Silent Auction Pro Software

Pros

Silent Auction Pro has features like image uploading and item organizing that make it useful for auctions.

Cons

Silent Auction Pro uses an unreliable payment processor, they do not give an opt out for saving credit card info, and there is no bulk upload for items.

Reduced our cost while helped to only use items on the auction that brings the most money.

Pros

Reduces a committee work of 5 people to 1 person. We do a golf fund raiser every year. This helps with keeping track of donations, auction items and BEST of all automate the thank you notes after the event. We trick the system and use the Table feature in assigning Golf Cart 4some assignments.

Cons

There is no shortcomings at all. When in doubt I simply go to the recordings on YouTube as referenced by the help menu

Pros

The silent auction pro software is easy to navigate, has simple forms, help videos and format of website. The staff are extremely friendly and always sending informative emails at the right time.

Cons

The silent auction pro layout of the auction items on the website can use a little touch up from a graphic designer.

Pros

I liked the software because it kept us organized. It was some-what easy to use and see everything. Having all information in one spot was helpful. Being able to see who had what and who won what in the end was nice. I also really liked being able to print bidder number and bidder sheets ahead of time.

Cons

Having a computer based systems was nice however, we felt there were a few things we didnt like. We found when going from an auction page to auction item the pages didn't talk to each other and wouldn't update. I also didn't like that the bidder sheet wouldn't allow for more than one auction item to be featured. In the past, my group likes to put up every logo that is in the package and show proper representation. We needed to make our own in the end.

Pros

Easy application to utilize, customer support is also good as they have a reasonable response time.

Cons

The platform can be confusing at first, but after you get used to it, it's not bad. Just a learning curve.

Pros

The system is very easy to use and, if you have a question, the software team usually responds within a couple of hours

Cons

It would be helpful to have more flexibility on applying credit but it is also understood that privacy guidelines must be maintained

Pros

Ease of use, and customer support. All of the support team were very knowledgeable and so friendly and helpful. They have thought of everything.

Cons

The thank you letters were a little difficult to edit. The body of the letter came out in different fonts and was difficult to change.

Pros

Made auction management a thousand times easier over paper bidding. Check-out and Post-auction reports were so simple, too!

Cons

I was a little confused where to find specific items I needed to edit, but their excellent tech support was responsive within minutes to solve my issue! I also had problems with our volunteers taking the time to train before the event on how to sign on and to assist with bidding.

Pros

The software was easy to use and helpful in tracking donations to our event. I loved the bundling function that allowed us to create great auction packages for our school fundraising event. We have been hosting this event for several years and finally decided to take our auction online. Silent Auction Pro allowed us to engage a larger audience in our fundraiser. We also were able to raise more money by taking our auction online. Many auction items went for their true value, which helped us raise more money for our schools.
The support staff were extremely helpful and always available to answer questions or review how we were using the tool.

Cons

There wasn't a lot that I didn't like about this software tool. One additional feature that would be nice would be the ability to email those that are attending your event (if you used the ticket purchase function) vs. all bidders.

Pros

We loved the organization that went along with SAP. We could locate items and group them easily. We could record payments very easily. And now we can have all of the information stored for next year, which is huge! We can't say enough positive things about Silent Auction Pro!

Cons

The only hitch we had was that the system seemed to be down when we arrived at the venue the night of the event. HOWEVER, we called the company (at 6pm on Saturday) and someone was able to help us and all was well. So really, we had no cons to list!

Pros

The biggest pro for our organization is the customer support. It's superb. Being a rotating group of volunteers, we don't always have the technical know-how to manage the software right out of the gate each year, but the team at SAP really helps get us there by being available, knowledgeable, and clear with their guidance. Other pros: the functionality is robust, allowing us to do everything we need (set up online, silent, and live components of our auction, plus sell raffle tickets and track a fund-a-need). The platform is well organized and easy to navigate.

