The full platform — bidding, custom URL, real-time insights, mobile-perfect bidder experience — is free at the base. Add only the upgrades you need; the Most Popular package runs about $170 per event. 130,500+ causes since 2008.
"Almost double last year." — Sarah, PTA Pres.
Silent auction software is a focused category, but most platforms in it pretend to be something else. They bundle ticketing, donor CRM, peer-to-peer fundraising, livestreaming, text-to-give, and a dozen other modules into a $1,400-$2,995 annual contract — and then call themselves "silent auction software." For organizations that actually need a great silent auction (and already have the other tools or don't need them), this is software priced for someone else's problem.
32auctions has been silent auction software since 2008, and we've stayed deliberately focused on that one job. The base auction is free forever — custom URL, real-time bidding, mobile-perfect bidder experience, outbid email notifications, real-time auction insights, proxy and Buy Now bidding, sponsor recognition. Add only the upgrades you need (more items, text notifications, branding, payment processing) à la carte, or pick our Most Popular package at about $170 per event. The same platform that powers fundraisers for the American Cancer Society, Habitat for Humanity, and United Way also runs a $5,000 spring auction at a preschool PTO. The features are the same. The pricing model just lets organizations pay for what they actually use.
This page covers the full picture: how the platform works, the features that matter, the actual pricing, how 32auctions compares to Handbid, OneCause, GiveSmart, and other major platforms, real customer outcomes, and the answers to the questions organizers ask before they switch.
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 silent auction software.
Is 32auctions really silent auction software, or is it actually a full fundraising platform?
It's silent auction software, deliberately. We don't sell ticketing, table assignments, donor CRM, peer-to-peer fundraising, livestreaming, or text-to-give modules. The platform does one job — running a great silent auction — and we believe most organizations are better served by combining it with whatever tools they already use for the other jobs. That focus is also why we can charge $170 per event for what enterprise competitors charge $1,400-$2,995 per year for.
How does 32auctions compare to Handbid for silent auctions specifically?
Handbid is a strong enterprise platform built around its native iOS/Android app. It starts at $1,396/year and uses a 3.5% + $0.30 credit card fee. 32auctions is web-based (no app for bidders), free at the base, and about $170 per event for our Most Popular upgrade package. The right choice depends on event scale and whether you need an annual platform or per-event pricing. Handbid is built for nonprofits running multiple large galas per year with dedicated budgets; 32auctions is built for organizations running 1-4 events per year that want to pay per event.
Can I run a silent auction for free with the base plan?
Yes — the base auction is free forever. You get a custom URL, real-time mobile bidding, up to 20 items with one image each, outbid email notifications, real-time insights, and unlimited bidders. House ads display on the auction page, which is how the free tier stays free. Many small auctions (preschool spring fundraisers, family memorial auctions, casual community events) run entirely on the free base.
What's actually in the "Most Popular" package?
It's a pre-built combination of upgrades that most organizers pick when they want a clean, professional auction. It removes house ads, adds your branding, expands items beyond the 20-item base, increases images per item, and unlocks text outbid notifications. The package itself runs about $170 per event. From there you can add or remove individual upgrades as needed — the package is a starting point, not a fixed bundle.
Do I need to be a 501(c)(3) to use 32auctions?
No. The platform is used by 501(c)(3) nonprofits, schools, churches, ministries, sports teams, businesses, and individuals running personal or community fundraisers. The platform doesn't verify tax-exempt status, so issuing tax receipts to bidders remains the organizer's responsibility — but the data you'd need to do that (itemized winners, fair-market-values, winning bid amounts) is in your dashboard exports.
How do payments actually work — am I going to have to mess with merchant accounts?
If you want online payments, you connect a free Stripe or PayPal account — both take about 3 minutes to set up and require no contract or minimums. When the auction closes, 32auctions auto-invoices winners; payments deposit directly into your Stripe or PayPal account on their standard schedule. 32auctions adds a 2.9% + $0.40 transaction fee per online payment, on top of Stripe or PayPal's own processing fee. If you prefer to keep it simple — checks at pickup, your own Square reader, cash — you can use self-managed payments and pay no 32auctions transaction fee at all.
Will my bidders see ads on my auction page?
On the free base auction, yes — house ads display on the page (this is how we fund the free tier). The No 3rd Party Ads upgrade (included in the Most Popular package, about $170 per event) removes them entirely. Most organizers running anything more than a small casual auction pick up at least that upgrade for the cleaner, more professional look on a branded event.
Name it now. Set it up tonight. Share it tomorrow. Free base auction. No credit card. No commitment.