All Silent Auction Pro Reviews

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Mary

2 - 10 employees

Used less than 12 months

Review Source: Capterra
This reviewer was invited by us to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive as a thank you.

OVERALL RATING:

5

Reviewed January 2022

A happy client!

User Profile

John F

Verified reviewer

Civic & Social Organization, 2-10 employees

Used less than 12 months

Review Source: Capterra
This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered

OVERALL RATING:

5

EASE OF USE

4

VALUE FOR MONEY

4

CUSTOMER SUPPORT

5

FUNCTIONALITY

5

Reviewed March 2020

Excellent Event Planning Software!

We are a hypothermia shelter that houses 12 guests during the coldest months of the year, and have a fundraising gala every 2-3 years. At the beginning of our planning process for our February 2020 gala, we wrestled with the question “Do we really need an auction and event planning package for our little event?” At the end, there was no question that Silent Auction Pro was a HUGE reason why our event went so smoothly and exceeded our fundraising goals!

PROS

I cannot say enough good things about our experience using Silent Auction Pro. Some of the key things that we liked: Event Coach. From the beginning, we were assigned an event coach ([SENSITIVE CONTENT HIDDEN]), and she proved incredibly helpful in both understanding Silent Auction Pro as well as anticipating what other issues might come up before, during, and after our event. She checked in regularly, and was available even on weekends. Training Videos. Silent Auction Pro has a large number of training videos on YouTube that were very helpful. Admittedly, they seemed difficult to understand when I viewed them before we actually signed up, but once I was on Silent Auction Pro and able to play around, they made much more sense, and proved very helpful. Pricing Structure. At first, it seemed expensive to pay $800 and still give up 2% of our proceeds to Silent Auction Pro. However, the 2% is only out of auction proceeds, and not things like tickets or sponsorships. That kept the 2% cost down to under $300, for a total cost of $1,100. Comparing that to the many, many hours of time saved, the ability to start the auction before the event, ability to easily sell tickets, and all the communications tools made it worth the money many times over! Usability. While I would not call Silent Auction Pro the most user-friendly website in existence, it is user-friendly, and with a minimal amount of practice it becomes very easy to get around. The reports are also very useful and easy to generate.

CONS

There were a few very minor bugs, but that was it. I didn't care at all for WorldPay, which is one of the two credit card processors that Silent Auction Pro works with. They had horrible customer service and wanted to know WAY to much personal information about me in order to open an account. But that isn't Silent Auction Pro's fault ...

Reason for choosing Silent Auction Pro

Early in the process, a friend said they loved Silent Auction Pro for their event, so I limited the evaluation to just this product.

Laura

Arts and Crafts, 11-50 employees

Used more than 2 years

Review Source: Capterra
This reviewer was invited by the software vendor to submit an honest review.

OVERALL RATING:

4

EASE OF USE

3

VALUE FOR MONEY

5

CUSTOMER SUPPORT

5

FUNCTIONALITY

4

Reviewed February 2021

Awesome Customer Service

PROS

This was our fourth year using Silent Auction Pro. Like so many nonprofits in 2020, we were faced with really two questions: how can we successfully fundraise using mostly social media and how can we put together an event that seemed so foreign at the time, so quickly. While the changes made to the software were helpful and kept us competitive with other organizations, it was Silent Auction's customer service that was the secret sauce. From explaining all the new features to problem-solving, to follow-up reminders, we were able to host a successful fundraising event this year.

CONS

Some things are a little bit clumsy and not as user-friendly as I would like them to be. It would be helpful to be able to change the program colors to be a bit more like our brand. Reports could be more specific or to be able to customize them more.

Reason for choosing Silent Auction Pro

We choose Silent auction Pro because we as administrators and most of the constituent base was already familiar with the product. And we could be a quick snapshot of how we were doing based on last year's data.

Vendor Response

Hi Laura - thank you for posting your review! As you know we are always working to improve Silent Auction Pro.

