Re: "buy it now"--I can see where this would be of value if you want to give people the option to buy something if they are unable to come to the auction. But I would suggest that you be very judicious in your selection of the buy it now items so that you don't undersell something.
Some things, like gift certificates for restaurants or services, rarely go much, if at all, above their FMV. But with some other things--things you might term as "priceless"-- you just can't tell. For example, our parish school includes in their auction a dinner cooked by the school principal and the pastor of the church. What started out going for a few hundred dollars a few years ago has mushroomed into something that people pay thousands of dollars for. Every year they are surprised by how much more money they get for it; I'm sure they would undervalue it if they tried to put a "buy it now" tag on it. (Last year they finally made it a live auction item.)
Another example--I was on the auction committee for another organization, and one year we put a "buy it now" price of 150% automatically on every silent auction item. Even the Michael Jordan signed basketball, whose FMV was something like $100. DOH! Missed out on several thousand there, when a savvy auction patron snapped up that bargain. The next year, we left out the "buy it now" prices altogether--if someone really wants something, they'll keep coming back and bidding it up.
Granted, this is different from doing "buy it now" in advance only, but wanted to give you some food for thought.
Thanks to advise I have received from this board, our silent auction is rolling forward. I have a couple questions I was hoping some of you would have the answer to...
First, when it comes time to close the auction, is it better to stagger the closing so some items may close at 6, others 6:30 etc? Or is it better to close all at once? If we close at different times, it would be less hectic, but then it wouldn't give the full allotted time to all the items. If we close all at once, like they did last year, there is a mad rush at the end which makes it too crazy.
Second, what it the best way to set up the items so there isn't congestion? Have you found that grouping like items together is better or like price ranges?
We are planning on creating a "buy it now" option with an online auction before the silent auction. Has anyone had success with this and what is the standard for a buy it now price?
