I recommend starting at the lowest possible bid amount knowing that you may risk selling the item for under it's "value".

If you can attract more people to your silent auction, however, then starting lower is low risk. Because people will know the value, they will fight for a bargain and end up bidding higher after being "sucked" into the competition.

On the other hand, if you start at higher starting bids, then you'll be certain to get a certain price for it, but will risk lower returns.

Here's an example I experimented with on eBay when the Pokemon cards were hot in 1999. I purchased the Starter/Zap/etc.. Decks from Wizards of the Coast and placed them on eBay. I started several decks at the price I paid for them, $9.95. The auctions often ended between $10-$15. Rarely above $20.

I took other decks and started them at 1 penny. Most of them sold for over $20 with some selling over $40 because people didn't want to lose the auction. They watched their auctions like a hawk and bid to win. The auction attracted bargain hunters at first, and then they became desperate to win that particular item. I ended up starting 5-10 decks a day at 1 penny starting bids.

I used the 1 penny starting bid for all my high ticket items too, such as computers and electronics. I rarely lost money if the item has true value.

The above only works if you have enough people coming to your auction AND the items you are selling are of value to your supporters. The Internet is a bigger market place, and people worry less about not attracting enough bidders.

If your PTO doesn't want to take the risk of starting low, then you can always set a price. The items that don't sell, you can always sell on eBay.

Good luck!

Andy D.

Disclosure: I have NO financial interest in the above activities, nor do I hold stock in any of the companies mentioned above.

[ 11-15-2005, 09:53 AM: Message edited by: Andrew Doan, MD, PhD ]

For our silent auction items last year, if it was valued at <$100, the starting bid was $10 and must bid in $5 increments. If it was valued at >$100, the starting bid was 10% of value and bidding must be done in $10 increments. It worked pretty well for us.

Our school does a % of the value. Last year we did 40% of the donated items value. Our upcoming auction will continue with 40% for all individual donations but will use 100% for the classroom baskets. We are changing it because the classroom basket money goes back to the students. It helps fund class trips and other items that class decides they want.

We based our starting bid depending on the value of the gift. Are you going to start out a $100 item for $10.00's? All of our items were different. Good luck

If your school is 70% low income, I agree with starting everything at $10. Our school, that is only about 15% low income, made the mistake last year of starting bids too high and MANY people just walked out of the auction! We will not make that mistake again! I was at an auction the other day and the bid on one item started at $10 and by the time it was done it was up to $300. Good luck!

I am silent auction chair this year and we are having a debate about minimum bids. The pres says we should have fewer items with higher minimum bids, I say more items with low minimum bids to draw people in and get things started. She thinks we should set them high and lower them if things don't get bids. I disagree because we have many other things going on that night and people will only take one or two looks at the auction stuff. I have read on the message boards to start bids at 1/3 to 1/2 of the value,but that would leave most minimum bids still too high in my opinion,as we are a 70% low income school. I am thinking about $10 on everything. Now one of our members is saying no minimum bids! Please help advise as we are having a meeting early next week and need to get this settled!