Replied June 2021

Linda

Higher Education, 501-1,000 employees

Used less than 6 months

Review Source: Capterra
This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered

OVERALL RATING:

3

EASE OF USE

3

FUNCTIONALITY

3

Reviewed January 2021

Review

PROS

Not a million screens amongst which to navigate.

CONS

There is a lot of repeat info on each screen. Would be great if information could be streamlined a bit.

Vendor Response

Hi Linda - Thank you for your review. If you have / had specifics about the repeated information we would be very interested. We are always making improvements to our system. Please feel free to email us at support@silentauctionpro.com

Replied June 2021

Tiffany

Education Management, 51-200 employees

Used more than 2 years

Review Source: Capterra
This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered

OVERALL RATING:

5

EASE OF USE

5

VALUE FOR MONEY

5

CUSTOMER SUPPORT

5

FUNCTIONALITY

5

Reviewed November 2020

Great Customer Service

They know what they are doing and have their team is also very knowledgeable. They will also help you with suggestions and ideas to enhance your event!

PROS

The team at Silent Auction Pro truly wants your event to be successful. They are alaways available by phone or email, and while their website has fabulous tutorials, they are also fabulous in providing you hands on support.

CONS

I would like to see more analysis reports

Reason for choosing Silent Auction Pro

We have used them for a couple years and have always had the best experience. The software is best for our clientele.

Sharon

Non-Profit Organization Management, 2-10 employees

Used weekly for less than 6 months

Review Source: Capterra
This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered

OVERALL RATING:

5

EASE OF USE

4

VALUE FOR MONEY

5

CUSTOMER SUPPORT

5

FUNCTIONALITY

5

Reviewed June 2019

Amazing Software and Customer Service

Amazing! Everyone who has been on the phones with us has been fantastic to work with. Including the owner. He is completely a part of his team and business and does not hesitate to jump in and support you.

PROS

What I like most is what all it can do. For this event I only used one little portion, but learned in the post event how great this tool is going to be to use for our big fundraiser.

CONS

There is a LOT packed into one spot. Learning where everything lives is challenging, but their customer support is, literally, amazing. So really there is not a least.

Reason for choosing Silent Auction Pro

Ease of use and customer support. When we were meeting with Silent Auction Pro, we felt like they were willing to come along side us and not just be another sale. This is exactly what has happened. :)

Heather

Religious Institutions, 2-10 employees

Used less than 6 months

Review Source: Capterra
This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered

OVERALL RATING:

5

EASE OF USE

4

VALUE FOR MONEY

5

CUSTOMER SUPPORT

5

FUNCTIONALITY

5

Reviewed February 2021

Great product for the price

When we moved our annual service auction online, we needed to move from our other auction software to one that had a Digital catalog and would process orders without any issues. It is a very good system and we look forward to working with them again.

PROS

We loved the customer service and training offered from Silent Auction Pro.

CONS

A bit more complicated for people who are unfamiliar with computer software. We had to do some workarounds to post more than one photo per item but I understand they have upgraded the software and have that ability now.

Reason for choosing Silent Auction Pro

Local representative, smaller company, and affordable straightforward pricing

Reasons for switching to Silent Auction Pro

Needed a product that offered a photo catalog, mobile ability and credit card processing.

Hillary S.

Non-Profit Organization Management, 51-200 employees

Used monthly for less than 6 months

Review Source: Capterra
This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered

OVERALL RATING:

5

EASE OF USE

4

VALUE FOR MONEY

5

CUSTOMER SUPPORT

5

FUNCTIONALITY

5

Reviewed September 2020

Extremely helpful and streamlined service

Very positive.

PROS

What I liked the MOST about this software was how easy it made the checkout and follow-up process with our guests. There are a lot of large benefits to using Silent Auction Pro, but I have to say that this has been the most significant aspect for us. All of the invoices are automatically created and batched for a seamless end-of-event experience. From the admin side, this has made management much less stressful.

CONS

Sometimes it was difficult to navigate or figure out exactly what functions lied where in the platform. It took a bit of digging around before I got comfortable with using it.

