The Most Flexible Pricing
With prime features & exceptional service, we’ll help you run the best auction yet!
The price is your choice
Start free and test out the system with a Demo Auction, or create a Full Auction and receive access to every feature Bid Beacon has to offer, no limits or restrictions.
Complete Experience
Full Auction
Bid Beacon platform fee (collected up to the fee cap)
If you’re looking for:
- No upfront cost
- Automated payment collection
- All the bells and whistles
What’s included:
- Unlimited guests, items, images, & admin roles
- Express banking setup through Stripe Connect
- All basic features
- Optional longer duration (up to 365 days)
- Custom branding
- Sponsor recognition
- Ticketed access to bid
- Promote items with videos
- $999 platform fee cap (platform fees are exempt beyond the cap)
Subscribe to CommuniBee to unlock:
- Reduced platform fee
- Reduced platform fee cap for auctions
- Alternate payment methods (Stripe, Square, PayPal, or offline - cash, check, e-Transfer, etc.)
Stripe Connect 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction application fee will apply
Taxes, or currency exchange fees may apply in addition to the rates listed above
Try Us Out
Demo Auction
Free
Try out our features
What’s included:
- 2 Guests
- 2 Items
- 2 Images
- 1 Admin
- Sponsor recognition
- Custom branding
- Promote items with videos
- All basic features
Not included:
- Online payment collection
- Ticketed access to bid
Basic features of Bid Beacon help...
Make Admin's Lives Easier
- Copy From Past Auctions
- Multi-Currency Support
- Email Customer Support
- Invoice & Receipt Generation
- Unlimited Set Up Time
Raise More Funds
- Set a Fundraising Goal
- Collect Surcharges & Taxes
- Donation Collection
- Merchandise Sales
- Live Item Promotion & Invoicing
Increase Bidding Activity
- Staggered Item End Times
- Bidding Extensions
- Proxy Bidding
- Max Bidding
- Total Value of Items Calculator
Create A Guest Experience
- QR Code to Join Auction
- Downloadable Guest App
- Automated & Custom Notifications
- Live Event Presentation
- Raffles Integration with Raffle Rocket
Elevate your fundraising events to greater heights!
Promote upcoming events, share the latest news, and stay connected to all your members.
Create events, sell tickets, manage attendees, and track the overall performance of your events.
Generate additional revenue throughout the year by selling items to your audience online.
Create a full website or add individual pages to your existing site.
Allow your audience to donate directly to your organization and support your cause.
Connect all facets of your fundraiser into a shareable digital campaign.
Host 50/50, Cash, and non-Cash raffles through our companion product, Raffle Rocket.
Promote sponsors throughout your organization and across your events.
Dive into readily-available analytics dashboards to monitor fundraising activities.
Common questions about CommuniBee
There are many benefits of purchasing a CommuniBee subscription that fundraisers can take advantage of:
- Receive a lower platform fee that applies to your auctions and all eCommerce transactions that flow throughout your CommuniBee organization.
- Unlock alternate online payment options to accept payments using Stripe, Square, or PayPal.
- Optionally let your guests pay offline if you prefer to collect funds outside of Bid Beacon via cash, check, e-Transfer, Venmo, or however you prefer to receive payment.
- Take advantage of unparalleled pricing certainty with a platform fee cap that applies to all your silent auctions. This allows you to know the absolute maximum you may ever pay in fees to Bid Beacon. Purchase a CommuniBee subscription to unlock a lower platform fee cap.
There are many benefits of purchasing a CommuniBee subscription that fundraisers can take advantage of:
- Receive a lower platform fee that applies to your auctions and all eCommerce transactions that flow throughout your CommuniBee organization.
- Unlock alternate online payment options to accept payments using Stripe, Square, or PayPal.
- Optionally let your guests pay offline if you prefer to collect funds outside of Bid Beacon via cash, check, e-Transfer, Venmo, or however you prefer to receive payment.
- Take advantage of unparalleled pricing certainty with a platform fee cap that applies to all your silent auctions. This allows you to know the absolute maximum you may ever pay in fees to Bid Beacon. Purchase a CommuniBee subscription to unlock a lower platform fee cap.
Absolutely! You have full control and can cancel your subscription at any time. Please note that your current subscription will remain active until the end of your billing period. At the time your subscription expires, you will automatically revert back to CommuniBee’s Starter plan. If you ever change your mind, you can resubscribe to continue receiving the benefits that come with a paid subscription.
With Bid Beacon’s pricing, we take a platform fee off each transaction that takes place within your auction up to your platform fee cap. For example, let’s say an auction has a Bid Beacon platform fee of 4.9% and a platform fee cap of $999. This means that the auction would need to raise $20,387.76 to reach its fee cap, and anything raised beyond that total would be exempt from our platform fee.
Using the example above, if an auction raises:
- $5,000: Bid Beacon’s platform fee would equal $245 ($5,000 x 4.9%)
- $15,000: Bid Beacon’s platform fee would equal $735 ($15,000 x 4.9%)
- $30,000: Bid Beacon’s platform fee would equal $999 ($30,000 x 4.9%)
In scenario 3., the fee cap comes into effect as the total platform fee of $1,470 exceeds the auction’s $999 fee cap. This results in the auction host saving $471 in platform fees! Please note that if you are located in Canada, platform fees are subject to applicable taxes.
Absolutely not! If you simply want to only use Bid Beacon, you can do just that. The great thing with CommuniBee is that all of its features are just a click away. Ultimately, you have full control over how you use our platform.
Bid Beacon’s Full Auction plan uses Express Banking through Stripe Connect to collect online payments. With Express Banking setup, guests enter their credit card prior to bidding and are charged automatically once the auction ends. Payments are then processed through Stripe Connect and are distributed to your bank account.
With a paid CommuniBee subscription, the following alternate payment methods can be used in Bid Beacon: Express Banking through Stripe Connect, Square, PayPal, Stripe (non-Connect version), offline payment acceptance (e.g. cash, check, e-Transfer), or a mix of both if you want to give guests the option to pay either online or offline!
Looking for unique item ideas to help attract more bids? We can help!
Join our next Bid Beacon 101 session
Not sure if Bid Beacon is for you? Have some questions about online silent auctions in general? Already tried us out but have some questions? We host Bid Beacon 101 every two weeks and are happy to answer your questions.