A few weeks ago, I went to an auction and they used BidPal. I go to a lot of auctions, and I was pretty excited about this because I had heard that people bid a lot more (often and more $$) with BidPal and it was easy to use, etc.
No, you do not have bid sheets--nothing gets written down. It wouldn't work to have some people write bids down on bid sheets and others bid using their phones. Everyone bids using a mobile device, or at a laptop station. With the one I went to, most people used their phones. If you didn't have something to use, they had a couple of stations set up, and also had people walking around with laptops so you could bid using those.
My phone did not get great reception, so I had a hard time pulling up BidPal. I was almost frustrated enough to just not bother bidding, to be honest, but since the cause meant a lot to me I kept plugging away and finally got it to work. Once it was connected, it was fine. One nice feature was that you could see what things had no bids very easily. Plus, if you were outbid, it would let you know right away.
The checkout was very quick and easy--the receipt for the auction was emailed to me and gave me all the information I needed for tax purposes. I didn't hear about anyone having any problems with their totals, or accidentally bidding on something they didn't want, or anything else. Everything seemed to go very smoothly.
But honestly, in the end I decided I really hated it. So much so that my husband and I both agreed that we probably wouldn't bother going to another auction that used mobile bidding like that. Why? It's very anti-social. Part of the fun of the auctions is hanging around the tables and outbidding your friends, or banding together with friends to buy a more expensive item, or just meeting people who are interested in the same item you are. And then when we were sitting down to dinner for the program, everyone used the auction as an excuse to keep looking at their phone--and posting to Facebook or answering email or sending texts--rather then engaging in conversation with others at the table.
I also found that it was much easier for me to not "overbid" on an item, because it was hard to get emotionally invested in it. If you walk by something once, decide to bid on it, then go plop yourself down at the dinner table-- when you get the notice that you have been outbid, I found it was a lot easier to talk myself out of bidding again when I wasn't staring right at the coveted piece of jewelry/painting/sports ticket. Plus, I could easily see how much in total I had bid, and decide when I had spent "enough."
I don't know, financially, if this auction was better or worse in terms of bringing in money than it was in prior years. There were also too many variables in terms of the number and type of auction items to be able to pin the results on the use of BidPal. (Personally, I spent substantially less than I had in the past.)
Keep in mind that I'm >50 years old, I refuse to give my kids cellphones until they turn 13, and when kids come for sleepovers I confiscate their electronics. I'm perfectly capable of texting, but don't use it as my primary form of communication. My comments will probably not reflect those of the typical parent at your school. Younger parents may very well think mobile bidding is the most awesome idea ever.
