We need to keep in mind that we may loose future donations over an empty bid sheet.
I just spoke to a doctor's office that won't donate because they had donated an expensive facial skin peel plus other items to another auction and found out that no one had bid on it. At all. They sounded hurt.
For the future of your auction and others, there is a simple solution for this. Have a dummy number known about by only a few people running the auction. Don't let this become common knowledge. When it becomes apparent that no one will bid on a certain item, put that number on the bid sheet.
If the auction wins the bid, you may give the item to a deserving staff member or save it for a door prize or something. If it is a service, make sure someone uses it. People will also not donate again if a service isn't used.
If someone has a better idea, I'm open for it. But the idea is that people are embarrassed when no one bids on their donation and will not donate again. We need to make sure there's a way to remedy that. They may donate a big seller next time and we wouldn't want to miss out.
