Judy
Deceptive fees for the bidder
Givebutter fees are deceptive for the bidder. They clearly inform you that there is a 2.9% credit card fee and a .30 transaction fee. What they do not make obvious to the bidder is that they add a significant "platform fee" (5% - not small as advertised on their website) when the charitable organization has either not known about or has purposely disabled the tips option when setting up the auction. Further they "round up" (not down) the fees to the nearest $. So if your total is $11.16 they charge you $12.
Response from GivebutterJul 29, 2025
Hi Judy, thank you so much for sharing your feedback. We’ve reviewed your conversation and saw that one of our Support Team Leads had a chance to explain what happened. We're sorry, this isn’t the experience we want you to have. Transparency is important to us, especially when it comes to fees. In this case, the additional cost you saw was due to the platform fee being applied. When an organization disables tips, a 5% platform fee is automatically added to help cover the cost of our platform. This is noted in our Help Center, and we do our best to break this down clearly. Organizations also see a clear message letting them know that a platform fee will apply when they toggle on the automatic charge feature for bidders. We offer organizations flexibility in handling fees. Since the organization enabled auto-charge for auction items, bidders did not go through the usual checkout flow, which meant the tip option wasn’t available, and the platform fee was applied by default. We also want to clarify that the final total was not rounded up. The amount you were charged was calculated using our standard formula, including processing and platform fees, based on the organization’s settings and your selection to cover fees. We understand this may not have been the experience you expected, and we’re genuinely sorry for any confusion. We appreciate your feedback and are constantly working to improve.