It started with a club auction
Every year, a Southern California amateur radio club holds an auction. Members bring radios, parts and test gear from their shacks; other members bid on them; the club takes a small share. It’s one of the best nights of the year, and for the volunteers running it, one of the longest: hand-written tags, a spreadsheet that grows all evening, a line at the cash table, and a weekend of sums before the sellers get paid.
Gavel Harbor was built to run that auction, and then to run anyone’s. The software we found was made for charity galas, where the organization owns every item. A club auction works differently, so we built for it: members as sellers, fees and donations worked out per sale, and payouts that match the cash box.
What we care about
- Volunteers first. If a first-time runner can’t learn it in five minutes, it isn’t finished.
- Books that balance. Every dollar is accounted for, and nothing is quietly edited.
- Members’ privacy. We keep only what the auction needs, and remove personal details when they’re no longer needed.
Gavel Harbor is built and run by SoCal Information Services.