Accelevents Software

Instead of cancelling a time consuming, expensive in-person auction, we moved to an online solution and saw a greater profit, with less work and less expenses.

Pros

We looked at several auction systems for an annual charity auction to move it from a physical auction to a fully online auction. After looking at about 5-6 competitors, Accelevents seemed to be the most reasonably priced and easy to use software. A lot of other systems require a monthly subscription which is not reasonable for small organizations.

Cons

Some of the features are not completely obvious, and maybe the help articles could be a little more developed, but help was always available, prompt and patient.

Still the best software I've seen. Very easy to use to run auction event. And the customer service stands out. The team responded to every question quickly, many times within minutes of asking. The support was especially critical night of the event as we had an issue due to user error and the Accelevents team was able to help us resolve.

Pros

Easy to use, intuitive interface with strong features

Cons

Honestly do not have a CON. Perhaps the only thing to improve would to be add a few HOW TO videos to the website for quickly getting users up to speed on all of the features.

Pros

I used Accelevents for our recent raffle fundraiser. Using their program is a fantastic alternative to asking your members to sell door to door, or to take raffle tickets with them to meetings, appointments and work. Everything is done electronically, so there is no counting or record-keeping on your part. CSR's seemed to be available 24/7 to answer questions. I am looking forward to using Accelevents for our Silent Auction in the spring.

Cons

Some of the stuff was a learning curve for me, but the Chat option is very helpful, and when I look back, it was actually very intuitive.

This is a wonderful platform, very well designed, and exceptional for the price. The customer service is also top notch.

Pros

The ease of entering my items using a csv file instead of entering each item individually and the price!

Cons

I personally had an issue at my event where the url did not work. It was partially user error as
I was in the middle of an event and the last thing I thought to do was call a customer service line, sit on hold for 20 minutes, and MAYBE get an answer. HOWEVER: The next day I sent a message to the chat service and CSR personally called me within about 1 minute of my chat request for a phone call. I have never experienced customer service like this. Now knowing the high level of customer service, I very well could have contacted him during my event and fixed my problem. Thank you Accelevents, and now I know!

Love it and them.

Pros

Highly recommend. We are small nonprofit that couldn't afford the higher cost options. Also they didn't have a text to bid option. Accelevants is both functional and affordable AND they have really awesome features.

Cons

Sometimes inputting the data can be glitchy; however, their customer service reigns supreme so we have always figured it out together and fast.

We have used Accelevents for our past two PTO Silent Auctions. Whenever we had a question, customer service responded to us very quickly with answers that solved our problems. It was very affordable and easy to use from the beginning. The information stored from the first year, made planning and executing the event the next year even easier!

Pros

It was very easy for multiple users to input and organize the information. The Dashboard provides a complete snapshot of where you are with planning the event. It has straightforward step by step instructions throughout the planning process and during the event itself.

Cons

I would like to see them add a function where you can send messages to the users during the event to remind them to update their bids, etc.

We have used Accelevents for 3 events, actually encompassing 8 different online auctions. They have been great to work with and very quick to answer questions. We are a small nonprofit in a smaller market, so we appreciate their low cost, but feel their product is top shelf. Our (not tech savvy) patrons have found the platform easy to navigate, and love the addition of mobile bidding to our events. We recommend them to every who asks about our experience, and will continue to use them.

Pros

Cost , ease of use for bidders, ease of use for staff

Cons

I wish you could more easily change the order of items once uploaded (more like a number system, like a Netflix wish list), and I wish that we had the option of sending out blanket notices to our bidders ("Auction closes in 10 minutes, place your best bid now," or a thank you to all bidders after the fact).

Pros

Faster and more efficient with the the mobile bidding app, Easy to showcase and present items with descriptive information allowing bidders to completely understand what exactly they were bidding on. Quick customer service when we had any question that needed answered, along with being understand and truly caring about help us find a solution, and not be over looked VERY AFFORDABLE!!

Cons

When in the Auction Table cannot organize items in alphabetical order, Bidder in the mobile app were getting confused when to put in there names and bid amount.

Customer Service was great. When I had questions on functions or how my event was going to run, I got a response quickly and they were very easy to work with. I look forward to using Accelevents for my next fundraiser.

Pros

One stop shop for your next fundraiser! I was able to do a silent auction as well as sell raffle tickets. Payments were easy and I had no complaints from my attendees to our event regarding the process. I loved I could easily share on social media to get the word out on fundraiser. I did not utilize the ticket portion but would expect that would be smooth as well. Price was comparable to other products offered so I definitely made the right choice going with Accelevents!

