Company News
ReadySetAuction™ Extends Reach of Gala Fundraiser Auction Events by Adding Online Catalog and Online Pre-Bidding Functionality
With this new release, ReadySetAuction gives non-profit organizations the ability to post their auction catalogs online and open bidding to their supporters prior to their gala events. These online auction features are completely integrated with ReadySetAuction’s web-based tool set for soliciting donations, tracking donations, packaging (bundling) donations, inviting and registering guests, generating the printed catalog and bid sheets, recording winning bids and checking out guests.
Bainbridge Island, WA — July 5, 2006: Arsetta, Inc., the leading provider of web-based benefit auction management software, today releases an enhanced version of its popular auction management software application, ReadySetAuction.
With this new release, ReadySetAuction gives non-profit organizations the ability to post their auction catalogs online and open bidding to their supporters prior to their gala events. These online auction features are completely integrated with ReadySetAuction’s web-based tool set for soliciting donations, tracking donations, packaging (bundling) donations, inviting and registering guests, generating the printed catalog and bid sheets, recording winning bids and checking out guests.
“Fundraiser auction events have been around for years, with good reason,” explains Sam Weiss, Arsetta, Inc. co-founder and CEO. “They are an incredibly effective way for an organization to raise funds while building community awareness and instilling passion for a cause. The first release of ReadySetAuction harnessed the power of the Internet to make planning, managing and conducting a gala auction event a more collaborative and streamlined process for the auction coordinating committee. With our latest release, ReadySetAuction extends the reach of the gala auction event to a broader base of constituents and invites greater participation, even from those supporters who can not attend the gala.”
Let The Bidding Begin!
It’s never been easier or more affordable for a non-profit organization to create a community online auction site. ReadySetAuction provides each organization with its own professionally designed online auction web site for hosting its online catalog. From an auction home page — branded with the organization’s logo, banner, image and welcome text — an organization’s supporters can view the online catalog, place bids, buy tickets to the event, submit auction item/service donations, and make cash donations.
“ReadySetAuction provides a robust, intelligent and sophisticated bidding environment that encourages lively and competitive bidding, resulting in higher bids and more proceeds for an organization” states Lisa Weiss, co-founder and VP of Sales & Marketing for Arsetta. “For example, it is not necessary for a bidder to constantly monitor bidding. Rather, he can place his maximum bid and then ReadySetAuction will bid on his behalf up to that maximum. If the bidder is outbid, ReadySetAuction automatically sends him an email notification with a link to the package’s entry in the online catalog.”
To facilitate a smooth transition from online bidding to bidding at the gala event, ReadySetAuction generates printed bid sheets that have the starting bid equal to the highest online bid. And to encourage continued participation by those constituents who cannot attend, ReadySetAuction supports absentee bids placed prior to the gala event.
About ReadySetAuction
Since its launch two years ago, thousands of users representing hundreds of non-profit organizations across the country — including schools, religious organizations, charitable organizations, youth sports leagues, and other community groups — have embraced ReadySetAuction to streamline their auction processes and raise millions of dollars.
Unlike other auction management tools that were built for the desktop computer or retrofitted to provide limited networking features, ReadySetAuction was conceived and designed to run on the Internet. This Software-As-A-Service technology lets the auction committee capitalize on the power and flexibility of the web to more effectively engage its community of supporters, build relationships and maximize fundraising potential.
Since ReadySetAuction is a fully hosted application — running on Arsetta’s ultra-fast servers in a highly secure data center — there is no software for users to install. Each member of an auction committee can access their data 24/7 using any Internet-connected Mac or PC. This lets the auction chair easily divide tasks among any number of committee members, each of whom can be logged in simultaneously to their event site working with up-to-the-minute auction data. Gone are the days of scheduling hassles and passing the laptop from volunteer to volunteer. With ReadySetAuction, auction management becomes a true team effort.
Anyone who has previously conducted an auction or is planning one for the first time immediately recognizes the value of ReadySetAuction’s powerful tool set for managing:
- Solicitation
- Donor and donation tracking
- Ticket sales and guest registration
- Generation of printed auction materials including the catalog, bid sheets, gift certificates and more
- Online catalog and online bidding
- Online ticket sales, cash donations and procurement
- Gala check in
- Gala bid recording
- Gala check out with real-time credit card processing
- Donor receipts and thank you letters
With all this rich functionality, ReadySetAuction makes auction management easy for both the seasoned auction professional and first-time auction coordinator. Its colorful, tab-based, intuitive design guides users through the process step-by-step.
The Company
Founded in 2003, Arsetta, Inc.’s mission is to provide affordable, enterprise-class solutions to non-profit organizations. ReadySetAuction, Arsetta’s flagship product, was developed around a simple vision: to make it easier for non-profit organizations to raise the funds they need to fulfill their missions.
