Thank you all for your advice. Quite frankly, I did think the woman suggesting a starting price at 100% was a little off. This icon was the closest to clueless that I found! :eek:
I'll throw out another, related piece of advice...close the silent auction bidding in waves. That is, close some items at time A, and then some more about 20 minutes later, and the last batch about 20 minutes later still. That way, if someone gets out bid in the first batch, he can go increase his bid on something that is still open. Most people come to a silent auction expecting to spend a certain amount of money. You don't want anyone to go home disappointed that they didn't "win" anything. If you close the items in waves, you give your guests more chances to bid higher, and you'll make more money than if all the items close at one time.
We held a live auction this spring and started our bids at 1/3rd the retail value. Keep in mind if you do this, if the winner of this bid pays more then the retail value you must right them a receipt with your tax idea number and the difference amt of their pay and the retail value....so they can claim it on their taxes.
My 2 cents.
The woman running the auction has no marketing experience. No one, no matter how wealthy, will overpay for an item in the a name of 'fundraising'.
Why on earth would I pay, say $400 for teeth whitening at an auction when I can go to my own dentist and have the service done for $200?
Not giving people value for their money is both greedy and bad karma.
I've been to maybe 25 or 30 auctions, both as benefits for schools and social service organizations, and I have never seen anyone set the minimum at 100% of the value. A 50% start price is probably a good average, although sometimes you have to adjust things--as in JHB's example, some higher priced things need to start at lower minimums to get them going.
I've found that restaurant gift certificates almost always go for 100% value. But if you just start the bid there, and you get the one bid you need, where's the fun in that?? Part of the whole auction thing is the entertainment value--the thrill of the hunt, so to speak.
Most things that sell for more than 100% value are things that are one of a kind or very unusual items, or things that might be considered priceless because a teacher has donated it--like a teacher taking some kids to play mini golf, for example (something my husband paid $140 for last weekend, and would have gone higher on if necessary...). But you still want to start them low to get people engaged.
No, I would not start at full value. People are hoping to get a "bargain". I don't think anyone is bidding so they pay overprice. I usually stop bidding when an item reaches its value.
Shelly
