Inventory Liquidation and Closeouts

Running a silent auction is a wonderful way to raise money for charity or a special cause. The best part about silent auctions is that they require less work to manage, and produce results that are just as effective as a live auction. Here’s how to run a smooth, successful silent auction that rakes in bids.

Step 1

Gather your items for the auction. Depending upon the cause that you are trying to raise money for you may have a number of people willing to donate items for the auction. The best way to obtain items for the auction is to speak with businesses and individuals that you feel would be likely to donate, and explain your cause. You will find that most people are willing to help out in any way that they can if you have a legitimately charitable cause.

Step 2

Advertise your auction as much as you can so that you draw the largest amount of people possible. There are multiple ways that you can advertise an auction, even on a low budget. You can put up a website, post flyers around your community or school, and even send out a number of emails or go door to door promoting your event.

Step 3

Set up multiple tables and make sure that there are enough bid sheets. You want to give people enough room to walk around and bid without feeling like they are squished together, so multiple tables work well for a medium to large size auction. It’s also very important that you have enough bid sheets or you may lose potential bidders which could dramatically affect the amount of money that you’re able to raise.

Step 4

Ensure that each auction item has an appropriate description attached to it on the table. This is important because some people may not know what a particular item is, and this may cause them to decide against bidding. It doesn’t take a lot of effort to set up a well written description for each item, but it can go a long way towards making sure that you draw in bidders.

Step 5

Collect the bid sheets and promptly notify the winners. People are usually looking forward finding out whether or not they’ve won an item, and by notifying them quicker you’ll be able to get the money from your items and put it towards your cause as fast as possible.