Your annual gala, benefit, or auction night shouldn't start from a blank page each year. Duplicate last year's auction in a couple of clicks, refresh the items, and you're live again — keeping the bidder list and the look your supporters already recognize. Free at the base; the Most Popular package runs about $170 per event.
"Almost double last year." — Sarah, PTA Pres.
An annual fundraiser auction is the recurring auction event a school, church, nonprofit, or booster club runs every year — the spring gala, the fall benefit, the auction night that anchors the organization's fundraising calendar. The hard part isn't the first one. It's doing it again the next year, and the year after that, usually with a brand-new committee inheriting a binder of notes and a vague memory of "we used some website."
32auctions is built around the opposite assumption: that the auction you ran last year is the best starting point for this year. Duplicate it, and your categories, settings, branding, and structure come with it — so a new chair starts from a working event instead of a blank screen, and the supporters who bid last year recognize the same experience when they open the link again. The base auction is free forever; add only the upgrades you need, or pick the Most Popular package at about $170 per event. No annual contract means a quiet year costs you nothing.
This page covers the full picture for a recurring event: how duplicating last year's auction actually works, the features that make a yearly auction easier the second time around, the real pricing, how 32auctions compares to Handbid, OneCause, and GiveSmart, and the answers organizers ask before they commit to running it the same way every year.
Every painful step of a silent auction, rebuilt for how organizers actually run them.
Paper bid sheets. Midnight recounts. The runner who lost the form.
Every bid lands on every device in real time. Auto-bidding, outbid alerts, and a live leaderboard drive the final-minute frenzy. Final totals reconcile themselves the second the auction closes.
Praying donors show up. Praying they brought a checkbook.
Your custom URL is the only thing donors need to share. No app to install — bidding works in any phone browser. Outbid texts and emails keep them in the auction until the final minute.
Chasing 47 winners for payment for the next three weeks.
When your auction closes, every winner gets their invoice. Most pay by card within an hour through your own Stripe or PayPal account — we never sit in the middle of your money.
Not a kitchen-sink feature list. The capabilities that consistently separate auctions that work from auctions that flop.
Three out of four bids on 32auctions happen on phones. We built the bidder experience around that reality. Your auction lives at a custom URL — something like 32a.com/your-event. Donors tap the link from your email, text, or social post and the auction loads in their phone browser. No app to install. They sign up quickly with their email, browse items, and place bids in real time. The same flow works on every modern phone, tablet, and laptop. Apple Pay and Google Pay both work when they win, through Stripe checkout.
Auto-bidding lets your most committed donors set a maximum bid and walk away — the platform incrementally outbids competitors on their behalf, up to their max. They win without ever having to check back. Outbid notifications by email (free base) and text (Text & Email Notifications upgrade) pull casual bidders back at the moment they're most likely to bid again. These two features alone explain why platforms with active engagement tools out-raise platforms without them — bidders bid more when they're not constantly checking the page.
The live leaderboard creates the urgency that drives most online auctions' final hour. It shows top items, leading bidders, and the time remaining in real time, on any device. Optionally project it on screens at an in-person event for added energy. Extended bidding (also called auction sniping protection) automatically extends the auction window if a bid lands in the final minutes, which prevents losing bids to lag and keeps competitive bidding wars going to their natural conclusion. The result is a final hour that typically earns 30-40% of an online auction's total.
32auctions doesn't sit in the middle of your money. With the Online Payment Collection upgrade, you connect your nonprofit's free Stripe or PayPal account. When the auction closes, winners are invoiced automatically and most pay by card within the hour. Funds deposit directly into your account on whatever schedule Stripe or PayPal already runs (typically two business days for the US). 32auctions adds a 2.9% + $0.40 transaction fee on top of whatever Stripe or PayPal charges — or you can run self-managed payments (cash, check, your own existing processor) at no 32auctions transaction fee at all.
The Apply Your Brand upgrade (included in the Most Popular package, about $170 per event) lets you fully customize the auction page. Upload your logo, set a custom color scheme to match your organization, add a custom banner image at the top, reorder the page sections, and customize the section headings (call sponsors "Supporters" if you'd rather). Pair it with the Premium Donor & Sponsor Management upgrade to display up to 5 donors per item with logo and link, plus up to 10 custom sponsor levels. Optionally point your own domain at the auction page.
Advanced Insights (upgrade) gives you real-time data while the auction is live: page views by day, top items, top bidders, projected total based on fair market value. After the auction ends, exportable CSVs include itemized winners, contact info, fair-market-values, winning bids, processing data, and reconciliation fields — everything your treasurer needs to close out the event. The duplicate-auction feature copies the whole event for next year (items, photos, sponsors, branding), which is why many organizers return year after year.
The end-to-end workflow most organizers follow on 32auctions, in the order they follow it.
Create your account. No credit card. Three minutes.
Name it. Pick start and end dates. Choose privacy (open, restricted, or approval-required).
Upload photos, write descriptions, set starting bids and bid increments. Import from a spreadsheet if you've got one from last year.
Free base supports up to 20 items with house ads. The Most Popular package (about $170) removes ads, adds branding, expands items and images, and unlocks text notifications. Add à la carte or pick a package.
Link your Stripe or PayPal account for automatic winner invoicing, or use self-managed payments.
