Time To Throw Out The Printer

Having attended hundreds of fundraising events over the years in Australia, Asia and the US one of the key motivators to create GalaBid was to address the issue of long silent auction checkout queues. The queues were inevitable as no matter what the MC announced guests would start to approach the desk to checkout as soon as the auction closed. But there was typically a 15 minute delay before all the invoices were printed and the checkout desk was ready to open.

The first thing we did with GalaBid was to create an easy to use Content Management System (CMS) so the payment desk staff could very quickly access the info they needed to start the checkout process the moment the auction closed.  The CMS allows quick access to the guest's total, the items won and the guest's invoice (which can be printed on demand). Running the checkout in this way, has resulted in much shorter queues and much happier guests.

But now very excitingly we've made the invoice available on the winner's phone. When the auction closes each winner/donor receives a link via text message, allowing them to view, save or email their invoice on their phone.  And when the invoice is paid, the system automatically updates the payment status on the invoice itself!

Not surprisingly clients are enthusiastically embracing this improved process and printers and their paper jams are fast becoming a relic from the past.