To Keep the clock from killing the bidding at Silent Auctions, I will watch the silent auction table at the closing time, and if any item is getting several bidders in the the last few seconds, I will close the rest of the table, but offer to allow those bidders on that one item to bid via a "Mini Live Auction" on the spot for that item. Sometime the bidding stops at the current high bid, but othertimes, we get the high bid raised substanilly more.

If you decide to do this, you need to print it in the auction rules in the catalog as well as make periodic verbal announcements that you will do this throughout the
auction event.

While this is a repeat of a pst post, it bears telling it again.

Norman O'Neal
Frederick, MD
President, Auctioneers Association of Maryland

We just finished our 4th PTO auction and each year we have improved our methods. KC Swan has some great tips. I'll try to add new ideas.

Our silent bid sheets include the following info:

Bid increment ($2, $5, or $10 depending on value)
Bidding Closes at ___ (8:45, 9:00, or 9:15)
Item #
Item Name
Value
Detailed description
Donor(s) name (s)
List of 16 places for bids requiring Bidder # and Bid Amount. (our bidders are preassigned bidder # when they buy their ticket to the auction). Minimum/Opening bid - set based on gut

The bottom 2" of the page is the winner's receipt and claim check. Most of the information from above is repeated down here because we cut this portion off when the person comes to cash out.

We don't use 2-part forms like KC (good idea). Instead, we pre-apply a sticker to every item with the item # and item name clearly displayed. As the bid sheet is pulled, the runner not only circles the winning bid on the bidsheet, but also writes the winner bid # on the sticker. With 300 items this time around, people had some trouble being able to figure out what they had won before they actually cashed out. We're going to work on that issue before our next auction.

Like KC, we pull our sheets in waves, tho ours are only 15 minutes apart (would like them to be longer next time). There's bidder psychology at work there - if you don't spend alot in wave 1, bid up in wave 2,3 before all the sheets are pulled.

When it comes time to cash-out, we sort all the bid sheets by winning bid #, add up what they owe. We cut off all the bottom receipts, staple them together, and give them to the winner after they pay. We have runners who help the winners find their stuff (it stays on the tables). Our cashiers record how and how much the bidder paid and that is reconciled with our $$ at the end.

We use a fairly complex Access database for our auction. I'll tell you more about that if it interests you.

[ 11-19-2001: Message edited by: Critter ]</p>

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Do you put the names and amounts on a piece of paper and put it in a bucket <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Wow, I've never seen a silent auction run this way. Part of the fun I have at a silent auction is watching (and a few times participating in) two or three people going back to the same item to raise their bids again. I'd be interested in hearing from anybody who does do it that way, and hearing how well it works.

If you are also having a live auction, you might consider having a provision for transferring the popular items from silent to live. Somebody ends up upset if the winning bid becomes a matter of being the last person with the pencil in their hand. If you've got multiple people still interested, how high will it go if you don't cut off bidding?

My wife runs a silent auction on the 4th of July. She has three tables: red, white and blue, and they close at hour intervals. She publishes a booklet with a description of every item, and also the bidding rules. Some items may have a minimum bid, but the only increment rule is even dollars only. If the winning bid is a partial dollar, we round it up -- if the buyer objects, we offer to rescind their bid and sell it to the next lowest bidder.

We also have bidders sign up with the auction clerk, who makes sure we have all necessary contact information and assigns them a bidder number. Our bid sheets have a column for bidder number, bidder name and bid amount. We print them on two-part carbonless forms, and when we close the table we pull the top copy for the clerk and leave the bottom copy behind.

Be on the lookout for people who scratch out their old bid and write in a new one, rather than fill in a new line. This results in the highest bid not being the last one on the sheet, and the next bidder may not realize it. Auction workers look for those, correct them, and if they can identify the culprit will ask them not to do so in the future. The auction rules clearly state that the decisions of the auction clerk regarding winners are final, and if the clerk misses a higher bid out of place then everybody has to live with it.

With multiple tables, my wife tries to put identical items on separate tables. Missed out on the tickets on the red table? Try again on the white!

She will also put some similar items side-by-side. Given birdhouses decorated for KU and K-State, she put them next to each other, and then urged fans of each school to make their's sell higher than the other school.

We do a silent auction (just finished this years on Saturday). I print up a "spreadsheet" with a column for name, phone, amount and initials. At the top is the item number (I number the items ahead of time and make a list of them) and a description. There is also a minimum bid amount and a bid increment amount. Some suggestions on this discussion board have been to prefill in bid amounts. (This keeps people from bidding less than the minimum and/or incremental amount.)

Above the bid sheet is either the item or a flyer with a description of the item.

We had four tables this year so we closed the tables about 5 minutes apart. We stood there and counted down then used a felt pen and circled the winning bid amount.

Close out is always a challenge since ours is held at our Fall Festival and people leave early. I collected about 2/3rds of the money on Saturday and are calling the rest of the people to meet up with them this week.

Hope this starts you out!

PS - as I have offered on other threads, I have a list of companies with addresses I would be glad to e-mail to you. E-mail me if you want it.

Sandy

We are having a Silent Auction for the first time this year and are trying to figure out the easiest way to do it. I need suggestions. Do you put the names and amounts on a piece of paper and put it in a bucket or use a sheet of paper to see others bids. And how do you end the auction and collect the money? Any ideas?