Handbid

They were great to work with and made the auction so much easier on everyone.

We had our first fundraising experience and hired Handbid to manage the silent auction. We were able to raise exponentially more money using Handbid, and our guests loved the Handbid app on their smartphones! The staff did a great job managing the event, helping us with the auction items, and running the auction. The reports generated after the event are detailed and informative. I recommend to others considering Handbid to fully understand the various levels of service. The more services you sign up for (at a fee) the easier the experience will be for you. If you have people who are willing to dedicate 100% of their time for the auction you can probably use fewer of the services, but the auction is important enough and complicated enough that it is worth paying Handbid more for the majority of the services that they offer in order to have everything go smoothly and with fewest complications.

Poor business ethics - They do not stand by what they promise and take no responsibility. I had a good experience with the sales rep,[sensitive content hidden]. [sensitive content hidden] seemed great and provided a thorough demo and training. The software seemed great and had the two things we needed in one app. I got the software and paid. After getting the software, I was told it would be an additional $200 for the feature we needed - the feature that was promised by the sale rep, and that was made VERY CLEAR was included. The unethical practices were pushed by an[sensitive content hidden] which may be a real person, or might be a made-up customer service name, I can't be sure. It ppears their practice is to make promises, get your money, then withhold various options, of which the software is useless without, and have a third person, in this case, the[sensitive content hidden], tells you it will be $200 more. I even offered to work with them, and said I would agree to pay $100 more, despite the issue being 100% on their end, and they refused. They even said there could be no refunds if we canceled...despite again, they're lying and the issue being 100% on their end. With all that said, no matter how good the software is, I can not recommend working with them. The product is great once you figure out how to use it, and the price is reasonable, but you'll never know when various options will be held hostage for more money.

I did a demo with all of the top auction software on the market and Handbid was by far the best interface (easy to look at) and well worth the investment. It was very easy and fun to put my silent auction items in the system. Guests and volunteers were blown away by how nice everything looked on their phones and iPads. We had almost the same items as the auction last year (with about 25 extra) and made double what we made last year, totalling $46,000. I put our live auction items in for an extra boost of advertising. We also used Handbid to collect funds for a paddle raise. The check out process was very easy and intuitive. Swipping credit cards is incredibly easy, as well as importing a contact spreadsheet before the event, little things that really speed up the process. During the auction (and after) I noticed the Handbid system slowed down a bit. You have to be patient while items save, but it is updated real time in the system (so guests could see an update right away). Besides speeding up the system, I have only one more suggestion. I would love to see more information on Handbid TV, especially a live update on winning bidder on each auction item and the current price. I think this would create a lot of competition within the audience. I will definitely use Handbid again next year if this is an update you can make. The customer service was great. Out of 500 guests, only 3 people told me they would prefer the old-school method of paper bidding. However, I believe this was because we didn't have enough iPad volunteers available, next year I will station one at each auction table. There are many organizations on the island that are now interested in using Handbid.

Everyone I've worked with at Handbid has been very helpful and friendly. The bidders in our auction appreciated the service Handbid offers and the ease of easing the website and mobile app.