Auctions that keep pace with the room

Auctions are high-energy and high-stakes: donors expect smooth mobile bidding, clear item details, and checkout that feels as trustworthy as shopping anywhere else online. Paddle-Up treats the auction as a full product area—not a bolt-on—so cataloging, bidder identity, bidding state, and payment handoff stay connected end to end. When you need to sell multiple units of the same lot—multi-sale items—Paddle-Up supports that workflow directly; many other auction packages assume one winner per item and leave multi-unit sales to workarounds.

Catalog & packages

Your team enters donated and consigned items with descriptions, photos, estimated values, and any restrictions (pickup windows, experience dates, fair-market-value notes for your finance process). Bundle related items into packages when it helps storytelling, and organize lots so preview pages and night-of displays stay in sync with what bidders see in the app.

• Structured item records so staff are not maintaining parallel spreadsheets
• Support for both silent and live formats within the same campaign
• Preview-friendly presentation for marketing your catalog ahead of the gala

Bid sheets, QR codes & assisted verification

In-person silent auctions still depend on paper. Paddle-Up generates printable bid sheets that can include QR codes anchoring each page to the right catalog item. After close, staff upload photos of completed sheets; vision-assisted processing reads handwriting, checks bidder numbers against your roster, and flags rows that need review—so you spend less time retyping and more time closing out winners with confidence.

Learn more about bid sheet scanning & verification

Two ways to onboard bidders

Online: supporters register before the event or join remotely during the auction—capture contact details, payment method expectations, and terms acknowledgment in one flow. That cuts registration-table congestion and lets remote friends participate on equal footing.

In person: at check-in, registration desks, or the auction floor, volunteers and staff use the Paddle-Up iOS app to add or look up bidders quickly—no duplicate clipboards, fewer typos, and fewer "I thought they were already in the system" moments.

Running the show

During the event, your team needs visibility into bidding activity: what is heating up, what needs a nudge, and what is ready to close. Monitoring views help staff stay ahead of the room so auctioneers and floor volunteers are not guessing from the stage.

• Live bidding experiences designed for mobile-first guests
• Operational views for staff coordinating lots and timelines
• Checkout aligned with Stripe's security and compliance expectations

After the gavel

Winning bids flow into the same payments and donor context as tickets and donations—so thank-yous, receipts, and finance reconciliation reference one ledger. Pair auction night with ticketing, online sales, and volunteer operations and you close the loop from first impression to post-event stewardship without exporting chaos into email.