Chat
12-13-2013, 01:23 PM
(This post was last modified: 12-13-2013, 01:25 PM by Charlie Horse.)
The silent auction is a bad idea. Its purpose is to raise money for Napga but the "silent" part of the auction and the time limit work against making money. Here's what I experienced at the last one:
People bid super low at the start hoping that they're the only bid.
Bidding wars only start in the last 10 minutes.
There is no time to out-bid people in that final rush since bidding requires going to the object and writing stuff down.
Its awkward to be in a bidding war right next to someone, shoulder to shoulder, where you back-and-forth write stuff down vs. bidding wars in a normal auction format.
Lots of things I would have bid higher on were sniped at the last second and I ended up spending almost no money at the auction! This included items and goats.
Last time I brought my ger (yurt) which housed the auction items and kept the rain off of them. I like this idea, but in retrospect perhaps the auction could have been on-going for a couple days vs hours so people had more time to browse and think stuff over. I'd have been happy to use the ger in that way. (It was used as an overly complicated camping tent most of the time.) Personally my biggest regret is not going for goats. There were 3 I would have loved to buy, but indecision due to the short time caused me to chicken out. I guess I had plenty of time to think about the baby goats, but their presentation speech/sales pitch didnt happen till the main auction.
![[Image: rendy_13_auction_02.jpg]](http://herb.linkrealms.com/packgoats/rendy_13/rendy_13_auction_02.jpg)
I think the normal auction format is the way to go. No need for a fast talking auctioneer, but the normal format can be more fun in the end and if you can start with small things to get people over the "I dont want to bid against my friends" shyness, I think it'd be a better fund raiser and more fun.
People bid super low at the start hoping that they're the only bid.
Bidding wars only start in the last 10 minutes.
There is no time to out-bid people in that final rush since bidding requires going to the object and writing stuff down.
Its awkward to be in a bidding war right next to someone, shoulder to shoulder, where you back-and-forth write stuff down vs. bidding wars in a normal auction format.
Lots of things I would have bid higher on were sniped at the last second and I ended up spending almost no money at the auction! This included items and goats.
Last time I brought my ger (yurt) which housed the auction items and kept the rain off of them. I like this idea, but in retrospect perhaps the auction could have been on-going for a couple days vs hours so people had more time to browse and think stuff over. I'd have been happy to use the ger in that way. (It was used as an overly complicated camping tent most of the time.) Personally my biggest regret is not going for goats. There were 3 I would have loved to buy, but indecision due to the short time caused me to chicken out. I guess I had plenty of time to think about the baby goats, but their presentation speech/sales pitch didnt happen till the main auction.
I think the normal auction format is the way to go. No need for a fast talking auctioneer, but the normal format can be more fun in the end and if you can start with small things to get people over the "I dont want to bid against my friends" shyness, I think it'd be a better fund raiser and more fun.