Silent Auction Guide

Silent Auctions are a great way to engage with your community and get support for your organization. These can be held in conjunction with an event or as a stand-alone activity. You can set up online/ mobile bidding as well as traditional silent auctions.

Create the Silent Auction

Create the campaign with all your items. Set up your items with minimum bids, bid increments, total available (if there's more than one of that item), and buy-it-now options if desired. Sales tax can be collected as well. Auto-bidding can be enabled for your silent auction.

You can add your auction items one by one or use the Bulk Upload feature to import all your auction items using your spreadsheet to get all your data loaded in one go.

Spread the Word

Share the link via email campaigns, on social media, and anywhere else your donors are.

Donors will start bidding. When they get notified that they are outbid via email and text (if they have opted to share their phone number), they will have the option to bid on the item directly.

Track Bids

Go to Manage > Auctions to keep an eye on the bids coming in and delete bids if necessary.

If you have multiple auctions created, you can change the auction that you are viewing by using the pulldown, Select Auction Campaign at the top of the page.

To download a report on the auction items and bidders, go to Manage > Auctions. Tap on the Downloads button and choose Bidders & Items (Excel).

Bid Sheets at Your In-Person Event

Go to Manage > Auctions tap on the Downloads button and choose Bid Sheet (PDF), or Bid Sheet QR (PDF) to download and print paper bid sheets to use at your event for each auction item. You can choose the following bid sheets:

  • Bid Sheet - This is a standard (traditional) bid sheet where you donors will write their name, paddle number (if assigned), and the bid.

  • Bid Sheet QR - This produces a sheet with the item information as input as well as a QR code that can be used by your donors to bid on the item using their mobile device.

Close Bidding and Auction

Within the auction campaign, you can choose to set the end date and time to pause bidding or you can manually pause bidding under Manage > Auctions. When all looks good, go to Manage > Auctions to end the auction (this action is irreversible!).

The winners will then automatically be notified. They'll have the ability to pay with a single click.

If you have multiple quantities set, then the top bidders for that item will be declared the winners.

Follow Up with Auction Winners

Go to campaign reports and click on transactions for the winners who have paid and pending for the winners who are yet to pay. See their pending carts and send out reminders or checkout on their behalf when you receive check/cash payments.

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