Reason for choosing Silent Auction Pro

The comprehensive ability of the platform. Both computer and mobile friendly, and again, has a large focus on streamlining the admin side of things.

Robert

Music, 11-50 employees

Used daily for more than 2 years

Review Source: Capterra
This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered

OVERALL RATING:

5

EASE OF USE

4

VALUE FOR MONEY

5

CUSTOMER SUPPORT

5

FUNCTIONALITY

5

Reviewed October 2023

Very Powerful, not very pricey.

Online auctions require good software. SAP meets the challenge and excels at paper bidding and live auctions as well, integrating the results into common invoicing/check-out. Our experience has been very good.

PROS

On-line bidding and automated event invoicing/check-out. Friendly, competent support staff.

CONS

To be maximally effective, email addresses and cell numbers need to be captured, for ALL guests at registration/ticket purchase. Most 'registering' users do not have this info (or refuse to enter it) for their guests making it a chore to hunt down before the event, or binding up check-in. Credit cards on file is also difficult, but at least is not mandatory. Don't have any good suggestions, though, except maybe allow guest names (only) during registration.

Reason for choosing Silent Auction Pro

Price/features/performance reviews, live trial demo database/instance

Reasons for switching to Silent Auction Pro

Cost.

User Profile

Lara

Verified reviewer

Hospital & Health Care

Used daily for less than 6 months

Review Source: Capterra
This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered

OVERALL RATING:

5

EASE OF USE

4

VALUE FOR MONEY

5

CUSTOMER SUPPORT

5

FUNCTIONALITY

4

Reviewed October 2017

Excellent Choice

Helped us run our best auction to date, with virtually no line at checkout, even though we had almost doubled our attendees from the prior year.

PROS

This is terrific software, especially for a smaller nonprofit. What sold the software to us is that when I inquired about it online on a Saturday, I got an immediate phone call from the owner of the company and software developer. This was very typical of all interaction with this company throughout our use of the software - we got immediate responses from support when we had questions, they understand that auctions happen on weekends and support needs to be available then, and when we found a few quirks in the software they were repaired immediately, often by the developer personally. We previously used Greater Giving and BidPal; all three have features that I like and don't like, but overall SilentAuctionPro is by far the best value for the price. The a la carte pricing is a huge benefit for nonprofits like ours that cannot use all features (i.e. online bidding). Overall, from last year to this year (BidPal to SilentAuctionPro), we went from about 100 to 195 attendees, and from our worst checkout ever to our best. The instruction files, help menus, videos, etc were by the far the best of any nonprofit software we have used. We were invoiced after the auction for the software, which could be of great benefit for a nonprofit just starting out with their first auction.

CONS

I would love to be able to have a website where people can enter their own donations and have them populate as donation items in the system. There were a few quirks like the system not liking quote marks and ampersands. I would like for there to be a bit more explanation on the page about the security of registering your card as many of my guests weren't comfortable doing so at the time of ticket purchase. It would also be great to have more customization options for the ticket sales page. Because of the way we run our auction, I would very much prefer to be able to assign bidder #s to a household rather than to an individual, but this would have been fine if we had noticed it earlier and planned accordingly. I would also like to be able to customize a bit more on the receipts, include ticket descriptions, etc. I would have set up our fixed price items differently than we were advised to as I don't think it was the best option for our auction and was a bit of a hiccup, but in fairness it was something we didn't get to in advance and did on the fly, so it would have been avoidable with a little planning. Although the reports are generally pretty great, I did have to piece together a few to get to what I needed which could be a pain for someone with less Excel experience. Really minor, but because we can't use online bidding, I print our bidsheets on carbonless paper. Would very much prefer that the half sheet option printed as a 2up because I ended up reformatting them in Adob

Alberto

Food & Beverages, 11-50 employees

Used weekly for less than 2 years

Review Source: Capterra
This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered

OVERALL RATING:

5

EASE OF USE

5

FUNCTIONALITY

5

Reviewed May 2023

the most user-friendly software ever used

PROS

Silent Auction Pro is an incredibly user-friendly software with a website that's easy to navigate. Over the years, I've continuously learned and become more familiar with its extensive features, such as donation reports, contact history, and mobile online bidding. The customer support is exceptional, and their comprehensive reports can be easily downloaded for event wrap-ups. The Bidsheet Pro option has revolutionized our planning process, offering a seamless experience from donation entry to checkout. The software's extras, like logos and communication tools, were invaluable in enhancing our auction.

