Same platform as the American Cancer Society, Habitat for Humanity, and United Way. Free base auction. About $170 per event for the Most Popular package — not $5,000 per year.
"Almost double last year." — Sarah, PTA Pres.
Charity auction software is one of those product categories where the price gap between vendors is wider than the feature gap. Some platforms charge $5,000-$25,000 per year for what is, functionally, the same core auction workflow: build a branded page, take bids, collect payment, generate reports. 32auctions charges nothing for the base auction and about $170 per event for the Most Popular package. There is no functional reason for competitors' upcharge — only a business model reason.
The platform has powered 130,500+ causes since 2008 — including 53,000+ specifically 501(c)(3) charity auctions. Customers include the American Cancer Society, Habitat for Humanity, United Way, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, the Honolulu Zoo Society, and thousands of small local charities. We're independent and family-run, which keeps the incentives aligned: do the auction job extremely well at a price small and mid-sized charities can actually afford.
This page covers what's actually in 32auctions charity auction software (the features that matter, not the feature list as marketing), what's not in it (and why we made those choices on purpose), the pricing model in detail, how we compare to Handbid, OneCause, GiveSmart, and Bloomerang Fundraising, and the answers to the questions development directors ask before switching from enterprise platforms.
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. No app, no account, no friction. Outbid texts and emails keep them in the auction until the final minute.
Chasing 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.
Custom-URL auction page that you can fully brand when you add the Apply Your Brand upgrade — logo, custom color scheme, custom banner image, custom section ordering, customizable section headings, optional custom domain pointing. Most charities pick the Most Popular package ($170 per event), which includes Apply Your Brand. The result is an auction that looks like the charity built it, not a generic SaaS template.
Every bid updates instantly across every device watching the auction. Auto-bidding lets engaged donors set a max bid once and the platform incrementally outbids competitors on their behalf — they can win without ever checking the page again. Outbid notifications by email (free) and text (upgrade) pull casual bidders back at the exact moment they're most likely to bid again. Live leaderboard creates final-minute urgency. These are the engagement mechanics that prevent middle-of-week decay during long auction windows.
Winner payments process directly through your charity's own Stripe or PayPal account when you add Online Payment Collection. Funds deposit on the standard schedule. 32auctions adds 2.9% + $0.40 per online payment transaction on top of Stripe/PayPal's own fees. Self-managed payments are also supported with no 32auctions transaction fee. We never sit in the middle of donations.
Every line of data your treasurer or auditor could ask for is in the auction export — item, fair-market-value, winning bid, winner contact, payment status, processing fees, and reconciliation fields. For 501(c)(3) charities issuing tax-deductible receipts to donors, the data needed for compliant receipt generation is in the export. Many of our larger charity customers automate receipt issuance by importing the CSV into their donor CRM.
Charity development teams rotate. This year's auction lead may not be next year's. The duplicate-auction feature copies last year's event whole — items, descriptions, photos, branding, sponsor logos, donor records, and the FAQ block. The new lead edits what's changed and relaunches. This is how multi-year charity auction programs preserve institutional memory across staff and volunteer turnover. Most veteran charity customers have run 5+ consecutive annual auctions using this workflow.
32auctions has been independent and family-run since 2008. We're not owned by private equity, we haven't been acquired by a larger fundraising platform, and we have no IPO pressure to push you into a more expensive plan than you need. The nonprofit software industry has consolidated heavily in the last decade, and that consolidation has produced predictable price increases and feature deprecation at competitor platforms. Our incentives stay aligned with yours: do the auction job extremely well at a price charities can afford, 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 settings.
Upload photos, write descriptions, set starting bids and bid increments. Import from a spreadsheet if you have one from last year.
Free base supports 20 items with house ads. The Most Popular package (about $170) removes ads, adds branding, expands items and images, unlocks text notifications.
Link your Stripe or PayPal account for automatic winner invoicing, or use self-managed payments at no 32auctions transaction fee.
Share your custom URL via email, text, social media, and printed materials. Auction goes live at your scheduled time.
Real-time insights, live leaderboard, automatic outbid notifications — the platform handles engagement automatically.
