Overview
Schoolauction.net is a cloud-based auction management solution that provides users with multiple options for conducting auctions. It enables nonprofits, charities, schools, clubs, and congregations to conduct multiple auctions including online bidding, paper bid sheets, live auction. Online auctions, item listing, donor management are some of its prominent features.
Screenshot
Features
- Absentee Bidding
- Alerts/Notifications
- Bid Management
- Billing & Invoicing
- Buy Now Option
- Inventory Management
- Live Auction
- Membership Management
- Online Auction
- Online Bidding
- Proxy Bidding
- Reverse Bidding
- Silent Auction
- Watch List
- Website Management
Specifications
- Deployment: Cloud Based, Web Based, SaaS Based, iPhone / iPad, Android
Training
- Live Online
- Webinars
- Documentation
SchoolAuction.net Users
Available Support
- Phone
Language Support
- English
Company Details
Company Name: Northworld
Headquarter: United States
Full Address:
Reviews
“Answered our prayers”
Overall: We had been using a different auction package for a few years. It had a dated, inefficient interface. It tripped us up in the middle of our event. We needed something more modern and responsive. We were investigating more expensive, top-tier packages when another volunteer saw SchoolAuction.net in an ad. We read up on it and found it had the features we wanted, but seemed like just a small startup (loved the story, but could they support us?). I called and had their founder on the phone in no time and he quickly put me at ease with their ability to meet our needs and support our events. We decided to try it out and were not disappointed. The documentation was amazingly clear and very easy to follow. We got rapid support when we needed it. Including a few more calls to their founder who also helped us get connected with a payments gateway. We pulled off a great event and were even able to re-use the software for other events within the same year. ALL of our events yielded higher revenue than in past years as a result of their great tools and we saved money over the other packages we evaluated.
Pros: Easy to learn and use. Great documentation. Superb customer service. Comprehensive feature set and flexible enough to meet needs outside of our original auction intent. Cannot recommend highly enough.
Cons: Would have enjoyed a little more customization capability in the site look-and-feel, but the included templates were good enough to meet our needs.
Overall: We went with SchoolAuction.net because we needed to have an online event to accommodate covid concerns. Our desire was to have the people decide whether they would attend and bid on their phones or bid from home. Unfortunately, we had an outbreak in our organization and had to go totally online. Because of the design of the software, that was a seamless transition. We originally went with SchoolAuction.net as a one time use because of covid. The program convinced us to stick with it regardless of what next year brings.
Pros: This software was obviously designed by someone who has done auctions extensively. Every time I had a specific need, I found that they had already thought of that. Often times, to make a program work for your situation, you need to come up with some workarounds. That was never necessary with SchoolAuction.net. They had already anticipated the need. Support is within an hour at the most. They gave me a phone number to use the night of the auction, but we never needed it. It worked better than expected.
Cons: The ONLY thing that would have made the night easier has to do with proxy bidding. We had some people who don’t use email or do anything on the internet. They have always been good supporters, so we wanted to provide them a way to participate. It was easy to print a catalog for them. Proxy bidding was easy to use. What I would like considered is to provide a way to sign them up so an assistant could bid from the catalog for them rather than the proxy method. It’s so much easier to see your bids in the catalog. Also with proxy bidding the screen keeps resetting so you have to keep going back into their account. I know an issue is that the credit card companies want a valid email, but these people pay with check anyways so that wouldn’t be a problem.
What do you like best?
Their customer service is absolutely amazing and will respond by email to assist you with any questions
What do you dislike?
With the cheapest version, you do not get phone help, only email. I wish our version included phone assistance as well. Sometimes the back and forth by email is daunting, but their customer service is very knowledgeable and quick to respond to requests
What do you like best?
This year we went online for the first time. School Auction.net was super easy to use and the app was very user friendly.
What do you dislike?
We had to upload only one picture at a time.
Spectacular Product with Superior Customer Service
My first year running an auction, I used software already purchased by the organization. It was cumbersome, difficult and not web based. It required me mid-event to do some pretty technical things to run credit cards. Issuing refunds was a NIGHTMARE. Enter SchoolAuction.Net. This software is superior in its design, ease of use and most of all, stellar customer support. During 2020 during the pandemic, they automatically upgraded all their customers so they could go fully virtual for their events. In 2021, they introduced a live streaming life video with chat board. We used it and was very successful. I cannot recommend using this software for your gala/auction event. Being web-based also gives you great flexibilty (I have performed all sorts of admin tasks off of my smartphone for example).
Pros
The best feature is being web based. Credit card processing and issuing refunds is super easy compared to other software I have used.
Cons
Catalog searches could be improved if somehow the search included not just the title of the item but the donor as well.
