I'm wondering if anyone has any brilliant ideas on how to end silent auction arguments. Our auction does very well, but EVERY year there is some sort of "fight." We do it where the bidders write their name and bid on a progressive sheet in front of the item. At a specified time, the table is "counted down" and ended. This really does become a bit unfair, because the last person who holds the pen "wins" even if someone else is standing there wanting to bid more. There have been accusations of unfair bidding, etc. Has anyone found a way to run the auction that would eliminate this sort of controversy?? Thanks!

Absolutely, rach -- and you can make more money, too.

Run it the same way, but include a note in your auction rules that says something like: "we reserve the right to turn any highly-sought-after silent auction item into a quicky live auction."

Then, on those last couple of items, instead of watching folks fight -- you pick up the sheet, stand on a chair and do the "do I hear $xx?, going once..." thing. It's fair. And you'll make more $$.

That tip and tons more are included in our complete Auction Toolkit available here:

http://forms.ptotoday.com/store/product.html?id=1004

Good luck,

Tim

An elementary school in my area had this problem for a couple of years running, and some of the fighting was getting pretty nasty. So, they took some of the more popular items and made them part of the "Treasure Trove." Instead of auctioning them, you bought tickets at $5 or $10 a pop and put them in a box in front of the item you wanted. They found that they made significantly more money that way, as well as eliminated the altercations.

Bid-Offs

Don’t be surprised if you have bid-offs: more than one bidder for an item when it closes. During the night remind guests that if they really want an item to stand by it when it closes. If there is more than one person for an item, then conduct a bid-off. Have volunteers standing-by for this. They will mediate the price higher until bidders drop out and a winner is determined. It’s very important to prepare for a bid-off. I have personally witnessed red wine thrown and grown men restrained over last minute bidding, on several occasions. Prepare yourself for a bid-off or practice your ducking skills.

The Biddery - Silent Auction Items Charity Fundraising Products

Yes, any auction that has a silent and a live probably has an auctioneer that would love to step in and handle those last minute disputes or bid-offs.

If an item is hugely popular, put it in the Live Auction or consider a Super Silent auction where bid increments are higher and guaranteed bid may be 300% of value.

Many organizations use this "guaranteed bid" on the silent auction items, so that a guest can ensure that they get the item for 150% of value or whatever you set as the final price. They could walk up at any time during the evening, pay the guaranteed price and it's theirs. So if the coundown has begun, it's really a matter of who wants it the most to put their bid number on that final line.

Also, eliminating the "holding out on the pen" issue is done by getting someone to supply a pen per guest in their bidder packets. People tend to walk off with pens, leaving the bid sheet with no writing instrument.

Honestly, I've done the bidding countdown with people since we both have pens in hand. It's kind of fun, but we also have always been gracious as to who has the pen on the paper last when the auctioneer's pace gets the counting down to "1" and "closed". We have always congratulated each other on the fun of trying to be the winner.

To help stop people from accessing the table right after bidding closes, organizations I've worked with have done one of two things:
(1) quickly turned up the tableclothes over the bid sheets
(2) place table closers every 25 items and have monitors observing. The closers circle winning bid numbers as quickly as they can then return to remove the copies for banking.

Hope this helps!

Hi Kristie -

Two things on just counting on the clock (and people being gracious losers):

1. Yes, most people are gracious, but even one little dust-up out of 100s of items can be a big downer at an event;

2. Relying on only the clock definitely raises less money for your auction. That's the part that gets me most. Speaking personally, every auction I've ever been to I would have spent more on several items, if they'd gone to "quicky live" once clock ran down. With maybe 150 items in our live auction, I bet our group leaves $500 at least on the table by not doing this.

Tim