You may have seen auctions held by an auctioneer, calling out prices of items. But with silent auctions, it is something different. It is a technique used by several charity events where people simply put their bids on silent auction bid sheet. These sheets can have a great influence over your decision whether or not to place a bid. They likely include information informing your guests about the items they are considering.
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If you want to ensure your fundraising success, you can organize your silent auctions by pre-printing our silent auction bid sheet templates available on our main website. They are freely available for you on our main website. The bidders can put in the bids in the form for the items that you want to auction. If you want to know more about it, let’s help you understand about these silent auctions in detail in this write-up.
Silent Auction Bid Sheet Templates
Overview to Silent Auctions
The silent auctions are considered silent because they do not have an auctioneer in the fundraising. With a lot of noise and chatter in the surroundings, it is considered silent due to this reason as compared to the typical auctions. It is a bit different from the traditional auctions held. In these types of auctions, the bidders do not really know about the highest bid because of no auctioneer as they announce about the highest bid amount on closing or calling out the bid amount.
The bidding in the silent auction is done privately on the sheets set on the tables or on the clipboards. You can either bid on multiple items at once or a single one. Once the bids are written, they are examined and evaluated, the person who bid the highest for any of the item, pays for it and gets the payment.
Moreover, the bid of the items is set at minimum, especially when the item is of high value. The silent auction bid sheet template is placed on the table which covers the names and bids sections, giving people the chance to tour the different items available for auction. Also, the bid sheet covers the previous bids by people; therefore the bidders do know what the item is worth, hence they bid higher than that in order to get the item. The bids of other people are kept private in the silent auction.
People bid on the small sheets and deposit them in the box. By the end of the auction, those bids are calculated and the highest bidder likely wins the item for the price they have offered. If the silent auction is conducted for the charity event, the bidding time is usually of a particular period. But mostly, an in-person silent auction can end just in a few hours. Also, one of the major advantages of the silent auction is that it does not have an auctioneer that needs to be paid for the professional help.
The Basics of Silent Auctions
Now that you know what actually silent auctions are, here are certain things that would surely be of help to get started with the silent auctions.
Item Display
One of the main aspects in silent auction is to display the items in a in an appropriate manner. Since it is a silent auction and there is no auctioneer, someone has to look after the display of the item. You need to ensure that the item display is attractive enough. A good item display will help accentuating them. You should ensure that the items stand out and look desirable and appealing to the audience. You should wisely choose the easels, platforms, stages and cases. In addition to this, you should also keep in mind about the location and lighting in order to arrange your collection.
Desirable Items
The auction should revolve around those items that are on offer. When you source the valuable items, your audience will definitely be interested in the products being displayed. They will help you get maximum possible revenue from the auction.
Bid Sheets
These are the sheets where the actual auction takes place. These sheets need to have the name of the item, value, short description, minimum bid amount and spaces for people to note down the names and bids. It is wise to see that the bid sheet is tied near the auction item.
Volunteers
Since the silent auctions do not have any auctioneer, the silent auctions are labor intensive. For these types of auctions, the volunteers should be well-trained to help with inventory management, soliciting for items, auction set-up and checking out what will help making sure the entire event runs smoothly. Also, they would see whether or not the bidders are having a good time.
Auction Monitors
Just like volunteers, the auction monitors should be trained and experienced volunteers. You can also select the auction monitors from the volunteers but just ensure that they are veteran and well-versed about the bidding. These monitors would be in charge of keeping a strict check and eye on the items and bid sheets. This would help in ensuring whether or not your guests are following the auction and bidding rules.
Free Silent Auction Bid Sheet
Items Included in Bid Sheet
As mentioned above, a bid sheet really matters for a bidder. The items also have an influence over the decision of the donor if they should place a bid or not. Here are seven items that are included in the silent auction bid sheet.
Name of the Organization
When you are looking for bids, you should ensure to tag all the sheets with the name of your organization and event’s logo so that the donors know about the supporting party. In addition to this, you can also add in information determining where your money will be going and how it is going to help you out.
Tracking Number for the Item
Along with the name and logo of the organization, the bid sheet should also include the tacking number for the item. This is the number that will make the process seamless for your committee and donor. Also, when the bid will be finished the winning bidders would want to know about it. They can see the item number during the check out process.
The Title and Description
This is perhaps one of the most important things noticed by the guests as they see the bid sheet. You should ensure to keep a clear, bold and big title. Also, ensure that the name you provide is catchy so that the package or item can help them remember.
The description should be supported by creative and brief paragraph determining about the details of the item and what it includes such as exclusions, expiration dates, location, price caps etc. If there are more sections too, then you have to include descriptions and details for all the rest of the items. You can use a separate bid sheet if you want to include too much information.
Recognition of the Donor
It is good to acknowledge companies and individuals who have donated items to you. The donors attending the event would be grateful to find the company’s logo and name on the sheets. This recognition will help you get more donors in future.
Pricing of the Items in the Bid Sheet
This element has to highlight the retail value. The minimum bid increment and starting bid should be easy for people determine. You can also pre-fill the sheets for which guests can write their bid number and name next to. This is one of the best ways to make people ignore the minimum bid increment.
Limit Bidding Rows
Generally, we think that it is a good idea to add more rows in the bid sheet when many people want to bid. But according to experts it is wise to include less bidding rows as more rows look less desirable. The number of rows depends on attendees present in the auction and items but it is wise to add twelve to fifteen rows.
Ensure to put all these elements in the silent auction bid sheet. These items will surely make a huge difference in your fundraising efforts. Bid sheets with clear and concise information are convenient for the bidders.
Silent Auction Forms
Do’s and Don’ts of a Silent Auction
You will be able to raise the funds if you are organized. Here are some tips which can help you in better fundraising. Check out the do’s and don’ts of a silent auction.
- You should ensure that you have a desk for registering and signing up all the bidders.
- You should also enable your mobile bidding from cell phones.
- You should also make sure that the silent auction items are spread into color coded sections.
- You should ensure not to use small fonts in the description, title and other aspects.
- You should ensure not to put everything on few tables as that would look crowded.
- You also ensure to permit plenty of space so that people can easily move around every corner.
- You should make sure that you do not fail to provide lots of reading glasses and working pens.
Do’s and Don’ts of Bid Sheets
The bid sheets are one of the main aspects in the auctions. Here are some things that you need to ensure about in the bid sheet.
- You should be using a bid sheet that starts at least from forty percent of the market value.
- You should also include buy it now price so all those who want something can take it.
- You should also mandate a bid increment of 10% of FMV.
- You should ensure not to put the bid sheets on the clipboard, making it easy for writing.
- You should ensure not to use a colored paper behind your bid sheets that matches the section color theme.
Final Thought
Now that you know how bid sheets are important for the silent auctions, you can simply download one from our main website and save the time you would have spent making one. We advise you to spend the time you save on the making the auction better. The silent auction bid sheets are printable and available for free. Good luck!