It's nice to know who bid. How many people came. It's nice to have that database for future volunteer help. It's nice in case there is an error, you have phone and address contacts. It makes pulling the winners info faster and easier (file by bid number in accordian file)

Almost every one I've done has simply used the bid sheets with folks writing in their names, but here's some of what I've gathered from my own research. Note, when you register, you generally get a bidder's number - so the two ideas are intertwined.

• In a more sophisticated setting - especially when using credit cards - some folks collect all the payment information in advance when bidders register, making for quicker checkout. (Can't imagine the liability of collecting general CC info these days.)
• If you aren't enforcing a must-be-present-to-win policy, then you need complete contact information on file for everyone bidding.
• Some feel that using a bidders number (rather than a name) on the bid sheet encourages higher bids. People aren't as worried about hurt feelings or overbidding friends. (I've also heard the opposite - showing the names encourages friendly competition.)
• "Registering" is actually part of a bigger plan. You register everyone as they enter in order to track attendee numbers or collect contact information for future events/future solicitations.
• If you use bidder numbers (and you can also have names or not) on the bid sheet, you can display a master list of all the bidder numbers on poster or overhead projector. (Imagine a huge bingo card.) As your crew takes up the sheets and circles the winner, they mark an X thru the bidder number on the master list. Bidders can watch this list. If their number gets marked, they should go to checkout as they won at least one item.
• It's faster/easier to organize bid sheets for checkout by numbers that it is to read people's names.

The last two are the only ones I find compelling for our type of events. We had a silent auction two weeks ago that used bidder numbers, but EVERYONE got one when they checked in. I'm not sure if they ended up using them on the silent auction or only the live part. (I helped plan, but was out of town.) I know they were originally planning to use master bid list poster, but I'm not sure they ended up doing this.

What are the advantages, if any, to having people register to participate in the silent auction? The rest of our PTO board seems to think this is a good idea, but I've never seen one done this way.
Thanks for any advice.