CONS

Silent Auction Pro has its challenges, requiring research and self-starting to fully utilize its functions. Customer support was helpful, but the software's interface can be cumbersome with excessive clicking. While some features need improvement, the developers actively work on updates based on user feedback. Learning the system was a worthwhile endeavor, despite a few quirks.

Dawn

Non-Profit Organization Management, 2-10 employees

Used monthly for more than 2 years

Review Source: Capterra
This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered

OVERALL RATING:

5

EASE OF USE

5

VALUE FOR MONEY

5

CUSTOMER SUPPORT

5

FUNCTIONALITY

5

Reviewed November 2023

Great product

As an online auction service for our non-profit fundraisers this program is excellent. We have had great experiences with this company, and they are always on hand for support throughout the process.

PROS

Silent Auction Pro is very easy to use and has a wonderful auction catalog set up that allows for multiple quality images and formats. Their support staff is amazing and very helpful.

CONS

Silent Auction Pro really works well, and I don't have any current improvements that I would note.

Charisse

Used daily for less than 2 years

Review Source: Capterra

OVERALL RATING:

5

EASE OF USE

5

VALUE FOR MONEY

5

CUSTOMER SUPPORT

5

FUNCTIONALITY

5

Reviewed May 2017

Tremendous system for making charity auction easier to set up

Set up and run the event solely from volunteer committee without having to contract with other services for ticketing or check in/out. Handle high volume auction and attendee counts with smaller committee.

PROS

Donation entry was intuitive and loved that we could pull up items donated before so that we didn't have to retype everything. Demo environment allowed us to get committee members up to speed quickly and also allowed us to practice on some creative set up to meet our auction needs. Ticketing feature offered a variety of ticket options, some only displaying with a promo code, and love the addition of the asking for the email address for a ticket purchasers' guests - made it simple to reach all attendees with the marketing tools. Allowing the ticket purchasers to select the meal, or any other item we programmed made the table/catering coordination easy. Marketing features to promote the event to our attendees as well as help them feel connected to the event that was a couple months away. We set up an online auction the week before our event and people loved it! The online auction was open to the public so it allowed parents to share with friends and family that weren't planning on attending. We posted the event auction items on the online auction as previews to entice bidders to attend to get a chance at the rest of the silent and live items. Reporting is good, check in/out is all on one page, the system performance is great. Loved working in system even from our smart phone browser to check on things, make changes etc. any time, any where. Customer support was outstanding!

CONS

Special characters aren't allowed in donation title so we had to change once they got loaded as an auction item. Special characters in the description like " for inch threw off the formatting of the data export to excel. Reporting is good, but would have liked a few more reports or the ability to create ad hoc reports. We found one report provided this item, but another report provided this item so we had to export to excel and do look up functions which is tedious to do each time. Would like more options for formatting of bid sheets, and also would like to see some additional options with displaying, leveraging the "Donation Tag" feature which is critical for us as our teams need to be identified. Would like filters on lists as well.

Stephanie

Used free trial

Review Source: Capterra

OVERALL RATING:

5

EASE OF USE

5

CUSTOMER SUPPORT

5

Reviewed May 2016

Silent Auction Pro Thought of Everything!

