Silent Auction Pro

Pros: It was very easy to use. When it came time to go live with our auction everything worked perfectly. If I had questions, I could easily reach my contact and she walked me through everything. Great experience!

Cons: I can't think of anything that I did not like about it. We switched from another company we had used for 8 years. Silent Auction Pro is night and day better and easier than the other company we had used.

Overall: Everything went great. It looked great. The cost was great. I had a wonderful experience. This takes a lot of worry off me since I will be using it for many years to come for future auctions. I am very happy with my choice to leave the old company and switch to Silent Auction Pro.

Pros: Ease of use, customer service and overall great product! The customer service was key for us. We are a public school in Dallas with all volunteer team. We needed help learning and navigating the system and their team were always available and ready to help.

Cons: Some of the features are not as customizable as we would like, but Jim and his team have taken out feedback each and every year. They are constantly updating the system for a better administrator and end-user experience.

Overall: Lake Highlands Elementary in Dallas has been a client of SAP since 2014. I joined the LHE Auction Team in 2019, and Jim and his Team have been amazing partners throughout my journey of Auction Co-Chair. My role was to learn the software and implement all initiatives through this online platform. Amazing updates have been implemented, even during a pandemic, and they continue to improve the offering. In the end, it is the support staff that makes this product superior. Problems are solved instantly, and when you have tired-head, they get in the trenches with you.
Thanks, Jim and Team at SAP for all you do!

Pros: I love the ease of SAP. Set up, design, functionality is all really simple for users and thats what makes it a great product to utilize especially for schools.

Cons: I would really like it if the website carried over to the item description.

Overall: It is a great tool for our school and we really enjoy all the benefits it has given us! We plan to continue using this platform!

Pros: Flexibility in changing auction type.
Setting different section closes!
Text or email notifications for participants on bidding, section closes, and receiving their invoice.
Check out! Easiest check out method that I have experienced!

Cons: Additional overall reporting extracts.
Our organization used the "tag" field as the main sorting method and I could not find a clean report to download and complete my analysis. Post auction a company representative called and address my concerns providing me with the solution. Thank You!

Overall: Our organization (.org) used the auction bidding function only. The other volunteer and I completed the event with less than 1 week of experience on this software! It was easy to use and work through. We were entered items prior to auction day but the majority of action within a 24 hour period; checking in items, placing items in section closes, check out, and reporting. I want to place emphasis the ease of the "check out process". I highly recommend Silent Auction Pro!

Pros: Easy to use, intuitive, helps with every part of the auction. Even more important, the customer service is second to none. Always helpful, very responsive when you call or email, and the first person you talk to actually knows how to help you! Can't say enough great things about Silent Auction Pro.

Cons: Long ago, when I first started, it took awhile to learn how to set up the bid sheets to make the most sense. After that, it's a breeze! Can't think of another thing that I don't like in the present time.

Overall: Great, simply great. The product is outstanding, and the customer service is beyond compare. They are always adding things and updating. They are on top of clients needs.

Pros: Lots of options! While not quite intuitive, once I had a bit of experience with the software, it was simple enough to navigate! I did not even get close to using all the options they offer but it certainly accomplished my goals easily.

Cons: Sometimes had difficulty finding what I needed but my "coach" always pointed me in the right direction quickly.

Overall: Extraordinary. I've worked with other SaaS companies and Silent Auction Pro was by far the easiest and helped us have a successful auction!

Pros: Silent Auction Pro helped manage all aspects of our fundraising event (ticket sales, silent auction management, live auction management, raffle sales, Paddle-Raise funds, etc.
The customer support team is fantastic and was always extremely knowledgeable, friendly, and helpful!!

Cons: We had some struggles with getting our guests to log in to their account before the event took place. This is not by fault of the software though.

Overall: Silent Auction Pro was a lifesaver to managing our largest fundraising event. The system is user friendly and gives detailed reports for all aspects of the event. I love Silent Auction Pro!

Pros: Easy to promote, links worked and easy to understand. The team did a great job of making sure you had it done right.

Cons: We had a rush to get it ready, but you're better off reviewing it as you'll want to use it over and over. Give yourself time to understand it all.

