Beta & Experimental Features

Auctions (Beta)

Interested?Manage on the Beta Features page

The Auctions module lets you run live, silent, and timed auctions through Forge — with bidder registration, mobile bidding, proxy bids, buy-now pricing, and fund-a-need giving — all backed by the bt_fundraising__ Salesforce package.

Beta feature

Auctions is a beta feature built on the bt_fundraising__ managed package. Enable it for your org on the /beta page. The live bidding engine is a separate service (blackthornio/Auctions) that Forge proxies; behavior may change before general availability.

What it does

Three auction formats: Live (auctioneer-driven with real-time bid display), Silent (items bid over a time window), Timed (countdown per item, fully online)
Bidder registration: attendees register to bid and receive a bidder number
Mobile bidding: bidders use a mobile-optimized page to place and track bids in real time
Proxy bidding: bidders set a maximum bid; the system auto-bids on their behalf
Buy-now pricing: allow immediate purchase at a fixed price
Fund-a-need (raise-the-paddle): live solicitation with instant giving during the live event
Item catalog: photos, descriptions, fair market value, minimum bid, and bid increment per item
Auction appeals: solicitations tied to specific items or campaigns
Real-time bid leaderboard for display screens
Checkout and payment processing at auction close
Bidder portal (Forge route) for winners to view items won and payment status

The auction item catalog for a gala event showing bid status, current high bid, and buy-now pricing.

How to enable

Ensure the bt_fundraising__ managed package is installed in your Salesforce org.
Go to /beta and toggle Auctions on.
Navigate to Auctions in the Forge sidebar.
Click New Auction and choose your format: Live, Silent, or Timed.
Add auction items. For each item set a name, description, photo, starting bid, bid increment, and (optionally) a buy-now price.
Configure bidder registration: choose whether all event attendees auto-register as bidders or if explicit opt-in is required.
Publish the auction. Bidders access it through the bidder portal URL or the event page.
For live auctions, open the Auctioneer Console on event day to control item progression and call bids.
Close the auction when bidding ends. Forge sends winner notifications and opens the checkout flow.
Review the post-auction financial summary in Forge and confirm transactions against Salesforce records.

The Auctioneer Console for a live auction showing the current item, current bid, bidder number, and bid history.

Auction formats compared

Format	Bid window	Auctioneer needed?	Best for
Live	Real-time during event	Yes — uses Auctioneer Console	Gala dinners, fundraising events with live audience
Silent	Fixed time window (e.g. 6pm–9pm)	No	Cocktail hours, concurrent with live program
Timed	Countdown per item, online-only	No	Online-only auctions, pre-event fundraising

Salesforce data model

Salesforce Field Mapping

Forge	SF Object	SF Field
Auction	bt_fundraising__Auction__c	Type (Live/Silent/Timed), status, event lookup
Auction item	bt_fundraising__Auction_Item__c	Name, starting bid, bid increment, buy-now price, FMV
Bid	bt_fundraising__Bid__c	Bidder, item, amount, timestamp, proxy max
Auction registration	bt_fundraising__Auction_Registration__c	Bidder number, attendee lookup, payment status
Auction pledge	bt_fundraising__Auction_Pledge__c	Fund-a-need pledge amount, payment status
Auction transaction	bt_fundraising__Auction_Transaction__c	Item won, winning bid, checkout status
Auction appeal	bt_fundraising__Auction_Appeal__c	Solicitation text, linked items, goal amount
Raffle	bt_fundraising__Raffle__c	Ticket price, prize description, draw date
Raffle entry	bt_fundraising__Raffle_Entry__c	Attendee, number of tickets, payment

Live bidding engine

The real-time bid display for live and timed auctions is powered by a separate WebSocket service (blackthornio/Auctions). Forge acts as a thin proxy through planner-ui/server/live-auction-proxy.ts and the useLiveAuctionSocket hook. All Salesforce writes (bid records, transactions) go through Forge's managed CRUD executor.

PII in bidder records

Bidder names, contact details, and payment information are stored only in Salesforce (Contact and Auction_Registration__c records). The live bidding engine stores only bidder numbers and bid amounts — never personal data.

Current limitations

The auctioneer console is optimized for desktop browsers; mobile auctioneer control is in development.
Raffle module is available in the data model but the Forge UI for raffle management is in early beta.
The standalone bidder mobile webapp (Angular-based) is in development; the current bidder experience is a Forge Next.js route.
Automatic NPSP/NPC opportunity sync for auction wins is provided through the Giving Data Models feature (must be enabled separately).
Live auction streaming (video integration) is not included — Forge manages bidding only.
Auction item images are stored in Salesforce Files, not in Forge's Postgres layer.