Overall, I am extremely pleased with this software. I was totally immersed in it, learning every possible feature and application, to ensure that we got the maximum use. Pro's: 1. The Help section is extremely well documented, and the customer support is amazing. The You Tube videos were very helpful for training both me and my volunteers. Any time of the day or night when I sent an email, I had an immediate response. 2. The options available were extremely comprehensive and knowledgeable about the mechanics of a benefit fundraiser. I cannot think of anything that I wanted to do that I couldn't do. From donor setup, to bidding styles (purchase of ticket parties for Teacher Experiences, to Silent Auction bidding, setting different minimum bids etc) to performance tracking, exporting info, everything was there. 3. The buzz that we created with the auction was definitely a boost to our event. We doubled our attendance vs. last year, just by starting the auction 4 weeks before the event, and creating excitement about the items that we offered early. 4. I am now set up for next year, with over 50% of the input work established already (donors, pictures and logos, bidders, etc). Next year should be a lot easier! 5. Auction Day section is powerful and easy to use - The check in was easy, online bidding was easy, and checkout was VERY easy, especially for those who had already registered their credit cards online. I could just click "auto process" for a batch of auction items, and with a click of the button, 20 people were checked out at once. Then I just looked up the auction number, passed out the gift envelopes or baskets, and done! "Be Awares" - I won't say Con's! 1. The upfront setup in the first year takes some time. Start early, and I strongly encourage you to read all of the "Help" sections before you start. Even then, tread carefully as you craft your setup, and re-read some of the Help sections. I ended up re-doing a few of my entries as I thought about the structure, and crafted it for maximum efficiency and reporting. 2. Engage team members to do their own data entry as they gather donations. This will save you a lot in data entry time, especially if you have a lot of auction items, and especially in the first year. 3. Train your "auction assistants" well, before event day. This includes check in, auction bidding assistance, and check out, but is especially true for Check in. Overall, very pleased!

Vendor Response

Thank you Stephanie for your detailed review. I'm sure potential customers will find this very helpful! On the "be awares". As you point out, our system is very comprehensive. We encourage people to play around in the demo group sandbox to help learn the system while not affecting the data in your own group. We're also happy to coach users on the best practices via email or a phone call. As you pointed out there are a bunch of great tutorial videos too! Thanks again for the great review! Jim

Replied May 2016

Sarah

Fund-Raising, 51-200 employees

Used daily for more than 2 years

Review Source: Capterra
This reviewer was invited by the software vendor to submit an honest review.

OVERALL RATING:

5

EASE OF USE

5

FUNCTIONALITY

5

Reviewed April 2022

This software was a Game Changer for us!

I can't imagine using another software program. This is a program that can easily taught and transferred among changing administrators of your event (ours is a school/band fundraiser, so our parent teams are different and evolving each year). Since the software is straightforward and user friendly, it makes it easy to recruit and replace team leads (unlike our previous system, which made a potential new team lead say "oh, I couldn't do that! That looks complicated!"). We have appreciated the support from Silent Auction Pro, especially when we first got started with the program. It's been a real blessing to our event!

PROS

This software has made the planning process so smooth for us. The Bidsheet Pro option has been the best fit for our event. The ability to enter donations/auction items, credit the student bringing in the auction item, and then have an online catalog to share, bidsheets, and an easy checkout process at the click of a button has improved the process for us 10-fold.

CONS

I do wish there was an option to download the reports into a Google Sheets format. The reports automatically download into Microsoft Office Spreadsheet format, which is the better format for functionality, but as an organization, we appreciate the ability to share documents with Google.

Vendor Response

Thank you Sarah for the great review! Regarding the reports format - they are a CSV format and would think that could easily be imported into Google Sheets... We'll take a look

Replied April 2022

Lisa

Philanthropy, 11-50 employees

Used daily for more than 2 years

Review Source: Capterra
This reviewer was invited by the software vendor to submit an honest review.

OVERALL RATING:

5

EASE OF USE

5

VALUE FOR MONEY

5

CUSTOMER SUPPORT

5

FUNCTIONALITY

5

Reviewed March 2023

Look no further this software is great

Excellent! We have grown our fundraising auction three fold since instituting Silent Auction Pro. Much as to do with the ease in which we can sell tickets, process charges, create bid sheets, etc. Everything Silent Auction Pro does well!

