options to customize the statements.

Pros

You get so much for such a small cost!!! This database has saved us so much time. It is my go to for all my auctions. Plus the customer service is the best!!!

Cons

Personally, I preferrrd the old look. It was simple & to the point. The new look is a little busy & more complicated (but with more features of course).

The ease of use is great. Customer/Technical Support is topnotch.

Pros

The software continues to evolved with very useful features. What I really like most is that the folks at our schools thinks I am a hero for introducing the Auctria solution. ;-) The new interface is well organized. The integration with CC processing is very convenient. The Ticket, Table, Link and Merge futures are all very useful features. Overall, our school is very happy with the solution.

Cons

The security model can be further improved. The statement for linked bidders could be further enhanced by indicating line items by bidder.

Simple format, ease of use, some useful reports post-event.

Pros

Definitely easy to enter data before, during, and even edit after an event. I love the merge bidders option! The statements are perfect for our needs.

Cons

I do wish I could easily have extracted a report detailing how each bidder spent their money on specific items and not just a type or category. Our bookkeeper requires this so I have to generate it myself in a spreadsheet by joining a few extracted reports from Auctria. Easy but it takes precious time.

Ease of customizing specialty forms and track to specific items was a learning process. Our silent auction was paper only so converting the process for this use was very actionable.

Pros

Customer support was tremendous. They helped through the learning curve and we were able to hold a very successful two day silent (paper) auction.

Our school auction takes place every spring, does profit every year and sustains our PTA budget through the following year. We make enough to need a software system but we don't make enough to spend bookoo bucks on it. Auctria does everything we need including -*organizing and selling items
*offering receipts to donors and buyers
*offering customizable website that is easy to create and share
*allowing for many check out options including online, in person and push text notifications
*option to pass credit card fees on to buyer so that our school can keep more money for our kids.

Auctria is the only software that we will use going forward and I highly recommend!!!

Pros

Easy to use and train others to use, many customizable options for sellable items, website is awesome and tutorials on creating website are very helpful, cost is the lowest in the industry which is much needed for our non-profit school event. We used Auctria at our annual school auction this year and it did everything we needed and more for a fraction of the software that we have used in the past. Hint -- there is also a way to pass on credit card sales fees to credit card users which saved us those fees. HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!!!

Cons

Our auction chair had a few questions and couldn't find a number to call. She emailed and got a response back in 24 hours, which is their promise. For what it's worth, our software company before this one had the same policy and cost 10 times more so I don't feel like this is a deal breaker for us.

Pros

It was fairly simple to enter the auction items, record bids, and make payments on the account. I was very impressed with how simple it was to close out the auction.

Cons

The website designer was not the easiest to use. I also did not like how table assignments were done. It would be better if when assigning tables in counted the additional bidders in the table assignments.

Pros

Everything, flawlessly designed, good luck finding limitations. AND if you happened to run into an issue, I challenge you to find a support team that responds faster than the Auctria squad does.

Cons

If anything, not enough people know about this product.