About
Built by a school parent, for the school auction
Hi, I'm Dan. I live in Toronto's East End, and I've spent my career in technology.
A member of my daughter's school council asked if I could help with their silent auction. They were juggling Google Docs, spreadsheets, and a patchwork of ways to take and track bids. I said I'd help — and got a little carried away. I built a proper auction site instead.
The council and organizers loved it, and the parents bidding found it far easier than anything they'd used before. The auction raised over $9,000 — a record for the school. And because a complete bid report was ready the moment bidding closed, collecting payment from winners was the easiest part of the night instead of the hardest.
That site was only meant to run once. But the feedback kept coming — along with suggestions for next time — so I rebuilt it into SilentBid: a feature-rich, easy-to-use auction site that any school, club, sports team, or charity can use to run a silent auction and raise more money.
— Dan McGrath, founder
$9,000+
raised at the very first auction — a school record
0
apps for guests to download or accounts to create
~10 min
to set up an auction from scratch
What SilentBid does today
Most of these started as suggestions from organizers and parents.
📱Bidding from any phone
Guests scan a QR code or type a 4-letter code and bid in their browser. No app, no sign-up.
🔥Live activity feed
New bids pop up on the auction page the moment they land, and the busiest items get a Hot badge.
🎉Final-total celebration
When bidding closes, the auction page — and the big screen — switch to a confetti reveal of what you raised.
🔔Outbid alerts
Bidders can opt in to an email the moment someone tops their bid, so they can jump back in.
⏱️Fair finishes
A last-second bid extends that one item by a few minutes, so nobody wins by sniping.
📮Printable poster
Every auction gets a poster with its QR code and join code, ready to put up at your event.
📊Instant bid report
The moment bidding closes you get a PDF and CSV of who won what and what they owe — and winners get an email.
📺Live bid screen
Put the running total, countdown, and a scan-to-bid QR code up on the big screen at your event.
👥Co-admins
Invite fellow volunteers to help add items and manage the auction with you.
🎨Your branding
Add your logo, and on Pro set your own colours and remove SilentBid's branding.
What hasn't changed
It's free to start. Auctions with up to 15 items cost nothing. Bigger auctions are a one-time fee per event — never a subscription.
We never touch your money. Winners pay your organization directly, by Interac e-Transfer, cash, cheque, or whatever you already use.
It's built for volunteers. If you can fill in a paper bid sheet, you can run an auction on SilentBid.
Have an idea for the next feature? I'd love to hear it.