PROS

Above all else, the support you get from Silent Auction Pro is beyond best! The staff is on top of answering inquiries almost as fast as you can send them.....and you get to actually talk to someone, who has English as their first language! Besides that, the software is easy to use. Good help screens and an incredible demo site that you can practice on.

CONS

Still attached to World Pay for processing, BUT they have recently included their own WorldPay reports which eliminates the need to try to decipher the WorldPay reports!

Reason for choosing Silent Auction Pro

Mainly their demo site was impressive enough to give you an excellent feel for what you'd be doing with their software. Other demo sites I had to fumble through. Silent Auction Pro makes it easy!

Vendor Response

Thank you Lisa for the great review! -Jim

Replied March 2023

Heidi

Used daily for more than 2 years

Review Source: Capterra
This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered

OVERALL RATING:

5

EASE OF USE

4

VALUE FOR MONEY

5

CUSTOMER SUPPORT

5

FUNCTIONALITY

5

Reviewed April 2018

We have used Silent Auction Pro for the past three years to manage our school auction.

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.

Vendor Response

Thanks Heidi! Hopefully your team takes advantage of the online help and video tutorials we have to help folks come up-to-speed on the system. As always - we're here to help! -Jim

Replied April 2018

Jennifer

Education Management, 11-50 employees

Used monthly for more than 2 years

Review Source: Capterra

OVERALL RATING:

5

EASE OF USE

5

VALUE FOR MONEY

5

CUSTOMER SUPPORT

5

FUNCTIONALITY

4

Reviewed July 2016

Great product

Silent Auction Pro completely changed the way we ran our annual silent and live auction. It took us out of the time-consuming task of tracking everything by Excel worksheets and allowed us to focus more on the actual fundraising.

PROS

We used this software to transition from using Excel worksheets (SO time consuming) to check people out from a live auction, to swiping credit cards and capturing their info for faster checkout. We were able to track our history of donors and popular items, and streamlined our request process to focus on what bidders really wanted. Selling tickets to the event became a much easier process as well. The software was intuitive, and the customer service was great.

CONS

While we loved our experience with Silent Auction Pro, we eventually felt we needed to switch companies to a platform that allowed for public searches of online auctions, rather than requiring a link and approval from an Auction Chairperson. We switched to another company in order to take advantage of a large and searchable/public auction community. However, that switch has cost us much more money. Instead, a strong marketing campaign on social media would bring the extra bidders without paying the more expensive subscription fee that the other company charged us. I will encourage the next Auction Chairperson to use Silent Auction Pro.

Vendor Response

Thank you for the review Jennifer! Regarding us not supporting a publicly searchable page - that's true though many of our customers prefer to keep their events private and use their own marketing efforts to reach bidders as you suggested. This also eliminates the need to potentially ship items to winners in any part of the country and reduces the likelihood of people backing out on an item they have won. We may add similar capability in the future if we find more demand for it. - Jim

Replied July 2016

Eileen

Fund-Raising, 11-50 employees

Used daily for less than 12 months

Review Source: Capterra
This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered

OVERALL RATING:

5

EASE OF USE

5

VALUE FOR MONEY

5

CUSTOMER SUPPORT

5

FUNCTIONALITY

5

Reviewed November 2017

We used Silent Auction Pro for the first time this year and it was perfect!

We raised more money with less time and lower cost.

PROS

This was our first time running the school gala and we set out to find some new software to help us get the job done. With Silent Auction Pro we were able to do more with less - money, time and effort! From data entry to bid sheets, display sheets, program production, online bidding, ticket sales, day of event support, credit card payments (through a 3rd party which was also phenomenal), check in/check out and post event reports it was truly a joy to work this product and the support team. This was my 3rd job for several months (following my full time paid employment and running a busy household) I often found myself in need of support at 10 or 11 pm. I always found a friendly and helpful voice on the other end of phone. Moreover, with Silent Auction Pro, if you can dream it, you can do it. Any idea we had the team worked with us to bring it to successful fruition. They were always available to troubleshoot and even proactively offered corrections to problems I didn't even know I had! With the helpful of Silent Auction Pro we delivered the school's most successful fundraiser in years!

