KarenVan wrote: The Amtrak post brings up a question. What do you do when a "coupon" is donated? We have an auction (not a tricky tray), so she's right, it is hard to put out a bid sheet on these items. We got $50 off a balloon ride (which was $300), $25 off a birthday party (starting at $250), $100 off a photography package (starting at $500). There are more than a dozen of them. These are vendors who are in the area, so if they possibly come to the auction, I can't not use these donations. But to me, they aren't a "donation", they are a "coupon" toward a much bigger purchase. Does anyone have experience with these? Thanks for your help.
I got something like this before and I found a simple way to deal with it. Combine the "coupon" with something else to make it a bigger basket or package. What I found from the most recent Symposium silent auction is that the bigger the basket/package, the more people bidded on that.
Hi Susie.. never tried this approach, but would be something I'd consider for next year's conference. Thanks, Scott
Anonymous wrote: Thank you so much for this valuable information.
I have conducted a silent auction for my church mission for the past 12 years. Since it takes place over 2 days (craft show & after our masses the following day), we have always used a sealed bid process vs the traditional sheet of paper. Each item has a number, participants look at the item and complete a form stating the number on the item, their name, phone number and their bid. At the end of our event, we open the bids and call the highest bidders. By using this process, this eliminates people having to wait until the end to put in their bid. We believe we made more money by doing it this way.
We have made changes through the years. Due to the high number of deliveries, we put a Buy Me Now Price on each item. Now, participants can purchase the item outright. We started this 2 years ago and it has been highly successful. We are hoping to be able to complete the auction process entirely at our church It would be wonderful not to have to move the baskets/items to the craft show at our local park.
We are a very small community of less than 2500 people. Last year we raised $3200. Is there anyone else out there, that has tried the buy me now approach?
fundraiser mom wrote: ...Have any of you experienced prize winners getting upset at donors who don't want to honor gift certificates that have expired (meaning that the winner didn't use it during the allotted time period). Suggestions? Can be awkward to solicit at those places again.
Yeah, I ended up getting this one donation and the tickets expired before the conference took place. Wasn't happy about it but at least I didn't send a thank you note for the donation. Hard to use something that expires before it can be used.