The company is based outside of Seattle, Washington.
For More Information
Press and interested customers can get more information about ReadySetAuction by visiting www.ReadySetAuction.com or calling toll-free at 1-877-772-2220.
ReadySetAuction™ Adds Community Forum Functionality
Popular web-based auction management software raises the bar by further leveraging the power of the Internet
Bainbridge Island, WA — August 15, 2005: In further demonstration of the company’s ongoing commitment to provide an unparalleled fundraiser auction management solution for non-profit organizations, Arsetta, Inc. today announces the addition of community forums to ReadySetAuction.
ReadySetAuction is the first and only completely web-based software solution that helps non-profit organizations plan, manage and conduct their live and silent benefit auction events. Unlike other auction management tools in the marketplace that were built for the desktop computer or retrofitted to provide limited networking features, ReadySetAuction was conceived and designed to run on the Internet. This not only makes ReadySetAuction simpler to maintain, less costly to operate and easier to use, it also means ReadySetAuction can fully harness the power and flexibility of the Internet.
“By integrating forum functionality seamlessly into our customers’ ReadySetAuction event sites, we are empowering them to collaborate more effectively and efficiently,” says Sam Weiss, Arsetta’s president and CEO. “As anyone who has been involved in organizing and conducting a fundraiser auction knows, communication among members of the auction committee is key to a successful event.”
When a ReadySetAuction user is logged into her organization’s event site, she can access both public and private forums with a single click of the mouse. The public forums — continuously monitored by the ReadySetAuction support team — are available to all ReadySetAuction users and include Hints & Tips, Questions & Answers and a place for General Discussions about benefit auctions.
A private forum is also available to each organization that is using ReadySetAuction and is accessible only to that organization’s members. Private forums provide a place for an auction committee to discuss their specific issues and plans. “When multiple people are involved in a project, such as planning an auction, a forum is a much more efficient communication tool than email. How many times have you sifted through your email messages trying to figure out the history of a discussion? With a forum, a discussion thread is easy to follow and easy to review,” explains Lisa Weiss, Arsetta’s VP of Marketing and Sales.
About ReadySetAuction
Since its launch over a year ago, hundreds of non-profit organizations across the country — including schools, religious organizations, charitable organizations, youth sports leagues, and other community groups — have used ReadySetAuction to streamline their auction processes and raise millions of dollars.
ReadySetAuction provides full-fledged auction management functionality. Because it is a hosted application — meaning it runs on our ultra-fast servers in our highly secure data center — there’s no software for you or members of your auction committee to install. Moreover, all users from your organization have simultaneous access to your up-to-the-minute auction data from anywhere at any time from any Internet connected Macintosh or PC. Gone are the days of scheduling hassles and passing the laptop from volunteer to volunteer. With ReadySetAuction, auction management becomes a true team effort.
Anyone who has previously conducted an auction or is planning one for the first time immediately recognizes the value of ReadySetAuction’s powerful features:
- Customize your organization’s event site: define your committees, create your list of volunteers and establish their access (permission) levels to the system.
- Set up a merchant account for your organization in order to accept credit cards for ticket sales, online cash donations and auction sales at check out.
- Establish your live and silent auction section names and times.
- Track potential venues, caterers, auctioneers and entertainers. This information, like all ReadySetAuction data, is preserved year after year so that your organization’s next auction committee doesn’t have to retrace the steps of its predecessors.
- Enable the on-line ticket sales form, which is personalized with your logo, so your guests can purchase their tickets electronically, greatly reducing data entry work for your volunteers.
- Manage and register guests, assign paddle numbers and print nametags.
- Easily enter and track donations.
- Enable the online procurement form, which is personalized with your logo, to let donors submit their donations electronically, thus greatly reducing data entry work for your volunteers.
- Combine donations into saleable auction packages.
- Instantly create your catalog with no extra data entry or manual formatting required. ReadySetAuction compiles all the data entered throughout the setup and procurement process and creates the procurement form, procurement letters, mailing labels, catalog, bid sheets, gift certificates, invitations, thank-you notes, and other important printed materials. With just a click of the mouse you downloaded the materials to your computer in printer-ready rich-text-format (.rtf) which can be opened in Microsoft¨ Word.
- Register and check-in guests at the event itself.
- Process winning bids during the event. At any time you can look up what each guest has won, who won a specific package, and the running total.
- Quickly check out your guests with ReadySetAuction’s cashiering and real-time credit card processing capabilities. Then generate a receipt.
- Instantly generate post-auction thank you letters and receipts for the donors, guests and volunteers.
- Print a host of pre- and post-auction reports to help sort guests, donations, auction packages and sales. This helps your organization map its successes and plan for future events.
