Features
Listed below are some benefits of owning and using this program.
When you create a new auction you will choose between a Benefit Auction or a Non-Benefit Auction format. This changes a few features of the auction to better accommodate the user. If the auction format is Non-Benefit, the user can set up multiple sellers, which allows a professional auctioneer to sell goods at one auction which belong to several sellers. The program will track each seller's sales and auctioneer expenses to calculate the net proceeds of each seller.
All participant (contact) names are entered only once and then used as a guest, donor, solicitor, or sponsor.
When entering addresses, you never have to type the city or state because these are identified by zip code. This is a huge time saver! Because there are nearly 43,000 zip codes with their city and state already entered in the database, there is no need for you to enter this information.
Business names and personal names are both entered on the same form; however, if you enter a business name on the same record as a first and last name, the first and last name are considered to be the “contact person” for that business and show up as a separate line in the mailing address.
The program has complete “Group” management capabilities that allow you to create any group name and then add contacts to that group. These groups are then used for printing mailing labels, addressed tri-fold letters, group directories, attendance sheets, envelopes, or for sending emails to everyone in the group at one time.
This program is not web based so the software works on your computer without internet service. You can move the database from an office computer to a laptop computer as you prepare to host the auction offsite. You can also network more than one laptop together for faster registration and checkout.
This software program could easily pay for itself the very first time you use it for a couple of reasons. First, if you have been paying a hefty price for a professional auctioneer to provide checkout service for your fundraiser, you can save that money by having your volunteers do your own checkout almost effortlessly. Secondly, by using the pre-priced silent auction bid sheet feature which uses the value of the item to calculate a buy-it-now price and bid increments. You also have the ability to skew the buy-it-now amount to any dollar amount that you feel the item may bring at auction. By having the prices already printed on the bid sheets, the one dollar at a time bids are eliminated.
You can easily copy the contact data from spreadsheets, emails or word processor documents and paste it into a datasheet in this program, thus saving valuable time over retyping data from scratch.
The program allows pre-registration of guests by entering guest’s name and address from ticket stubs, to save time at the event and minimize long registration lines. It also supports pre-registering Company sponsored meal seats, even when you have not yet received the guest’s names.
Registering couples is made quick and easy with a “duplicate record” button which duplicates the information for a second ticket with one mouse click to save you time.
The software tracks and manages all donors and donations including the value of the donation and the solicitor who acquired the donation.
A large collection of reports are available to gauge the progress of the auction, ticket sales, value of donations, list of donations, list of donors, receipts for donors, auction financial summary and much more.
The program allows you to enter any combination of 4 digits, letters or numbers, to accommodate seating assignments by table and seat number.
Registration provides guest management with bid number assignment, instant bid paddle printing, meal ticket, table/seat tracking and instant charge-tickets-to-bill at registration.
Allows you to print buyer receipts after the auction, ordered by table and seat number if you need to deliver the receipts to the table or ordered by name, if you want to have them all printed out before checkout begins.
GrateSoft AuctionPro allows you to flag donated items by category, storage location, custom pickup dates and notes, etc.
View over 60 reports categorized by report type.
Generates all printed auction materials for your event including your catalog, bid sheets, table tents, reports, receipts, thank you letters, name tags and more.
Tracks donor, donation, and custom sponsorship levels for donors, donation receipts for donors, rewards for donors, rewards for solicitors in the form of printable vouchers, incentive tracking of free tickets for ticket sellers, and much more.
Donation management is donor based, choose the donor and then add all of their separate donations into a datasheet, all at one time.
With just a few mouse clicks, you can package donations for the catalog by adding several donations, even from different donors, into one packaged catalog lot. After your packaged catalog lots are assembled, you can finish your catalog automatically by assigning one donation to one catalog number, with one click of the mouse for the entire process.
A great marketing tool is the printed auction catalog, which can be distributed both prior to the auction as a way to attract guests, and at registration to generate interest. For many organizations, creating the catalog is also the largest and scariest task. GrateSoft AuctionPro makes this task quick and easy by providing the reports for you to choose from. All you have to do is copy and paste the information into your word processor and print the catalog.
GrateSoft AuctionPro generates personalized donation procurement forms for each donor, grouped by solicitor. These are used to greatly reduce the paperwork involved in gathering information from the donors who are already in the database.
GrateSoft AuctionPro is affordable, flexible, easy-to-use with a logically organized ribbon to guide you, step-by-step, through the auction process.
Need help? Just send us a support request. Email-based technical support is included for all of your committee members.
Auction day phone support can also be made available to ease first time user’s worries.
When you purchase this program you can be confident that we are still adding features and updates, in respond to users needs. User feedback is much appreciated so we can make the program better serve you.
GrateSoft AuctionPro will manage every detail associated with a benefit auction - from procurement through day-of-event sales and post-event reporting. Although this software can be used for non-benefit auctions, it was designed specifically for non-profit events which acquire donations.