Enjoy this series on determining the best number of auction items for your event. How many silent auction items are best. How many live auction items are ideal. This post covers how many online auction items are good. The influence of mobile bidding on terminology. I've not written much about online auctions, though I probably should. There are a lot of questions about them. Recently the competition from mobile bidding vendors has changed the vendor landscape a bit, but ... Read On >
Online Auction
Video: How long should your silent auction last?
You've spent hours gathering silent auction items. The baskets are sealed and ready to be sold. Displays are set up. So now, how long should your silent auction last? Determining how long your silent auction should be open is the question I tackle in today's video blog. Got ideas of your own? Share them below. ... Read On >
Mobile bidding devices: Extended Bidding versus Max Bid
Back in 2010 I wrote about how handheld bidding devices were trendy. Later, I wrote about my gripes with the technology. Today we're readin' the auction dictionary. One point of confusion voiced by my clients’ stems around the definitions of two features often discussed in mobile bidding devices: Max Bidding and Extended Bidding. Each feature impacts your auction in a different way, though some planners are led to believe that if you have one feature -- namely, Max Bidding -- then that is ... Read On >
VIDEO: My gripe with some mobile silent auction solutions and online auction platforms
As I've talked with more vendors about their mobile silent auction solutions and online auction products, I've become disheartened to learn that most of them do NOT offer a key feature that is generally an accepted standard in the commercial auction world. It's not a "new" feature, but perhaps vendors servicing the charity auction market failed to understand how it can generate more dollars for charities. For whatever reason, it's been missing from most vendors' products. I hope that with ... Read On >
My gripe with some handheld bidding and online auction platforms
Did you attend my teleclass on Best Practices in Mobile Bidding for your Silent Auction? If so, you already heard one of my issues with some online auction and handheld bidding vendors (a variation is also called mobile bidding or electronic bidding). It comes down to functionality. I'm a fan of a feature called "extended bidding" which -- as I type this -- few vendors seem to offer in online auction or handheld bidding products. What is extended bidding? If a bid is placed on an item in ... Read On >