Overall: Very good. they were great to work with. No fee surprises or anything of that nature. I'd look at the texting version too, as it is very strong.

Pros: - Entering the donors and donated items was easy and efficient
- We had noting but glowing responses from the bidders on the ease of use!
- Our close out took minutes in stead of an hour and we saved many man hours not having to process each payment individually
- Our net dollars raised also exceeded our goal and our previous record (when manually processing)
- The Training and Support from the beginning to the very end, exceeded our expectations
o YOU WILL BE AMAZED!

Cons: None that we could see. We had several team members using it from our board, and no one had any issues.

Overall: Silent Auction Pro was originally seen as a risk for our association. We normally only have 30-40 items, so the fixed cost was a concern of our Executive team. (Even though the Silent Auction Pro flat fee was 1/3 of others we got quotes from.)

Here is the reader’s digest version:
- We set records with number of items: 62
- We set a record of dollars raised: 4225

Pros: Silent Auction Pro was very, very impressive with their customer service. Each and every time we needed something, they were responsive, fast-acting, and most impressive- proactive at times. There was one example that sticks out most clearly in which Silent Auction Pro reached out for an issue they saw on our end, worked beyond their normal 9-5, and made sure everything was buttoned-up perfectly to ensure a successful Auction.

Cons: The backend User Interface isn't always the prettiest or most understandable. But once you get used to it - or their excellent customer service walks you through it - it's pretty easy to understand.

Overall: Overall, we're very pleased with Silent Auction Pro and during a pandemic, we had our most successful Auction yet!

Pros: Cost, features and most of all the great customer service. Once you get used to it, it's not that difficult to use. When we come across some challenges, our event coach and customer reps are helpful in finding a solution.

Cons: Some reporting features can be enhanced. Not all reports are exportable as an excel/cv file although they can be exported as PDF.

Overall: It has been a great experience these last two years of using SAP. Like any system, it can take some getting used to but their customer support while planning the event and having the best event coach has made us happy with our decision to switch and keep using them. They are open to suggestions and have enhanced their software applying our suggestions. I can trust them as our partners with our event. I highly recommend having an event coach to be part of the actual event.

Pros: Easy to use software! We have used them for live auctions, Fund-A-Need and online silent auction bidding. Quick and easily uploading to track donations. The customer service is amazing as well. They walked me through everything that I couldn't figure out on my own. Also had some great suggestions and ideas for me to use.

Cons: I don't like that they take a percentage of our winning, but hey that's business! Their fees are the lowest that I could find :)

Overall: My overall experience was flawless! The customer service department was always on call for my silly questions.

Pros: Our Rotary Club has used this product for several years now. I have been involved for the last 2 years as a group administrator and have found it easy to use (intuitive) and the Help feature is VERY helpful in resolving issues. When I need additional help, Christina at SAP has been quite responsive.

Cons: Little thing: The group administrator needs to be able to expand listed choices under Item Status when entering items. None of the listed items fit our situation.

Overall: I had to learn this program in a short period of time and found I could do it. Others had a similar experience, so I give this program kudos for user friendliness! I recommend it to others.

Pros: User friendly loved being able to upload multiple pictures on auction items, great customer service, and response time with help! We have used Silent Auction Pro for 3 years now and added in their "giving campaign" option this year. We plan to continue using this service year after year for our fundraising!

Cons: We had a few glitches with hidden HTML with formatting.

Overall: I would recommend Silent Auction pro to anyone! Great product. Amazing customer service. Easy to use on the administrative and customer side!

Pros: What easy to use software. Not only that, tutorials were available and a support team like no other. So an older user, not the most tech savvy person, me was able to navigate through it. The appearance of the product was super professional. Also, the checkout process for the auction user ease easy.

Cons: The only issue I had became a nonissue. I wanted to move items around which became available.

Overall: I really had a very positive experience with Silent Auction Pro. Not only that, but using the software gave me new confidence level. My event coach, the tech support team, and the owner could not have been more helpful. Super resource. They know their stuff.

Pros: Functionality and organization abilities of the product. Great customer support. This program greatly reduced the amount of organizational time for our event.

Cons: Ease of use. Although they have great customer support.

