Software examples · three real builds
Three charities. Three very different nights. One platform.
A silent auction in euros for a black-tie room in Monaco. An art auction called live to people on their sofas. A fantasy-league auction with no real money in it at all. The same software ran all three, built each time in the client’s own branding and shaped around what their night needed.
- Your branding, your lots, your currency
- No commission, ever
- Included when you book me
01 · Sheba Medical Center · Monaco · July 2026
A silent auction in euros, for a black-tie room on the Riviera
An Evening for Sheba was held at the Yacht Club de Monaco under the patronage of H.S.H. Prince Albert II, in aid of the Edmond and Lily Safra Children’s Hospital. The catalogue had two kinds of thing in it: luxury lots, from a Szczesny watercolour to a six-night Kenyan safari, and medical appeals, where a guest sponsors an incubator or a year of trauma therapy at a fixed price.
So the platform had to do both at once. The lots ran as a silent auction from the guests’ phones, bidding in euros against guide values. The appeals sat beside them as fixed-price gifts you could buy several of. And because the catalogue asked winners to settle by bank transfer to Friends of Sheba within ten days, there was no card step at all: the order confirmation carried the bank details and a reference instead.
- Two shops in oneAuction lots with bids and guide values, and appeals with fixed prices and quantities, on the same site with one basket.
- Euros, properlyNot a currency symbol swapped on the front. Bid steps, guide values, the leaderboard and the confirmation emails all in euros.
- No card, by designThe catalogue said bank transfer, so the checkout said bank transfer. The platform fits the charity’s rules, not the other way round.
02 · Temwa · Bristol and online · August 2026
A virtual art auction, called live to the sofa
Temwa work in the remote north of Malawi, and their Summer Art Auction had twenty-three original works and no room. Pre-bidding opened for a fortnight, then on a Monday evening I called every lot live on a stream, with the room and the sofa bidding against each other at the same price.
That needed things the platform did not have, so I built them. A live room, where the stream sits beside the lot and the bid button rather than under a layer of text. A console for me, every lot on one screen, two taps to sell, an undo for ten minutes after the hammer. And a broadcast run through OBS and multistreamed to six platforms, with the lot, the bid and where to bid drawn on the picture. Winners paid by card straight after the night.
The multistream, the story card and the pre-bidding catalogue are on the virtual auctioneer page.
- The lot I call is the lot you seeThe console sets the lot on everyone’s screen the moment I put it up. Nothing is inferred from timers or bid activity.
- Room and sofa, one priceA bid from the floor and a bid from home compete in the same lot. A standing online maximum answers the room automatically.
- A programme, not a webcamLot, bid and total on the picture, a guest live from where the work happens, and a card telling viewers where to bid.
03 · Icons Padel League · Manchester 2026
An auction with no money in it, and every rule of a real one
Icons Padel League wanted to build six teams the way a fantasy league does: six owners, £55,000 of virtual budget each, 63 players in the room and 42 places on court, with me on the gavel. Six Icons drawn at random first, then the Captains from £10,000, then everyone else at their Playtomic level times a thousand.
The hard part was the brief’s safe-ceiling rule: an owner can never bid so much that they cannot still fill their remaining places. The software works that out for every team before every bid and stops the bidding at the ceiling, on the screen as well as in the engine. The night ran from a desk in the admin and from a phone app in my hand, with a 16:9 screen for the room polling every half second. Afterwards the client edits the players, photos and every line of text themselves.
- Ceilings the room can seeEvery team’s headroom on the big screen, so an owner knows before the hammer whether they can still afford their last three places.
- Two taps from a phoneThe whole night runs from an installable phone app: open the lot, take the bids, hold to confirm sold. Never dropped, never out of order.
- The client owns itPlayers, photos, teams, crests and every line of text on the site and the screen are editable in their admin without a developer.
Side by side
Same platform, three briefs
| Detail | 01Sheba | 02Temwa | 03Icons |
|---|---|---|---|
| The night | Black-tie gala, Monaco | Streamed, no room | Auction night, Manchester |
| Format | Silent auction and fixed-price appeals | Pre-bidding, then every lot called live | Live auction with virtual budgets |
| Money | Euros | Pounds, by card | £55,000 virtual per team |
| Who bids | Guests, from their phones | Anyone watching, anywhere | Six owners, through me |
| Settlement | Bank transfer in ten days | Card charged after the hammer | None, it is a draft |
| On the screen | Leaderboard and totals | OBS programme, six platforms | 16:9 big screen, twelve scenes |
| Built in | Days | Under a fortnight | A custom theme and plugin |
About these screens. Every screen on this page is the real software. Sheba’s and Temwa’s sites have since been reset for their next events, so those screens were re-rendered from each build, its branding and its real lot catalogue. The bid figures and leaderboards on them are illustrative, set near the lots’ guide values, and nothing on this page is a claim about what either night raised. The Icons screens show virtual budgets, not money.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Can the platform be set up in my charity’s branding?
Yes, every build is. Sheba’s site ran in the hospital’s navy and pink, Temwa’s in their blue with their logo, and Icons had a full custom theme with the league’s crests on every screen. You send the brand assets and I do the rest.
Does it only work in pounds?
No. Sheba’s auction ran entirely in euros, with the guide values, bid steps and the leaderboard all in euros. The platform works in any currency Stripe or your bank supports.
Can it run an auction where the money is not real?
Yes. The Icons Padel League auction used virtual budgets of 55,000 pounds per team owner, with the safe-ceiling rule from their brief enforced by the software, a big screen for the room and a phone app for whoever is running the night.
How long does a build take?
Less than people expect. Temwa’s site went from a blank clone to a loaded catalogue in under a fortnight, and a straightforward silent auction can be ready in days. Lots, photos and brand assets are what take the time, so the earlier those arrive the better.
Is this included when I book you?
Yes. The platform is included when you book me as your auctioneer, set up in your branding and loaded with your lots. If you only want the software, it is 497 pounds per event with no commission.
Your night next
Tell me what your night needs
Silent, live, streamed, in euros or with no money at all. Thirty minutes on the phone and I will tell you honestly what the platform can do for it, and what it cannot.