- Never start from scratch again. When you’re ready to start organizing your next auction, ReadySetAuction automatically imports your previous donors, prospects and guests into your new event site and generates personalized procurement letters and emails along with mailing labels to your constituents.
With all this rich functionality, ReadySetAuction’s intuitive design makes auction management easy both for those who are new to auctions and those who don’t have a lot of computer experience. A colorful, tab-based design guides users through the process step-by-step while providing the flexibility to jump from stage to stage, depending on how the volunteer staff wants to work.
The Company
Founded in 2003, Arsetta, Inc.’s mission is to provide affordable, enterprise-class solutions to non-profit organizations. ReadySetAuction, Arsetta’s flagship product, was developed around a simple vision: to make it easier for non-profit organizations to raise the funds they need to fulfill their missions.
The company is based outside of Seattle, Washington.
For More Information
Press and interested customers can get more information about ReadySetAuction by visiting www.ReadySetAuction.com or calling toll-free at 1-877-772-2220.
ReadySetAuction™ Provides Web-Based, All-in-One Auction Management Solution for Non-Profit Organizations
Bainbridge Island, WA — August 15, 2004: Arsetta, Inc. today announces the release of ReadySetAuction, the premier tool for planning, managing, and conducting live auction events. This Web-based auction management tool simplifies and streamlines the auction process for non-profit organizations such as schools, religious organizations, charitable organizations, youth sports leagues, and other community groups by providing complete, end-to-end auction management functionality.
Affordable, powerful, easy to use, and on the Web
ReadySetAuction is the first all-in-one solution that provides both complete event management functionality and fully integrated credit card processing at checkout.
Furthermore, unlike other auction management software on the market, ReadySetAuction is completely Web-based, with no software to install. This means that all volunteers have access to up-to-the-minute auction data from anywhere at any time, using an Internet-connected Macintosh or PC.
Because ReadySetAuction is a web application, auction management can finally become a true team effort. Multiple users can work in the system simultaneously, with no more scheduling hassles or passing the laptop from volunteer to volunteer. For example, the catalog committee can monitor donations and package items for the auction; the marketing committee can print and send out invitations and reminders via e-mail, and download and print the catalog; and guests can purchase event tickets by following a link on the e-mail invitation. Donors can even submit donations via the online procurement form.
Specifically geared toward non-profit groups, ReadySetAuction is also an extremely affordable solution. Its flexible, subscription-based pricing makes the service attractive to non-profit organizations of any size.
Feature highlights
ReadySetAuction provides full-fledged auction management functionality from any Internet connection. Anyone who has previously conducted an auction or is planning one for the first time will immediately recognize the value of ReadySetAuction’s powerful features:
- Administrative capability that enables the Auction Chair (or another designated committee member) to customize her organization’s event site by defining the committees, creating the list of volunteers and establishing their access levels to the system, setting up a merchant account in order to accept credit cards for ticket sales and at check out, setting goals and establishing the live and silent auction section names and times.
- The ability to track potential entertainers, venues, caterers, and auctioneers. This information, like all ReadySetAuction data, is preserved after the auction is long finished so that the organization’s subsequent auction committee doesn’t have to start from scratch.
- Easy donation entry and tracking, including an online procurement form from which donors may submit their donations, thus greatly reducing data entry work for the volunteers.
- Guest management and online ticket sales and pre-registration.
- Packaging functionality making it easy for committee members to combine donations into saleable auction units.
- Instant catalog creation with no extra data entry or manual formatting required. ReadySetAuction compiles all the data entered throughout the setup and procurement process so that creating the procurement forms, catalog, bid sheets, gift certificates, invitations, thank-you notes, and other important printed materials becomes a simple matter of clicking a button. All materials are available for download to users’ computers in printer-ready rich-text-format (.rtf) which can be opened in Microsoft® Word.
- Registration and check-in capability for the event itself.
- Real-time processing of winning bids during the event, with instant access to the running total and winners.
- Full-fledged, quick checkout capability that includes credit card processing and receipt creation.
- Instant post-auction thank you letter and receipt generation for the donors, guests and volunteers.
- A host of pre- and post-auction reports to help sort guests, donations, auction packages and sales. This helps organizations map their successes and plan for future events.
With all this rich, complex functionality, ReadySetAuction’s intuitive design also makes auction management easy both for those who are new to auctions and those who don’t have a lot of computer experience. A colorful, tab-based design guides users through the process step-by-step while providing the flexibility to jump from stage to stage, depending on how the volunteer staff wants to work. In addition, along the way, users will find answers to many common questions both about using the product and conducting an auction.
