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A silent auction, made digital.

For Yayasan TZA's Hi Tea charity gala we built a live online bidding platform where guests register, browse lots and place real time bids from their phones.

12

Lots in auction

58

Live participants

1

Evening, zero paper

0

Bids lost

Overview

Paper bid sheets cost charities money

A traditional silent auction depends on guests walking to a table, reading a sheet and writing a number. Bids stop when guests sit down, the room never sees momentum building, and the final figures are reconciled by hand at the end of the night. The foundation wanted the energy of a live auction with the ease of a silent one.

Challenge

One evening, one chance. Bidding had to work first time, on the guests' own phones, with no app to install and no training possible.

Objectives

Bids from anywhere in the room. Visible momentum on every lot. Instant, accurate results at close, with no manual reconciliation.

Discovery

We walked the run of show with the organisers: arrival, registration, the bidding window, the close and the announcement, then designed backwards from the moment the winner is named.

The solution

Register, browse, bid, close

Part 1

Guest registration

Guests register in seconds on their own phones, no download required.

58participants
Part 2

Live lot browsing

Every lot with images, reserve price and the leading bid, updating in real time.

12lots
Part 3

Real time bidding

Bids land instantly and the room can see momentum build on each lot.

Part 4

Instant close

The auction closes on time and winners are known immediately, with no reconciliation.

Gallery

The platform on the night

auction.yayasantza.org
Live online bidding platform built for the Yayasan TZA charity gala

Live lots with reserve prices and leading bids, updating in real time

Technology

Built with

LaravelJavaScriptReal time updatesMariaDBNginxCloud hosting

Timeline

Built for one evening, reusable for every gala after it

Week 1

Scope

Run of show mapped with the organisers.

Week 2

Build

Registration, lots and live bidding.

Gala day

Live

Platform run and supported through the evening.

After

Reuse

Retained for future fundraising events.

Business outcome

More bidding, less admin, a better night

Fifty eight participants bid live across twelve lots without a single paper sheet. Winners were known the moment the auction closed, and the foundation kept a platform it can use for every future gala rather than a one night arrangement.

What we carry forward: For charity technology the constraint is not features, it is the fact that nobody can be trained. If a guest cannot use it in ten seconds while holding a drink, it does not work.

Related

More work

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