Leslie

Used free trial

Review Source: Capterra

OVERALL RATING:

4

EASE OF USE

3

VALUE FOR MONEY

4

CUSTOMER SUPPORT

5

FUNCTIONALITY

5

Reviewed March 2017

Solid auction software for an event of any size

Silent Auction Pro was very helpful in getting and staying organized for our auction. It is a fairly complex bit of software, so the first-time user may be a little daunted by all the options, but the support staff is always (And I do mean pretty much Always) available to explain things, and to help you figure out any issues. They can log in and look at your event with you, and give you real feedback, rather than just general suggestions, which is a huge help. The video instructional resources are also much more helpful that a printed set of instructions and are available on YouTube. It gave us a way to quickly determine how much we had made and which categories of items did the best. We also got a summary of who still hadn't paid for their items. We bought just the Core and Auction Day, and that was fine for our medium-sized auction (around 100 items and 150 attendees). A bigger event could definitely have benefitted from the features of the Auction Promoter, but we were able to sell tickets online and print all the materials that were needed with the package we got. Selling tickets online is very helpful, and the partnership that SAP has with Vantiv is a great feature. The folks at Vantiv are also very easy to work with and setting up the merchant account to accept credit cards was very smooth. However, I think there should be a non-profit rate because the cost was relatively high and went up at the beginning of 2017. Fortunately since we signed up 2 months earlier, we got the lower rate. We did have an issue that caused us some delay and confusion. We had some Celebrity Dinners that we knew would generate a lot of interest and would have multiple winners. We didn't want to use the set price option that is offered for multiple winners because we wanted the competition. We ended up with some delay at checkout because we weren't prepared for how to keep track of the multiple winners in that situation. However, I think that closer consultation with SAP's support staff in advance could have helped us avoid most of the delay (and all of the confusion). Overall this is a very good product, and I would definitely recommend it for an auction of any size.

Amy

Non-Profit Organization Management, 1 employee

Used daily for less than 6 months

Review Source: Capterra

OVERALL RATING:

5

EASE OF USE

4

VALUE FOR MONEY

5

CUSTOMER SUPPORT

5

FUNCTIONALITY

4

Reviewed October 2016

Silent Auction Pro is the BEST value available with amazing customer support!

As a nonprofit consultant, I have worked with a variety of nonprofit organizations on their gala auctions. I recommended Silent Auction Pro to a nonprofit pre-school for their gala. We utilized all of the features offered by SAP, including a live and silent auction, the mobile feature and the event planning features with a very user friendly table assignment function. The product is very responsive and intuitive, and helped this organization raise over $79,000 above sponsorships and ticket sales the night of the gala! Silent Auction Pro is without a doubt the best value of all auction products available. Jim Donnell and his team at SAP are extremely informative and helpful and are available for customer support nearly 24/7. I never had a question that wasn't answered politely and patiently on the first call. You do need to be a self-starter and allow enough time to self-train and train your committee members using the helpful You Tube videos, but their Support people are always available for questions and troubleshooting. If your organization is on a budget or just doesn't want to pay a lot of money for the auction and event features, Silent Auction Pro is for you!!

PROS

It is intuitive and and easy to learn. Support team is very responsive and is constantly updating the product. It offers the absolute BEST value of any auction software I have used or researched! The mobile product is clean and user-friendly.

CONS

Some of the functions are a bit hard to find. You do have to be a self-starter to research all of the functions and know exactly what is needed before the gala night to check in, check out, and close the auctions. I had to contact customer support several times throughout the evening for assistance.

Ciera

Education Management, 11-50 employees

Used daily for more than 2 years

Review Source: Capterra
This reviewer was invited by the software vendor to submit an honest review.

