Most builders rent you a website and take a cut of every sale. PHP Pro Bid is the other kind: an auction website builder that hands you the whole platform — timed auctions, live auction events, a marketplace with cart — under your domain, your brand, with zero transaction fees.
You can bolt auctions onto a general website builder, or start from software that was built for auctions. Here is the difference in practice.
Fine for a one-off sale. Expensive habits after that.
Built for people who run auctions every week.
Always-on listings with proxy bidding and anti-sniping soft close. The core of timed auction software, running 24/7.
New in v10: scheduled catalogs whose lots close in sequence, with one combined invoice per buyer. Built for live auction events and estate sales.
Fixed-price listings, multi-seller stores, and a real shopping cart alongside your auctions — the marketplace and webstore formats.
Nine payment gateways, automatic invoices when lots close, buyer's premium and fee control. You set the fees; the platform never takes a cut.
Categories, sellers, bidders, word filters, newsletters, translations — run the whole business from one place, no code required.
Bidders browse, bid, and pay from any phone in the browser. A branded app is available later as auction app development.
Cloud to launch today, or the £599 license to own it on your own server.
Cloud is live in minutes. Self-hosted installs on any PHP host, with an install service if you want it done for you.
Your logo, colors, and domain. The optional Unbranding add-on removes our name entirely.
One at a time or hundreds via CSV bulk upload. Photos, reserves, increments, categories.
Timed, event, or fixed price. Invoices go out automatically when lots close.
Planning the business side too — niche, legals, first consignments? The guide to starting an online auction business covers the whole journey.
Judge any auction website builder on five things: whether you own the platform or rent it, whether it covers every auction format you will run (timed auctions, live events, fixed-price sales), whether it takes a percentage of your sales, whether bidders can bid from a phone without an app, and whether your bidder data belongs to you. PHP Pro Bid is built to pass all five: a platform you own outright or subscribe to, every format included, zero transaction fees, mobile bidding in the browser, and your database on your terms.
A custom build from a development agency typically costs $3,000 to $100,000 depending on complexity. With PHP Pro Bid the platform is already built: £599 one-time for the self-hosted license, or cloud hosting from £63/month with no technical setup. Every plan includes all features and zero transaction fees, so the cost does not grow with your sales.
Yes. On the cloud plan you are live in minutes with nothing to install: pick your branding, add categories, list your first lots, and start accepting bids. The admin panel covers the day-to-day without touching code. Coding only enters the picture if you want deep custom work, and that can be quoted as a project.
Up to a point. General site builders handle auctions through bolt-on plugins, which tend to cover basic bidding but miss what a real auction business needs: proxy bidding, anti-sniping, staggered lot closings, buyer invoicing, and seller management. That gap is fine for a one-off sale; it becomes expensive the day you run auctions every week. A dedicated auction platform ships all of that as standard.
With the £599 license, yes, permanently: you install it on your own server and there are no further payments to us. On cloud, we host the platform and you own your brand, your content, and your bidder database. Either way, no one takes a percentage of your sales and your data is yours.
On cloud: the same day, often within the hour. Self-hosted: as long as your server setup takes, typically a day with the installation service. A fully custom design on top takes longer and is quoted per project. Listing your first catalog is usually the largest share of the work, and bulk CSV upload shortens that considerably.
Try every feature in the live demo, or pick a plan and have your auction website taking bids this week. Zero transaction fees on every plan, forever.