Cons

I do not have anything bad to say here! Would highly recommend this product!

Accelevents exceeded my expectations! Anytime I had a question, someone would get back to me in a timely manner. It helped us raise more funds with less time and effort on our part!

Pros

I loved the intuitive nature of the software. It did not take long to learn and put it into application. It has every option I could need to run an event. I love the mobile friendly part too, it makes it so user friendly.

Cons

It would be nice to have an option to do a live auction? Not sure if this is possible or not.

Pros

This site is easy to use and the staff is always on hand to help out if needed. We have used this site for two years and plan on using it for years to come.

Cons

honestly, nothing...any time we ran into a question, they always helped us out.

Pros

The price is right! Easy to include images, easy to process payments, easy to edit and update. Overall user-friendly.

Cons

Their sales/customer reps are obnoxious! Originally, they offered me a coupon to join and then wouldn't let me use it. Now I keep getting emails from them even though I've unsubscribed.

we were able to raise money by using this software for a silent auction. It was simple to tell people about how to bid and they were excited to keep getting text messages if they were outbid.

Pros

Auction set up was very self explanatory. Easy to upload photos, details, prices, etc. Text to bid is AMAZING!!! End of auction reports were helpful for checkout without using cc processing thru Accelevents. Customer support via chat and email were on point...even during our event at 9pm at night they were there to answer questions.

Cons

No real issues with any details of software. All worked smoothly for the silent auction we had. Only suggestion is maybe consolidate the menus instead of having to click between so many to access different parts of the auction set up.

Pros

Appreciate the template for downloading auction items from a spreadsheet.
Event view is clear and easily distinguished between the opening and current bid.
On-line support was near instantaneous.
Will definitely continue to use in the future.

Cons

I wish Item Code could include numbers as well as letters, to make it easier to record multiple submissions from individual artists.

People bidding from home who selected buy it now pricing

Pros

Ability for non attendees to bid
There are no other pros, and even non attendees had trouble.
There are no other pros. I would advise our group to use another mobile bid service, or have proxy bidding for those that cant attend

Cons

Didn't close, confusing, redundant info asked for. I was never outbid for any thing because people weren't bidding from home

Pros

Customer Service is my favorite! Second would be the ease of bidders signing up and collecting their payments.

Cons

We sell several expierences in our auction and last year we used the ticketing option which wasn't great for us so this year we put the expierences in the auction part, worked ok but still trying to figure out the best option for our expierences.

Pros

Accelevents had everything we needed: text-to-bid, a website with item pages, a scrolling display for the event itself, an option for bidders to pay through their phones if they win and printable auction description sheets. The customer service was really good as well - we could just send a question through the chat and hear back within 5 minutes. They even managed to fix a timezone issue that cropped up during the event!

Cons

I would've liked a little more control over the speed at which the items scroll - some guests had trouble reading it.

We increased our fundraising by approximately 20% year over year.

Pros

The Accel Events platform was exactly what we needed to support out 2 school fundraiser. We were able to have all of the functionality we wanted and the cost can't be beat. Also, the customer support was outstanding. We work with a number of vendors and haven't had such prompt response from support in terms of time to an answer from any ther vendor.

Cons

The only cons that we experiences were not having all of the reporting bells and whistles available to us online. All of our data was easy to download and get to the info, but it would have been nice to have some more flexible reporting. That said, this was not a huge deal and only a want not as much a need.

We were able to raise an additional amount for our annual event, while the cost of the service was less. It was absolutely the most affordable, easiest and most enjoyable way to raise funds for student scholarships, travel fellowships and teacher grants. Our organization supports all students, but especially those with little or no means to access travel opportunities or to pay for college. Accel Events will be our go-to platform for our silent auction in the future.

Pros

Intuitive and user friendly; beautiful, clean design, extremely cost-effective for our small non-profit; and, hands-down, the best, most responsive customer service we've ever experienced.

Cons

We have nothing negative to say about the software or the support. We were so happy with the platform and the people behind it that we will use again, and will recommend to others.

Pros

Whenever we had a question, it was answered right away. Everything was straightforward and self-explanatory.

Cons

It was a little frustrating that there were character limits when you download the catalog but not the item sheet, so in order to do everything we had to put in all of the short catalog descriptions, download that, and then delete the short put in the long descriptions for the sheets. It would've been helpful to have two text boxes, one for item sheet and one for catalog so that we didn't have to go back and forward. Also, there was no notice of these character limits so we didn't figure it out until we asked about. Clearer descriptions and additional text boxes would really help expedite the process.