When the auction ends, winners are invoiced. Funds deposit. 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 (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, basic donor and sponsor promotion, 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 pick. Removes house ads, adds your branding, expands items and images, unlocks text notifications.
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. 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 | 1-4 events/yr, 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). Pricing changes — always confirm current rates directly with vendors before purchase. 32auctions transaction fees apply only when using the Online Payment Collection upgrade; self-managed payments carry no 32auctions transaction fee.
Stories from preschool PTOs to verified G2 reviewers. The metric we care most about: did they use 32auctions again the next year?
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 charity auction software.
How does 32auctions compare to Handbid for our charity auction?
Different product positioning. Handbid is a mobile-app-first platform built for mid-to-large nonprofits running annual galas with significant event-day staff support. Pricing starts at $1,396/year and requires a paid plan. 32auctions is a web-based platform built for any size charity, with a free base auction and about $170 per event for the Most Popular package — no annual contract. If your charity is mid-to-large with full-time development staff and an annual gala budget, Handbid may fit better. If your charity is small to mid-sized and primarily silent-auction-focused, 32auctions is the more affordable, simpler fit.
How does 32auctions compare to OneCause?
OneCause is an enterprise platform offering ticketing, auctions, peer-to-peer, text-to-give, and donor CRM bundled together with custom pricing (no public price list — sales-led). It fits large nonprofits running 6+ events per year that want one platform for everything. 32auctions does silent auctions exclusively and integrates with whatever you already use for ticketing, CRM, and other tools. For charities running 1-4 events a year focused on silent auctions, 32auctions is dramatically more affordable. For charities running a full year-round event calendar across multiple formats, OneCause may be worth the price.
How does 32auctions compare to GiveSmart?
GiveSmart is a premium enterprise platform with three paid tiers (Champion, Expert, Donor CRM) and custom pricing. There's no free tier; their positioning is white-glove service, dedicated consultant, deep CRM integration. Pricing is sales-led and varies significantly by organization size and feature set. 32auctions is the opposite end of the spectrum — self-service, transparent pricing, focused on auctions only, no consultant. Most charities don't need (and can't afford) what GiveSmart provides; we exist for that majority.
Can we use 32auctions if we already use a donor CRM like Salesforce or Bloomerang?
Yes — we integrate with whatever CRM you use through CSV export. After your auction, export the donor and bidder data to CSV and import into your CRM via its standard import flow. We don't replace your CRM and we don't try to. For charities that want a tighter integration than CSV, the development APIs of most major CRMs (Salesforce, Bloomerang, HubSpot, Raiser's Edge) accept the CSV format directly. We document the export format clearly to make this integration straightforward.
Does 32auctions support recurring fundraising or only one-time auctions?
32auctions is event-based — each auction is a discrete event. We don't support recurring monthly donations or evergreen fundraising campaigns. For recurring revenue, integrate with your existing donation processor (Stripe Billing, Donorbox, Givebutter). Our wedge is doing event-based auctions extremely well. Most charities run one to four auctions per year, and that's what the platform is designed for.
How do we handle bidder data after the auction is complete?
Your auction data — bidders, winners, items, payments — stays in your 32auctions account permanently and is exportable to CSV at any time. We don't sell donor data, we don't share it with marketing partners, we don't use it for any purpose beyond providing you the platform. Bidder consent for marketing communication from your charity (separate from the bidding transaction itself) is your responsibility to obtain — the platform doesn't auto-subscribe bidders to your email lists. Many charities export the bidder list after each auction and import only opt-in bidders into their CRM.
What's the right time of year to run a charity auction?
Most successful charity auctions on 32auctions run in spring (March-May) or fall (September-November). Avoid summer (donor attention is split between vacations) and December (competition with year-end giving appeals from every charity in your donor's inbox). Within spring and fall, Tuesday launches and Sunday-evening closes consistently outperform other timing. If you're tied to a specific cause-awareness month (October for breast cancer, April for autism, etc.), use that calendar but optimize launch and close timing within the month.
Name it now. Set it up tonight. Share it tomorrow. Free base auction. No credit card. No commitment.