Better Bidders Inc. Reviews 

630
•
TrustScore 4.5 out of 5

4.7

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Rated 5 out of 5 stars

John was AMAZING to work with and beyond patient! So grateful for not only his knowledge (who knew there were so many material options) but his customer service and follow up was fantastic! Thank you... See more

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Better Bidders has great customer service and quality products. It's so nice to work with a company where you can talk to a live person via email or phone when needed, in fact it's even encouraged by... See more

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

John at Better Builders helped me to create table tents with our QR codes to our website on one side and our IG on the other. They turned out great! He was so helpful during the whole ordering process... See more

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Better Bidders the place to go for auction paddles! The quality is fantastic - we only replace paddles because people like the paw print shape and take them home. John has always been a pleasure... See more

Company details

  1. Event Management Company
  2. also in
  3. Business to Business Service

About Better Bidders Inc.

Written by the company

We are Better Bidders™, and we've created live-auction products that bring life and fun to auctions. If you are looking for professional auction paddles for your live auction event then you've come to the right place!

Since 2003, John Murphy has personally produced thousands of orders for his more than 4,000 (mostly) non-profit customers' fundraising gala events and paddle raises. Born from a desire to bring better tools to the marketplace for fundraising, our paddle products stand above others in unique, detailed designs, superior reusable plastics, a wide breadth of plastic options, a "missing-paddle" fill-in service, and a personal, "can do" approach to bringing your paddle ideas come to life.

At every step of your journey John is your one and only point of contact. He is it. And he does it all. No big, faceless, promotional products company or other inexperienced sign or print shop that "can" make a paddle, but rather a veteran in the live auction fundraising space with years of creative ideas, best practices, and applied knowledge beyond all others.

Trusted by Christie's Auction House, Sotheby's, and nearly every other major auction house, we bring quality and our personal touch to everything we do.

Reach out to us and find out for yourself!

John Murphy, Owner

Contact info

4.7

Excellent

TrustScore 4.5 out of 5

630 reviews

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4.7

All reviews

(630)

17 reviews in the last 12 months

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Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Excellent all around experience

The personal attention to the needs of my event, and making sure the images we wanted on the paddles were clear, was excellent. I would completely recommend Better Bidders to anyone looking for auction paddles... Thank you to the Better Bidders team!

1 August 2024
Rated 4 out of 5 stars

The products we received were of…

The products we received were of excellent quality and very durable. My only "issues" was that the order did not come in on time for the intended event these were ordered for (due to misperception of the order,) nor did I receive an official order confirmation to determine the actual cost (including shipping) of the products until a month after the order has been placed. However, the company owner did contact me immediately after noticing the mistake and was able to rectify it afterwards.

1 July 2024
Rated 4 out of 5 stars

Get back to customers who have looming event dates

Initially, John was very responsive and all was well through the ordering process.

Several weeks before our event, we left multiple voicemails and sent emails that were ignored. We were getting very nervous as to whether or not we would receive our paddles in time for our event.

John finally answered the phone one day just over a week before our event. He complained about how much he had to do, and how much it was going to cost him because he was going to have to send our order out on a priority basis. It sounded like he thought this was our fault. I had the impression that he wanted us to say, "Oh, gosh, we'll pay for expedited shipping." We didn't do so, though had we known from the beginning that we were going to have to pay for expedited shipping prior to placing the order, that would not have been an issue.

John also mentioned that "this always happens". My suggestion is that if this "always happens," change your due dates & deadlines for ordering so that you can meet them without causing your company additional expense.

The product itself was as advertised, we did receive the paddles in time and they looked great.

8 May 2024
Unprompted review
Better Bidders Inc. logo

Reply from Better Bidders Inc.

Hi Laura - Thanks for taking the time to post a review. They really are important to us. I would like to state that I would never ignore my customers; I am often not at my desk but rather producing paddles, and I do my best to reply (more often via email as it takes less time) as best I can. I run this company as a one-man show and will at times not get back right away. Getting promised orders out will always take precedence as that is what ultimately matters the most to my customers. All correspondence was spot on (including samples being sent out) right up until 2 days before the paddles were due to be shipped out according to our order confirmation. I appreciate that my customers have SO many things to coordinate in preparing for their events, I really do. Having 40 orders in the que at any one time IS a challenge, but I will continue to try and do better with my communications. Just another thing; I don't "complain" about anything other than when equipment goes down. Then I complain A LOT. But I love what I do, I love my customers, and I will always do right by them. I'm constantly picking up shipping costs for expedited delivery and it's not a problem for me. Running 15+ orders through here for any given weekend means I will need to utilize different shipping methods to meet my obligations. But that's not my customers' problem and I make sure of it. I really do appreciate your business Laura- John

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Great Paddles for any event

We use these paddles for research projects and they worked so well! We travel with these paddles and they are light weight and do not get destroyed or worn in the travel.

27 June 2024
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Great Service

Better Bidders was so great to work with! They were fast and made the process very smooth! We loved getting to see a proof before printing!

1 April 2024
Rated 4 out of 5 stars

Great Product

Product is of quality build. Customer service is also top notch lead time definitely is subjective.

26 June 2024
Better Bidders Inc. logo

Reply from Better Bidders Inc.

Hi Katie - I will agree that time lines 'can be' subjective at times. There are many moving parts here and I need to make decisions on production and shipping that ensures I get orders to my customers timely, and sometimes an event that is months off will have a slightly longer production schedule. Especially if the production load is very heavy during a short span of time. As a one-man shop this is a challenge, I will admit. BUT, as we roll out our new custom website in Fall 2024 we will be offering the ability for our customers to determine both the production schedule and the actual shipping method they would like, with day-specific delivery. If your event is beyond a month away we will likely be offering you a discount, in exchange for you being more flexible in when you receive your paddles. Similarly, if someone needs (or wants) their paddles sooner, they can still choose their production schedule, any potential rush charge level, and their shipping method. So the customer will drive our schedule a bit more going forward, and will bring more transparency for us as to a given customer's timing concerns. At least that is our hope right now. But the bottom line is that we get your paddles to you when we say we will, and if we are running behind, we'll pick up any shipping costs to ensure that still happens.

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