GalaBid Reviews 

First ever online auction

We used GalaBid to host our first ever online auction as part of our 50th anniversary events. Everything was clear and easy to use with a great set of features.

Had a couple of issues along the way but live chat was usually available and everything was resolved swiftly. When live chat was offline, emails were responded to in a couple of hours.

Looking forward to using GalaBid again for future auctions and raffles.

There's always going to be a list of continuous improvement ideas but the only thing I'd really change is the ability to use custom fonts to really take the branding options to the next level.

We’ve used the Galabid platform countless number of times for the last three or so years. We have tried many other platforms, and we am most happy with the service and functionality, as well as the fees.

Working with GalaBid for our non-profit has been smooth for the past 1-2 years, however a recent event has caused an issue where our participants have not been able to purchase tickets since last Thursday. This isn't actually the worst part. The worst part is their troubleshooting process. Issues with their customer service:
1. Each update to the same error is reviewed by a different person, rather than one person being single point of contact and working until the job is done. This is unlike any process I know of and causes obvious delays and lack of accountability
2. They do not have unique error codes. Our specific error code for this event is "Error processing payment, please try again" and no one can understand what's happening. They asked us if it was because someone had tried to buy more tickets than were available (not the problem), they suggested it was because someone's credit card information was not registered prior to purchasing a ticket, when the error happened directly after trying to purchase a ticket
3. No one can answer whether or not they have reached out to their merchant processing company (the person they use to take the money from a participant's credit card)
4. They cannot explain to me their testing process and have instead just asked me to "manually add a credit card to a person's account and try again for one ticket" as if it seems like a good idea for me to ask a participant for an event to essentially test their system. That's seriously the solution they gave me
5. They do not take or make phone calls. So you have to watch your email over several days to get questions answered.

We have a much larger event coming up in December that's supposed to fund our entire non-profit year... Y'all. I am 5 months pregnant and due to host the event at 8.5 months pregnant, but the ONLY thing I am nervous about is what to do with this company. Do I move forward since we have poured hours into using GalaBid already and have the event totally built out, knowing if there is a bottleneck purchasing issue we'll have no option to collect funding? I have requested a meeting with "the most senior technically competent person" that will hopefully get settled today, after spending the past 4 days spoon feeding them the solutions I mentioned above. At this point, they need to bill me for my hours. Find someone else.

DON’T USE! They will tell someone they have won after an auction has ended then allow more bids to come through and then tell the same winner they lost. VERY POOR customer service.

Really amazing platform with quite literally all of the features you might need for an auction - even more amazing support team who very promptly answered every question I had and were generally incredibly useful. Will definitely be using again 10/10

The first time I used GalaBid it was to raise money for our Ladies Captains charity, found it very easy to set up and use.
Will be using again in the future.

I love this platform it was so easy. My event was successful and my guest enjoyed the auction

To have everything set up and ready is terrific. Plus the fee structure really suits us as a charity.

Website very easy to use and navigate. Made it very easy to earn money for our teachers

This was my first time doing anything like this, and I'm very glad I used this site. It was easy to learn and use.
There was one item status updating issue I had- and it was a site related bug that their support assisted me with quickly.
Would absolutely use this site again!

GalaBid helped to make my first online silent auction fundraiser successful! This was a fundraiser for my nonprofit organization, and I appreciate that it was free to use and fairly easy to set-up and navigate! I also like that GalaBid offers no-risk consignment items that I could add to my silent auction to potentially increase our funds raised! Thank you, GalaBid for making this experience a positive one for myself and all the participants!

Good first experience with GalaBid for my first online auction .

Great application. A little difficult to navigate but after 2hrs of clicking around, I finally figured it out.

Great platform, easy to use with a good range of functionality in the free version - ideal for maximising profits for our charity fundraiser. The customer help team were very responsive and helpful.

This was superb for our High End 12 item fundraising auction. Just leave yourself enough time to set it up prior to your event to get it right and check all ok.
GalaBid chat is excellent and they quickly respond.
5 stars here. Definitely recommend for smaller fundraising charities and doubtless is excellent for bigger charities too.

Really good and easy UI allowed all of our guests to very quickly register and start bidding. I have no doubt that galabid allowed us to raise a lot more for our chosen charity. The UI at the back end is also super easy - adding things to the auction was very clear and simple.

Very slick platform that was easy to use and manage. I had asked for a volunteer to run our silent auction, but no one stepped up. I found GalaBid, and realized I could manage it pretty easily myself on top of the other event planning hats I was wearing. There are some compromises when using an online platform for a silent auction, but if you go in eyes wide open and do your research with what to expect, I think you’ll be very pleased with how easy and powerful this platform can be. I’ve already recommended it to others. Thank you, GalaBid!

The auction was easy to set up. Communication with bidders from Galabid was excellent; notice when outbid, reminder to pay, invoices, receipts.
I feel a little more explanation about what you need to do with Stripe would be helpful. The Stripe site has many different options and I thought I had to complete different things that I did not understand for the connection to work. After help from chat, I understood that it is the simplest function we need for Galabid. The rest of Stripe is for other applications. Gave 4 stars as one of our bidders was unable to process credit card through the site however, that could be user error.

Galabid was exactly what my Guild needed for their online auction. Easy to use, set up and pay streamlined, and worked perfectly. For a first time user, it was a breeze. I highly recommend it.

We are a small non-profit and used Galabid for our biggest fundraiser in November. The three star rating is due to Galabid using Stripe. I have never had such a frustrating experience in all the time I have worked in Development. It is a month after our fundraiser and Stripe still hasn't given us the payout. The customer service is a joke. You can only deal with them via email or when you reach them, they will not allow you to speak to a supervisor. In addition, they charge outrageous fees. Galabid, you have a great product but Stripe is THE WORST and negatively effects Galabids' effectiveness and likeability.