“This was our first fundraising event using MobilBid. We found it to be a seamless, user-friendly, intuitive system.”
TMS School's verdict came with one detail that matters to every school auction: “One 85-year-old bidder logged in and made bids from her iPad.” School auctions have the widest range of bidders of any event we see, from parents in their thirties to grandparents in their eighties. The auction has to work for all of them on their own devices.
How schools use MobilBid
Most school auctions are run by a parent association or a small events office, with volunteers who change every year or two. MobilBid is built to make that hand-off easy.
- Start from last year's auction. A new auction can be copied from an old one, with its items and settings, so next year's committee isn't starting from a blank page.
- Share the work. Every account has unlimited administrators, so the school office, the committee chair and the volunteer entering items can all sign in.
- Import items from a spreadsheet. Classes and families often donate dozens of items; enter them once in a spreadsheet and bring them in together.
- Let families bid from home. Bidding happens on guests' phones, tablets or computers, so parents who can't come to the gala and relatives in other cities can still take part.
- Bid in English or French. Bidders can use the auction in either language, which suits French immersion and French-language schools.
- Use items with several winners. Offer the same experience to several families, such as places at a class event, and let each top bidder win one.
A school example: St. Andrew's College
St. Andrew's College in Aurora, Ontario, ran its school gala auction with other mobile bidding providers for three years before switching to MobilBid in 2017. Its parent liaison and event coordinator described the result:
“St. Andrew's College used other mobile bidding providers for three years, then decided to use MobilBid for our 2017 school gala. Attendees were thrilled to see registration tables and lineups eliminated and found using their own phones as bidding devices easy and enjoyable.”
The two things that stood out to guests were the ones volunteers usually spend the night on: registration tables and lineups. When guests bid on their own phones, neither is needed.
What a school auction costs
MobilBid charges 5.5% of silent auction sales and 1.5% of donations and live auction items, with a $220 minimum and a $2,500 maximum per event. There's no contract and no annual fee, so a school that runs one gala a year pays only for that gala. A school auction that raises $15,000 costs $825. Card processing fees and applicable taxes are separate. Try your own numbers in the fee calculator.
Common questions from schools
Do parents need to download an app to bid?
No. Bidders join from a link on their phone, tablet or computer and bid in the browser. There is nothing to install.
Can next year's committee reuse this year's auction?
Yes. A new MobilBid auction can start as a copy of an old one, with its items and settings, so a new volunteer team can begin from what worked last year.
Can several volunteers manage the auction?
Yes. Every MobilBid account includes unlimited administrators, so the school office and the parent committee can work on the same auction.
Run your next auction on MobilBid
Open a free account and build a test auction, or talk it through with us. You only pay when you run a real event: 5.5% of silent auction sales, $220 minimum, $2,500 maximum.