Going Green in the Silent Auction: Electronic and Mobile Bidding Overview
By: Sherry Truhlar of RedAppleAuctions
This past Sunday, we celebrated Earth Day. If your charity auction is attempting to be environmentally conscious, one strategy is to reduce your reliance on printed materials. Here’s one idea: have guests bid electronically in the silent auction and you’ll eliminate the need to print bid forms.
The last three years have seen an uptick in nonprofits testing electronic bidding (e-bidding) technology. New vendors are entering the market and increasing competition. This blog post provides an overview of the idea.
Though they are often used interchangeably, e-bidding and mobile bidding are different. E-bidding may or may not be mobile, but mobile bidding is always electronic.
With e-bidding, guests bid on silent auction items using a device. The device might be an iPad (which would be mobile, unless affixed to the silent auction table), a personal cell phone or a phone provided by the vendor (also mobile), or stationary terminals set up in the silent auction area (not mobile). For the latter, the usual arrangement is one stationary terminal (a “terminal” meaning an iPad or touch-screen computer) per handful of silent auction items.
My take is that if you’re ready to jump into e-bidding, make it mobile, unless you’re prepared to set-up a stationary terminal for each silent auction package. I think a 1-to-1 ratio is important. After all, who would want to move to this “improved” e-bid technology, only to have guests to queue up in front of a terminal, waiting to place a bid on an item? That’s not progress.
Of course, buying 100 iPads for your 100 silent auction packages wouldn’t be financially savvy, either. Borrowing is a better option. A colleague told me that he knew one nonprofit which was loaned dozens of iPads for their gala. Is there an underwriting opportunity in there somewhere? Perhaps.
On the mobile bidding front, vendors present several approaches.
Some vendors offer text bidding, others offer web-based bidding (meaning your guest will log into a website each time they bid), and some offer a combination of the two.
Additionally, some vendors will set up a private wireless network in your venue. Others rely on existing networks.
Without diving too deep into the technology, recognize that you’ve got to fit your system to the venue. You’ve probably been in a location where you could send a text, but the signal wasn’t strong enough to make a phone call or browse the Web.
If your venue is in an area with no coverage, you’ll need a vendor which can set-up a private wireless network for guests to use (or you could forego the “mobile” option and use stationary, wired terminals).
If your venue offers some coverage, text bidding could be a more affordable option.
And if you’ve got great coverage on all networks, celebrate! Guests can text or bid via the internet.
In all cases, it’s a good idea to have a few bid helpers with iPads available to assist guests. Inevitably someone will forget to bring his phone or will experience a dead battery, rendering him without the ability to bid. Your helpers can proffer an iPad, granting guests a means with which to participate.
Ready to learn more? On Wednesday, May 2 at 1 PM Eastern, I’m hosting a free teleconference to cover some good practices about this subject. Details HERE.
About the author:
Fundraising auctioneer Sherry Truhlar, CMP, BAS, CAI is featured in national publications for her trend-setting work with auction fundraisers. She teaches auction chairs easy ways to improve an auction’s financial return. Start improving your auction today by getting her FREE Auction Item Guide TM. The Guide lists the 100 top-selling items sold for over value in charity auctions. Claim your FREE copy at http://www.RedAppleAuctions.com.