Overall: Very positive and will continue to use for multi-functions. We are currently looking to upgrade to use for ticketing for events.

Pros: This was the first year I used Silent Auction Pro, so there was a learning curve. The support staff was amazing in helping whenever I needed help.

Cons: I don't have any other software to compare, but I didn't not see any cons.

Overall: Our big fundraising event this year was a drive up/pick up crab feed. Silent Auction Pro made the ticket sales easy, the on line auction easy, and the results easy to find. I would not have wanted to do this event without Silent Auction Pro.

Pros: I am the development coordinator at a Non-Profit Humane Society, this was our first time hosting an online silent auction, and we were overall very pleased with our experience.

Easy to use: The software is very easy to use after spending a little bit of time familiarizing yourself with it. They have numerous help pages and even some youtube videos that help you learn the software. Additionally the technical support was out of this world (see Tech Support is Outstanding). We also loved that numerous people can enter donation items so that the cumbersome task of entering items is not tasked to one person.

Reasonably priced: It is reasonably priced, relative to other similar softwares, and the support alone was worth the money. Originally, we thought the fees were slightly high, but after investigating other software pricing, and after our experience with this software and their support, the annual fee (which allows for as many auctions/events as you'd like within a year) and the 2.0% taken from high bids were nothing, and we would absolutely do it again.

Tech Support is Outstanding: The event coaches are very friendly and incredibly helpful. They help you get started, make suggestions along the way, and they are there to wrap up afterwards as well. We had an IT problem at 9:00pm CST. I called in, my event coach answered me, and she had tech support looking into my problem immediately. Every tech call was answered or gotten back to within an hour.

Overall Great Features: The user pages looked stunning, most features you'd want are available. We really enjoyed our use of the software and are looking forward to our next auction.

Cons: Takes Time to Learn: The administrative pages are slightly cumbersome to navigate in the beginning. They take time to learn, although that is probably true of every auction software.

Some Features Not Available: There were a few features that were not available that we would have liked to have seen, such as an option for the public to view all bids placed on an item with bidders names or without, similar to an in-person silent auction. The Donate Button (Fund-a-need) was not intuitive for our users and confused them.

Administrative Pages: Looked a bit dated. For a new software, we would have expected everything to be a bit more up-to-date looking. However, the user pages were very nice looking for the actual auction. Additionally, it would be great if there was a "view as user" option to be able to see what your changes look like once you've made them in the administrative account. It was cumbersome to have a user account and an administrative account and have to switch between the two constantly to be able to view things we were changing in the administrative account. Also the software won't let you have two logins open at the same time.

Overall: We were overall very pleased. It provided a greater reach than we would have ever been able to achieve with an in-person silent auction. We loved the versatility, the ease of use (after learning), and the support. We'd absolutely recommend this to another organization and will be using it again.

Pros: We have used Silent Auction Pro for the past 7 years and we use all of the functions it offers. It is so comprehensive and helps us manage our entire event including maintaining contacts, selling tickets, assigning table seating, receiving donations, creating auction items, bidding online, communicating with guests and donors, generating detailed event reports and more!

The service is top notch. They are always available, helpful, and reassuring during a time when coordinating an event can be so stressful. They are clearly trained as professionals. Their service cannot be beat!

Cons: Silent Auction Pro has met all of our fundraising needs. No complaints!

Overall: While this software has always been easy to use, recent upgrades have made navigating even easier. Training several new committee members to use the program this year was a breeze! Silent Auction Pro is so affordable and the profits generated by using online bidding makes our decision to "never use paper again" a no-brainer. We make more money by using Silent Auction Pro.

Pros: We were nervous about using an on-line platform for our auction but to our surprise it yielded bigger rewards than we thought. The night of the auction we saw folks easily adapting to the on-line bidding. The other advantage over pen and paper was it was Covid safe! And during dinner, folks were actively bidding while sitting at their tables.

Cons: It took some time to learn, so be prepared to learn. Don't wait until the last minute.

Overall: We are happy we used the system and will continue to use it in the future. It's always scary to make a change but we believe it was a good change. Folks are used to on-line, and like that it's Covid safe. It's time to embrace the change and begin using Silent Auction Pro.