Need a hand? Most answers are below. If you're still stuck, email us at ashtonappsllc@gmail.com. Tell us the auction's code (like K7Q2XM) and what happened. Please never send us your password.
For bidders
Opening an auction
Scan the QR code on the auction's poster, or the one on an item's table card to go straight to that item. No QR code? Go to hopebid.ashtonapps.com, enter the auction's 6-character code in the code box, and choose Go to auction. You can also use Find an auction.
You can look at every item, the bid history and the Info & pickup page without an account. Hopebid is a website, so there's no app to download.
Making an account at your first bid
When you tap Bid for the first time, Hopebid asks you to make a free account or log in. The organizer needs to know who's bidding so they can reach the winners. They see your name and email, and your phone number if you give one. Other bidders only see your bidder number, like Bidder #14.
Your bid is saved while you sign up. If someone outbids it in the meantime, you'll see the new price before your bid goes in.
How max bids work
Instead of bidding again and again, you can set a max bid: the most you're willing to pay. Hopebid then bids for you in the smallest steps needed to keep you in the lead, up to your max. Other bidders never see your max, and if two people set the same max, the one who set it first stays ahead.
How overtime works
Every item has its own clock. If a bid changes an item's price or leader in its last 10 minutes, that item's clock resets to 10 minutes, and the item is in overtime. It closes only after 10 minutes in a row with no new bids, so nobody can win with a last-second bid. Our server's clock decides when a bid counts, not your device's.
Alerts
Hopebid tells you when you're outbid, when an item you bid on goes into overtime, and when you win. Alerts appear under the bell while you're on the site. They aren't sent by email or text, so check back near the end.
I can't bid
- The auction may not be open yet. Before bidding starts, you'll see when it opens.
- The item may have closed. Each item stops taking bids when its own clock runs out.
- The organizer may require a phone number to bid. Add one when Hopebid asks.
- Organizers can't bid in their own auction.
If none of these explain it, contact the organizer. Their contact details are on the auction's Info & pickup page. Only the organizer can remove a bid placed by mistake, or let you bid again if you've been blocked from their auction.
Paying and pickup
You pay the organizer directly, using the methods they list, and you arrange pickup or delivery with them. Their instructions are on the auction's Info & pickup page. If you win, your Won page shows what you won, how to pay and how to get your items. The Won page is available until the auction's data is deleted, 7 days after it closes.
Hopebid never handles auction money. Questions about payments, refunds or items go to the organizer.
For organizers
Setting up
Choose Start your free auction on hopebid.ashtonapps.com to make your organizer account. Your auction stays a private draft until you publish it. Add your items with photos (up to 150 items, with up to 5 photos each), write your About page, and add your payment and pickup instructions. Set your dates in your own time zone; bidders see every time in theirs.
Set your start and end dates within 7 days of starting a draft. A draft without dates after 7 days is deleted, along with its photos. You can run one auction at a time, and you can start the next one as soon as the current one closes.
Already have an account? Use Organizer log in.
Sharing your QR code
The Share & QR page has your auction's link, its code and its QR code. Download:
- Just the QR code, as a PNG or SVG, for your own flyer, program or slides.
- A ready-made poster, letter size, with your title, dates, QR code and auction code.
- Table cards, one for every item. Each card's QR code opens that item.
Guests can scan and look around before they make an account.
Results and exports
When the auction closes, Results shows each item's winner with their contact details, and a runner-up in case a winner backs out. Mark each item as it moves along: awaiting payment, paid, then received or shipped. Winners see that status on their Won page. If a winner declines, you can offer the item to the runner-up.
Export your results as a CSV file or a PDF. The PDF is grouped by winner, so you can use it as a pickup checklist.
Export before your data is deleted
Seven days after your auction closes, everything in it is deleted: items, photos, bids and bidder details. Download your results before then. You'll see a countdown and reminders in the app. You can also choose Delete now any time after the auction closes.
You keep a short summary of each auction in Past auctions: its title, dates, amount committed, items sold and number of bidders.
Your account
Resetting your password
On the sign-in page, use the forgot-password link and we'll email you a link to set a new password. If you signed in with Google, you don't have a Hopebid password, so sign in with Google again.
Deleting your account
Go to Account settings and choose Delete account. It can't be undone.
- Bidders: you can delete your account any time, except while you have bids in an auction that's still live or closing. For auctions you won, the organizer keeps your name and contact details in their results until that auction is deleted, at most 7 days after it closes.
- Organizers: you can't delete your account while one of your auctions is scheduled, live or closing, or while a closed auction is still inside its 7 days. Use Delete now on that auction first. A draft is deleted along with your account.
One account works for both bidding and organizing, so deleting it removes both.