He helps run a series of fundraising auctions for his church and needed a basic way to manage bidders, clerk the auction, create invoices, and some reports - nothing too complex, just something simple to stay organized without spreadsheets flying all over the place.
I thought: You know what? Let’s try building this with AI.
I’ve been playing around lately with vibe-coding, which is a way of using tools like ChatGPT to create software just by describing what you want. It’s like explaining your idea to a super-helpful, hyper-literal assistant who can also write working code. Sounds fun, right? And honestly, it felt like a perfect excuse to do some good and test what’s possible with modern AI tools.
What Is Vibe-Coding, Anyway?
Vibe-coding is basically the opposite of traditional software development. You don’t sit down and write clean, optimized code from scratch. Instead, you describe your goals in plain English, let the AI generate something, test it out, then ask for changes as you go.
It’s less like coding and more like collaborating with a robot who’s weirdly eager to help.
You can go from zero to prototype surprisingly fast, especially for small tools. And if you’re not a developer (or don’t have one on call), it’s a great way to get your hands dirty and bring your ideas to life.
The Project: Simple Auction Admin Tool
So, what did I build?
It’s a lightweight browser-based app that doesn't require an internet connection. The user can:
Register bidders and assign paddle numbers
Clerk items with lot number, description, sale price
Generate printable invoices
Run end-of-sale reports
It’s not fancy, but it works. And best of all, it gave my client exactly what he needed - something fast, free, and functional to support a good cause.
If you want to poke around or try it for yourself, you can grab the app below:
The whole process was weirdly energizing. I wasn’t writing polished code. I just asked for what I wanted and then worked with the AI tool asked for help implementing the solution. ChatGPT is my go-to AI tool and I used it to generate the prompt, but it was Gemini 2.5 pro by Google that did the heavy lifting. It was freaking amazing! In one pass, it created an entire application that was much better than what I thought I would get. It never misunderstood what I was asking it and it didn't make fun of me for asking dumb questions. Gemini and I were vibing together and it was an exquisite experience!
I’d never call this approach a substitute for real software development, at least not yet. But it’s an incredibly approachable way to experiment, especially when you want to validate an idea or build something simple and useful.
But Let’s Be Real for a Second
Vibe-coding is great for side projects, internal tools, or early-stage concepts like this one. But if you’re trying to run full-scale online auctions, handle bidder management, payment processing, or complex reporting, then you’re going to need something more powerful (and a team that knows the auction space inside and out).
That’s what we do at AuctionMethod. We build serious software for real auctioneers who need reliability, flexibility, and control.
If vibe-coding gives you a taste of what’s possible, we can help you go the rest of the way.
I recorded the whole process so you can see the experiment in real time:
Try It Yourself
If you’re curious or want to see what vibe-coding feels like, I highly recommend playing with Gemini and other AI code generators. You don’t need a dev background. You just need an idea and a willingness to experiment.
And if your experiment turns into something real? You know who to call.
AuctionMethod Co-Founder Daniel West is a lifelong auction professional and visionary. When Daniel and his brothers needed integrated invoicing, communication, reporting, and payment tools to run their family auction business efficiently, they combined their knowledge of the auction world with their passion for technology and built them themselves. What began years ago as an internal fix has grown into a full-service solution trusted by auctioneers of all kinds. Today, Daniel helps auction companies optimize operations, grow their businesses, and keep more of every dollar they earn.
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