Silent Auction Update: Auto Close and more!
Our team has been working hard to continuously improve our features, expand our offerings, and provide first-class service for our organizations and donors. With that in mind, we’re thrilled to share that we’ve built automated and scheduled auction stop times!
One of our most requested features has always been: “Can I schedule when the auction closes so I don’t have to manually hit the button?” Now you can! You can also set a reminder text to go out to your bidders, letting them know the auction is about to close—either 1 hour, 30 minutes, or 10 minutes beforehand. Additionally you can display the close date and time to the bidders as well.
You can choose to show or hide the automated close time of your auction to your bids. Our system automatically will update to the timezone of your computer as well.
Anti-Sniping
We’re also excited to announce a new advanced feature: anti-sniping! This allows event organizers to keep bidding open on an item even after the official end time. Here’s how it works:
Let’s say your scheduled auction end time is 8:00 p.m.
Donor A places a bid at 7:59 p.m., trying to “snipe” the item at the last second.
GiveGrove automatically closes your auction at 8:00 p.m., but checks for any items that received a bid in the last 2 minutes.
All other items close and are charged immediately, while items with last-minute bids stay open for an additional 2 minutes.
Every bid placed during that window resets the clock for another 2 minutes.
Once an item goes 2 minutes without a new bid, it officially closes and is charged.
This happens for each “hot” item independently. The host organization can toggle if they want anti-sniping on or off depending on your preference. If you have any questions about this feature, feel free to reach out to us about a demo of how it works at info@givegrove.com.
Overall Bidding Optimization
We’ve improved how bids are stored and displayed to donors for a smoother overall experience. While our system has always caught every bid, high-interest items sometimes received multiple bids within milliseconds, which could cause them to display in the wrong order.
Now, our “First In, First Out” approach ensures each bid is recorded and displayed in the exact order received. This means cleaner max bids, accurate incoming bid displays, and more reliable data for understanding how your donors are engaging with your auction.
Paired with the new Anti-Sniping feature, we believe GiveGrove’s Silent Auction module now competes with any auction software on the market.
As always, features like anti-sniping, auto-closing, and displaying close times are completely optional and can be toggled on or off. Every organization is unique, and GiveGrove gives you the flexibility to choose the features that work best for your fundraisers and donors. If you have any questions or need anything else, always feel free to reach out to us at info@givegrove.com
Happy Fundraising!