Community fund-raising: filling a need, easing the pain
ReadySetAuction is the brainchild of Sam and Lisa Weiss of Bainbridge Island, WA, a community-minded couple who has first-hand experience with the challenges involved in non-profit fund-raising. As parents committed to public education, the Weiss’s found themselves continually frustrated by dwindling state and federal funding for public schools and began looking for ways to help.
Evaluating the challenge of school fund-raising unearthed the even broader realization: In today’s economic climate of budget cuts and belt-tightening, grass-roots fundraising efforts in the form of benefit auctions were an ever-increasing, critical source of income for all non-profits, not just schools. But while these auctions had the power to make or break an organization’s operating budget, the events were often logistical nightmares for those who volunteered to run them.
For starters, the process was often disorganized and stressful. Because of the high entry cost of auction management software, many groups used a hodgepodge of self-developed tools like spreadsheets and handwritten lists combined with many time-consuming meetings. When the group did purchase software, it resided on a single computer, meaning either one poor soul shouldered the entire burden of data entry or the team had to pass the computer around.
Hard-working volunteers, whose participation created the foundation for the event, easily fell victim to burnout and failed to show up for the following year’s planning meetings. Loss of that continuity and institutional memory meant that the new group of volunteers had to start from scratch, resulting in a less efficiently run event and a lower bottom line.
In co-founding Arsetta, the Weiss’s aimed to channel their complementary fundraising and software development expertise to create a new kind of tool that would ease these auction management pains by making the process simple, affordable, and easy for multiple volunteers to use, while at the same time serving as a powerful tracking and database system that preserved each organization’s data, or institutional memory, from year to year.
The genesis of ReadySetAuction
Back up to fall of 2001, when the light bulb first went on. Like most good ideas, says Lisa Weiss, ReadySetAuction was born out of necessity. Lisa recalls, “As PTO president of my children’s public elementary school, I was heavily involved in the school’s first benefit auction. From the start, I realized the need for a computer database to help organize and track donations. So, having had several years’ experience working with a variety of database programs, I decided to develop a database for that purpose.”
As the weeks passed, the database’s capabilities grew to include donor tracking, guest tracking and registration, report printing, and perhaps most importantly, catalog and auction form production with just the press of a button. Says Lisa, “The team of auction volunteers was thrilled — everyone’s job was much easier than originally anticipated.”
As the database evolved, it was Sam who recognized that with all the critical information in one place, the database could also be the perfect tool to streamline checkout. As most people who have attended or organized an auction know, checkout can be stressful, frustrating, and time-consuming for both the auction workers and guests.
“Yet with checkout functionality in place at our school’s auction,” Lisa recalls, “Checkout flew. Lines were non-existent, guests were ecstatic, and the team of volunteers was again thrilled.” The proceeds from that first auction exceeded everyone’s expectations. And what’s more, she adds, “The next year, with the help of the same database, auction proceeds doubled.”
The database provided a great solution with just one major drawback: only Lisa had access to it since it resided on her desktop computer. From there sprung the idea for ReadySetAuction: community fund-raising taken to a whole new level of ease and accessibility on the World Wide Web.
Preliminary feedback speaks to ReadySetAuction’s success
Before officially releasing the first version of ReadySetAuction, Arsetta put the product through extensive beta testing with organizations that were staging actual auctions. User feedback indicates that ReadySetAuction hit the mark:
“This year’s auction event was so much easier to organize, run, and wrap up than it has been in the past. Each of my volunteers was able to work from her home or office, whenever she found time. And since we all had up-to-the-minute access to the auction data, we didn’t have to schedule as many meetings.”
“ReadySetAuction is a necessity for you and your volunteers. Creating the auction catalog came down to a simple mouse click. We can’t wait to use it again next year!”
“Each guest left with an accurate, detailed receipt in hand and a big smile. I was smiling too because at the end of the night I instantly printed reports with exactly what each guest had spent on which items. I even knew who left without checking out, and who forgot to pick up their purchases. This was the easiest job I’ve had as PTO Treasurer all year!”
“Where have you been my whole life! This is simply amazing!”
Lisa Weiss, for her part, is thrilled with the feedback. “I love hearing from our customers that the process of organizing and conducting their auctions is a pleasure with ReadySetAuction. They don’t experience burnout and actually look forward to becoming involved again in their next year’s auction.”
The Company
Founded in 2003, Arsetta, Inc.’s mission is to provide affordable, enterprise-class solutions to non-profit organizations. ReadySetAuction, Arsetta’s flagship product, was developed around a simple vision: to make it easier for non-profit organizations to raise the funds they need to fulfill their missions.
The company is based outside of Seattle, Washington.
For More Information
Press and interested customers can get more information about ReadySetAuction by visiting www.ReadySetAuction.com or calling toll-free at 1-877-772-2220.