Features

General Features

Very easy to use Visions Auction has been completely redesigned with the end-user in mind. The product has been tested, proven and refined over time to create the simplest, most effective benefit auction tool on the market today.
Your own web site to promote your auction Your items are automatically visible to prospective bidders on your own web site. Patrons can view the items anonymously, without having to register. You can decide which auction areas you wish to expose publicly, and which are to remain private.
Easily customize your web site home page Place text, photos and whatever you want on your own home page. Visions Auction makes it simple to perform these actions.
Add as many auction areas as you need Auction areas (Live, Silent areas, and miscellaneous) are a great way to organize your items and establish a flow through your event. You can specify whether each area will be private (working areas) or publicly visible on your auction web site.
Risk-Free You have absolutely no risk. You can start with our free 30/30 auction event, and upgrade when you need to. All of your data will still be available for you.
Retain more of your proceeds Visions Auction was born out of the passion to help non-profit endeavors succeed. To support this principle, we are keeping the price as reasonable as possible. We don't impose a request for a percentage of your fund-raising, and for small auctions, we are completely free with no strings attached. Without a doubt, we offer the very best value on the market today.
Smart Biddding Templates Take advantage of “smart” bidding templates for items – such as constrained silent auction bidding amounts, fixed amount bidding as well as fully variable bidding (live auction). Regardless of which template is selected, you ALWAYS have the freedom to enter any bid, any quantity and any bidder.
No installation necessary No installation is required for any of the Visions Auction functions. The entirety of the application is available using web browsers from a variety of platforms: PC, Mac, Tablet, even a smart phone. All that is needed is a solid internet connection.
Safety All interactions with the Visions Auction web site are encrypted to ensure data safety. All registered users have had their email addresses confirmed prior to allowing access. Your data is safe with us.
Security Visions Auction is hosted on one of the world's preeminant cloud providers. Backups are taken daily, and resources are dynamically monitored.

Item Features

Easy item entry It's really easy to enter items for your event, without a lot of unnecessary extras. Items, photos and donor associations can be maintained from a centralized dashboard.
Copy items from prior events Most auctions have many items which are repeated from year to year. Visions Auction allows you to easily locate and copy these items into your current auction event.
Easily associate images with your items. It's very easy to upload images and associate them to your items. Once associated with an item, images become visible on your public-facing web site.
Your items are visible on the Web Your items are automatically visible to prospective bidders on your own web site. Patrons can view the items anonymously, without having to register. You can decide which auction areas you wish to expose publicly, and which are to remain private.
Allows for “donation bidding” for major gifting Many auctions have success with a straight "donation bidding" during their live auctions. These items can be identified with multiple funding levels (1000, 500, 250, 100, 50) to make bid entry simple. Of course, you're not constrained to these levels and can accept any amount.
Easily re-sequence items in any auction category Often, the auctioneer will have great ideas about how to sequence your live auction items in order to get the best value. Visions auction has a drag and drop item resequence tool to make that process really simple.
Handles split purchases At checkout time, it's very easy to split purchases across multiple bidders, or across multiple payment methods.
Adaptable item quantities Many times, an additional item is "thrown in" during the live auction to take advantage of unexpected lively bidding. Visions Auction handles (expects) this to happen.
Alternate proceeds recipients You can designate alternate fund recipients ("Proceeed go to Mrs. Vela's class") for specified items. For school auctions, this is a common mechanism to ensure that proceeds get to the intended recipients.
Photos and Images Supports up to 1,000 images for the premium auction, and 100 images for the 30/30 auction.

Bidder Features

Easy bidder entry The system is very simple to use, and offers as many typing shortcuts as possible.
Copy bidders from prior events The system tracks bidders for all the auction events hosted by an organization, and makes it simple to copy records from one event to another.
Retain prior bidder numbers The auction coordinator can specify that bidders keep their old bidder numbers as they are copied from prior events, or it can assign new numbers.
Meal request tracking It's very easy to specify meal options (optional) and to associate bidders to their meal choices.
Smart Phone Purchase Review Each bidder can view current purchases by using a smart phone to scan the QR code printed on their bidder card. Premium Auction Only
Table Seating Assignment Easily assign to tables. "Drag and drop" bidders on tables, or by selecting a table upon bidder registration. The Drag and Drop interface makes it simple to see which tables have room, which are overbooked, and who is sitting at them.

Donor Features

Tracks donors across all events See donor records across all your auction events. Easily see what donors have provided over the years.
Real-world Approach Full-on donor tracking is optional. Easily track donors to the degree that works for you – can track donations even when split across multiple items.
Procurement Tracking Keeps track of which auction staff or volunteers have contacted donors in the past. Allows for procurement staff to keep notes regarding donor preferences.

Management Features

Team Members Allows the auction coordinator to easily add new team members and delegate roles. Can automatically send an email to team members explaining where to go and how to log on to your site.
Unified Reporting View reports for all your auction events from a single interface. This allows for greater management of your events over time, allowing your fund raising efforts to grow!
Real-time runner pick-lists Automatically assigns auction helpers (runners) with lists of items to take to successful bidders. This streamlines the operation and ensures that your patrons are kept happy! Planned for March 2015 release. Premium Auction Only
Training mode Visions Auction allows your site to operate in "Training mode" to ensure safe training of checkout staff without worry about corrupting auction data. When the site is in training mode, the staff can familiarize themselves with system operation by entering final bids and performing bidder checkout. During this operation, the site is marked with a red banner to ensure that "real" transactions are not inadvertently entered.
Data snapshots Create periodic data snapshots of your auction event. This procedure allows auction coordinators to create data backups which can be restored at any time, or downloaded to your own PC.
Long record retention Visions Auction recognizes the value of retaining your records. Records are retained for 2 years (30/30 Auction) or 10 years (Premium Auction)

Bidder Reports

Bidder cards (with QR code for smart phone bid check) Bidder Master List
Bidder seating by table Meal summary by table
Address / phone/ email list Bidder packet labels
Mailing labels File labels

Item Reports

Draft item list List of items by Auction Type
Item Labels Generic Item Labels
Catalog Catalog Addendum
Items needing a Certificate Item List by Donor

Donor Reports

Mailing labels Donation valuation report
Full procurement list Procurements by Person

Silent Auction Reports

Display form Fixed price bid form
“Clinic” bid form Bid form with no amounts

After Auction Reports

Purchase summary by auction area Purchase detail by auction area
Recipient Summary Recipient Detail
Bidder purchase summary Bidder purchase detail
Bidder average purchases Actual vs. Expected bids
Purchase Variance Receipts by type