Cons

It does take some time up-front to learn the software and all that it can do. Sometimes we worried that we weren't using it at its full capacity or were taking more steps than necessary to complete a task. However, I think this is particular to our situation, because our group changes every year.

Saves us so much time. Used to use excel and mail merge to create bid sheets. Then had to enter results into a shared Sheet. Checkout took a lot longer since had to search the sheet. Also never had an online presence before so this gives us access to more people.

Pros

Using this tool enables us to reach more people. I also like that checkout takes a lot less time and the customers like getting a receipt. The ability to print and check all the items from a donation or auction item perspective is so helpful when setting up. I also like the email feature so we can send messages to our patrons and Thank you notes to our donors. The ability to text winning bid status is fun too. Having the patrons credit card information helps make check out a breeze even if they are not present at the time of close out of the auction.

Cons

Minor glitches with downloading to excel if you use that option. Easy to clean up though. There is a lot to learn to get going with the software but once you understand it, it is easy to use and the customer service is excellent.

Pros

This is a very user friendly platform, which allows for ease of use and training. There are a ton of how to's in the help section, if you can't find what you need in that section, their customer support team is top notch. We will be using this software for years to come.

Cons

Getting to different places within the software is a bit time consuming. It would be helpful to have frequently used shortcuts, placed within the software to be able to jump around quicker.

We increased our intake by 30% of proceeds

Pros

That everything is all linked together....Very easy to move around throughout the site. Check out was so fast and easy, our bidders loved the ease. QR Codes on signs made finding the items and bidding very easy.

Cons

Wish cropping the pictures was a little easier, They had a lot of black space around them. Other than that it was great.

Pros

Functionality is excellent. It has lots of features and benefits. The administration and reporting tools are also well thought out. It is clear they understand the many requirements of fundraising.
Finally, their support is outstanding.

Cons

It takes a while to learn the navigation- where tools are located. Also, in one or two instances we wanted to extract information in a certain way but the system didn't provide for this.

Benefits from this software is hands down the customer service. Silent Auction Pro is extremely professional, reliable and overall a fantastic software with a fantastic staff. The customer service is the best, especially when you talk to them several times on the day of your event. I was overly stressed about many things leading up to our event but my software was the one thing I had no worries about. I knew I could make a phone call or send an email and have a response immediately.

Pros

There are many things that I liked about the software. Some of my favorite features are the reporting, easy navigation and setup features that were used for our online ticket sales. We did not use the bid number feature but have learned from this year; we will want to use that feature next year. Silent Auction Pro makes everything so easy. However, the one thing that makes them outstanding is their customer service. Anytime I had a question, they were there and they were there with the answer I needed.

Thanks again for a great experience! I am looking forward to working with ALL of you in the future.

Cons

There is not a perfect software for anything, everyone knows that. There are a couple little things I would like to see differently but we will work together to come up with a solution for those items before the next event!

Was able to run a successful online auction

Pros

lots of feature, Easy to setup and add items lots of categories. Nice administration page for your items. Love there a mobile app for people to bid with. Great customers service

Cons

A little pricey but worth it for all the features and customers service, there many things this software can do.

Silent Auction Pro is a great complete package type program. It was great for marketing our event. Easy to use during the event, and made everything go smooth after the event!

Pros

Ease of use. Reliable. Multiple options to suit your needs. GREAT customer service.
Great marketing tools, great for every aspect of a fundraiser event. If you are looking for a program to run an event, fundraiser, etc this would be a great choice.

Cons

Expensive. Not a fan of charging a percentage of proceeds.

Saves time and helps with organization.

Pros

We have been looking for a long term solution for our charity auction. Software certainly helped with organization and logistics of the event. Great tool..

Advice to Others

We are very new to the software but currently very pleased. Just 2 events under our belt with this tool.

Very user friendly especially the support team, they were fabulous

Pros

Easy to use everything is a click away, especially all the reports that convert over to excel. Very easy to use