How much can you make from a silent auction?

A rule of thumb is that live auction items will produce 65-75% of their retail or fair market value, while silent auctions will result in 50-65% of their fair market value.

How does a silent auction work?

A silent auction is an event at which items for sale are displayed for attendees to assess, place bids on, and purchase. However, unlike most auctions, there is no auctioneer present, and participants place their bids silently and anonymously on a bid sheet using a bidding number—hence the name silent auction.

What items sell best at silent auctions?

Top Auction Item Categories

1. Travel. Travel-related silent auction items are always a huge hit.
2. Outings and Experiences.
3. Sports Tickets, Memorabilia, and Activities.
4. Music.
5. Food.

What makes more money silent auction or raffle?

The more people you can get money from, the more money you’ll raise. With raffles, you need more reach. With silent auction fewer people, but more motivated to participate in the auction bidding. Raffle ticket sales – For a raffle to succeed, you have to sell a lot of raffle tickets.

How many items should be in a silent auction?

How many items should I assign to each silent auction section? Aim for 35 items per silent section, and try not to exceed 50. With more than 50 items, it becomes cumbersome for your guests to peruse the full contents of a section and remember what interests them.

Are silent auctions worth it?

Silent auctions can be a great way to increase event revenue and entertain your guests. The very best events I’ve witnessed are those where the silent auction is viewed as a primary form of entertainment for the guests.

Can you bid more than once on a silent auction?

Some silent auctions place the items on a table, and include a description of the item and a bid sheet. Guests are allowed to bid on as many silent auction items as they want. Once the auction is closed, the items go to the individuals with the highest bids.

Is holding a raffle Illegal?

In California, only nonprofit organizations can legally conduct raffles. Before holding a raffle, you must file a raffle registration form. You must also file an annual raffle report form that reports on the raffles your organization conducts in a given year.

What are good live auction items?

These packages can make great items for both your live and silent auction events….Date Night Basket

• Romantic dinner certificates.
• Two-night stay in a hotel in the area.
• Local cooking classes.
• Wine tasting adventures.
• Private tennis or golf lessons.
• Couple massages.
• Group dinner party.

Should you put a value on silent auction items?

For minimum bids, we suggest starting at 20 to 30 percent of the retail value of the item – never more than 50 percent. It’s also essential to put bid increments on the bid sheets. You don’t want people nickel and diming the charity in the silent auction, beating out the previous person by 1 or 2 dollars.

What to do at a silent auction event?

Highlight Unique Items. On auction event night, make sure to make announcements highlighting the unique items that are available in the silent auction. If you have a fundraising auctioneer on event night, utilize their role to incite bidding! Use Text Messaging.

What are intangible items to include in silent auction?

Intangible items are great to include in your silent auction. It’s important to make sure you have the right mix of tangible and intangible items when soliciting and writing your silent auction letter requests. They are great sellers because of the one-of-a-kind value they offer. Intangible items include things like:

What are the bidding increments for silent auction?

Another “how-to” of the silent auction pricing world involves bidding increments. It could directly impact how many bids each item receives. The general recommendation is to start by increasing bids by 10% of the items FMV.

How can you tell the value of an item in a silent auction?

Item donors. The people that donated the item to your silent auction can give you context of the value and estimated FMV. But keep in mind, some item donors may overestimate the value if they have an emotional attachment to that tangible item. Other silent auctions.