OVERALL RATING:

5

EASE OF USE

5

VALUE FOR MONEY

4

CUSTOMER SUPPORT

5

FUNCTIONALITY

5

Reviewed April 2022

Wonderful Product!

We have increased our profit every year using Silent Auction Pro. The Auction setup is wonderful. I cannot imagine using any other product! 10 out of 10!

PROS

I love the changes that were made this year. The site looks great on mobile use. It was SO easy to get help when needed and Becca made a sheet for me that I needed that saved me SO much time!!!

CONS

I wasn't a big fan of the seating chart feature. I think it could be helpful for some people but there were just too many variables for us to use it. This wasn't a big deal to us at all.

Reason for choosing Silent Auction Pro

It has been years since we looked at another product. We love this product so much that we haven't found a reason to switch. Every year it just gets better and better!

Minette

Religious Institutions, 2-10 employees

Used daily for more than 2 years

Review Source: Capterra
This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered

OVERALL RATING:

5

EASE OF USE

5

VALUE FOR MONEY

5

CUSTOMER SUPPORT

5

FUNCTIONALITY

5

Reviewed April 2019

Silent Auction Pro Bidsheet Pro

Silent Auction Pro is easy for anybody to "pick up," which is good since the team running the auction has an almost yearly turnaround. Also, the customer support is phenomenal, if and when I do need to talk to someone about features.

PROS

I have been working Silent Auction Pro for many years now for our auction fundraiser. We have a silent and live auction portion and this program works perfectly for all our needs. There are still even more cool features that if we took the time to look through a bit, we could make things run even more smoothly (i.e. notifying winners of their winning bids, creating thank you cards for afterward, etc.)

CONS

It'd be nice if we could change font size on bid sheets - we have an elderly clientele and I know the sheets might be hard to read for them.

Rachel

Religious Institutions, 11-50 employees

Used daily for less than 2 years

Review Source: Capterra
This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered

OVERALL RATING:

5

EASE OF USE

5

VALUE FOR MONEY

5

CUSTOMER SUPPORT

5

FUNCTIONALITY

5

Reviewed March 2020

Best Customer Service

Overall, I've been thankful for their ability to to assist me with my event. They call and checkup on a regular basis to ensure that you feel ready and that they've done their best to prepare you. They also stay on call when your event is happening, just in case.

PROS

The software has features and capabilities that I never knew I needed. Not only does it make the whole thing easier, it helps with every aspect of the event. The best thing ever, is that even if you are confused or lost, they are great at answering the phone and clearly walking you through everything. The more I use it, the less I need help and the more I learn about all the features.

CONS

It can be confusing at times where things are but the more you use it, the better it gets.

Reason for choosing Silent Auction Pro

It had the most features tailored to my needs and, most importantly, I could use it from any computer and have log ins for other people.

Helna

Hospitality, 2-10 employees

Used weekly for more than 2 years

Review Source: Capterra

OVERALL RATING:

5

EASE OF USE

5

VALUE FOR MONEY

5

CUSTOMER SUPPORT

5

FUNCTIONALITY

4

Reviewed March 2017

Silent Auction Pro makes silent auction process simple and easy to use

The software is very simple and easy to use. There are features and functionality that can be improved, however, overall the whole process save you time and money. Highly recommended for fundraising events.

PROS

Ease of use and simplicity of the process.

CONS

Image upload is very limited to what is set in the system and color customization is not available. It will be nice if you can add more image in the registration page to at least match the event website. Data archive is very limited. You have to back-up data after each event, otherwise, it's gone. They're very good in sending reminders, however, having the data archive for future use provides convenience and assurance that at least you have a copy or your data in Silent Auction Pro.

Vendor Response

Thank you for the review Helna! Just to clarify - we ABSOLUTELY DO keep all your data for each event so you don't have to back it up. All contacts, attendees, donations, payment transactions, everything is still in the system and hosted for a year from your paid event. I think perhaps you are not understanding where to find your archived data. We've also added a new feature that allows you to upload an additional image for auction items. -Jim

Replied March 2017

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