Share your custom URL via email, text, social media, and printed materials. The auction goes live at your scheduled start time.
Real-time insights, live leaderboard, automatic outbid notifications — the platform handles engagement automatically.
When the auction ends, winners are invoiced. Funds deposit into your account. Export your treasurer reports. Send thank-yous.
The full pricing model, plainly stated. Use this to compare against any competitor — we publish ours; most of them require you to talk to sales to find theirs.
Free base auction (the platform's foundation, free forever): Up to 20 items, 1 image per item, custom auction URL, real-time mobile bidding, outbid email notifications, real-time auction insights, proxy/Buy Now bidding, donor and sponsor promotion (basic), unlimited bidders, email support. Funded by house ads displayed on the auction page.
Optional upgrades, à la carte or as packages:
The Most Popular package — about $170 per event: The pre-built combination most organizers choose. Removes house ads, adds your branding, expands items and images, unlocks text notifications. A starting point — you can further customize.
The Works package: All upgrades bundled. For organizers who want everything.
Transaction fees on payment collection: When you use the Online Payment Collection upgrade, 32auctions adds 2.9% + $0.40 per online payment, on top of whatever Stripe or PayPal charges (typically 2.9% + $0.30). Or use self-managed payments (cash, check, your own processor) and pay no 32auctions transaction fee.
What we never charge: No annual contract. No commission on what you raise. No platform fee on donations. No minimums.
Honest, sourced comparison. Pricing changes — verify with each vendor before purchase.
| 32auctions | Handbid | OneCause | GiveSmart | Bloomerang Fundraising | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free (base auction) | From $1,396/yr | From $200 + 5% on funds raised | Custom (no public pricing) | Bundled with CRM (~$3K+/yr) |
| Pricing model | Pay per event (~$170 package) | Annual subscription | Subscription OR pay-as-you-go | Annual subscription | Annual subscription |
| Free tier? | Yes — base auction free forever | No | No | No | No |
| Bidder requires app? | No — web-based | Yes — native iOS/Android app | No — web-based | No — web-based | No — web-based |
| Bidder requires account? | No | Yes (in-app) | Yes (registration) | Yes (registration) | Yes |
| Transaction fee on online payments | 2.9% + $0.40 (32a) on top of Stripe/PayPal — OR $0 with self-managed payments | 3.5% + $0.30 per transaction | 5% pay-later on pay-as-you-go; varies by plan | Custom (sales-led) | 2.9% + $0.30 (standard processing) |
| Years in market | Since 2008 (17+ years) | Since 2010 | Since 2008 | Acquired by Community Brands | Auction tools via Qgiv acquisition |
| Best for | Single-event organizers, schools, churches, small/mid nonprofits | Mid-to-large nonprofits with annual gala budgets | Larger nonprofits running multiple events/yr | Large nonprofits, schools, associations | Existing Bloomerang CRM customers |
Pricing and feature data sourced from each vendor's public pricing pages and verified third-party listings on G2, Capterra, and GetApp (Nov 2025-Apr 2026). Always confirm current pricing directly with vendors before purchase.
Stories from preschool PTOs to verified G2 reviewers. The metric we care most about: did they use 32auctions again the next year?
So easy, so smooth, and so fun. Our preschool has used them for many, many years for the biggest fundraiser of our school year — and every year it just works. Entering items is simple. The presentation to our families is great. Wrapping it up is easy.
The site was easy to set up and worked like a charm for our first fundraiser. The remote bidding features were the best part — administrators could post items in minutes and see who'd bid on what in real time. We raised more than I projected.
No marketing-speak. Just the truth about how the platform actually works for an annual fundraiser auction.
Can I copy last year's auction instead of starting over?
Yes — that's the core reason organizers running a yearly event choose 32auctions. You can duplicate a past auction so its categories, settings, branding, and structure carry forward. You then refresh the items and dates and publish, rather than rebuilding everything from scratch.
Is there an annual subscription or contract?
No. There's no recurring subscription and no annual contract. The base auction is free to build and publish, and you only pay for optional per-event upgrades when you choose them. A year you don't run an event costs you nothing.
Do returning bidders need to make an account again?
Bidders never need to download an app or create an account, this year or any year. They bid directly from the auction link in any browser, which keeps participation high among loyal annual supporters.
What does it actually cost to run our annual auction?
The base auction is free. The Most Popular package — which removes house ads, adds your branding, and unlocks text outbid notifications — runs about $170 for that event. If you collect payments online, 32auctions charges 2.9% + $0.40 per transaction on top of Stripe or PayPal's own processing fees, or you can self-manage payments at no platform fee.
Can a new committee pick up where last year's left off?
Yes. Because the entire event lives in your organization's account, an incoming chair or committee can open last year's auction, duplicate it, and see exactly how it was configured. The working auction effectively serves as your handoff documentation.
How do supporters pay for items they win?
Connect your own Stripe or PayPal account and winning bidders check out online when the auction closes — no end-of-night cashier table needed. Funds go directly to your connected account.
Can we keep our branding consistent from year to year?
Yes. Your custom auction page and URL style carry over when you duplicate an event, so returning supporters see a familiar, on-brand experience each year rather than a generic page.
Name it now. Set it up tonight. Share it tomorrow. Free base auction. No credit card. No commitment.