Silent Auction Rules
Knowing some basic silent auction rules can be helpful for organizations planning a charity auction fundraising event. Silent auctions and online charity auctions are held without an auctioneer. Instead people view items displayed and place bids on a bid sheet (or online). Since people are expected to take responsibility for placing their own bids and claiming items won, it's helpful to provide them with some silent auction guidelines and rules to explain how the charity auction will work. These rules will also help protect your organization from any confusion with regard to the bidding process and hopefully remove your organization from any possible liability.
We have included a document template containing Sample Silent Auction Rules that may assist your organization in creating your rules for a silent auction charity event. These rules can be customized and distributed at check-in or prior to your auction. We recommend that you speak with someone in your organization's legal department to ensure you customize these rules to cover the specifics necessary for your charity auction event. By signing the silent auction rules form, your auction participants agree to abide by the auction rules.
Information to include in your Silent Auction Guidelines and Rules
What kind of information should be included in your organization's silent auction rules? There are a number of different issues you'll want to address. From simple instructions that outline exactly how participants will place a bid to information about "final sale" of auction items to legal specifications that remove your organization from liability. Here are some guidelines to help you create rules for your silent auction event.
- How to place a bid: Provide instructions that will assist auction participants in the actual bidding process. Assign a number to each potential bidder at registration along with a quick overview of how the items are displayed, how bids are placed on bid sheets, and a general overview of how this process works.
- Information about the items: Be sure to explain as many details as possible about the items up for bid, such as: item descriptions were provided by donors, items are sold "as-is", items are placed at fair market value, all sales are final, etc.
- Auction close & selecting winners: Clearly communicate when bidding will close so potential bidders do not miss out on an opportunity to place their bids. Also inform participants about how winners will be selected (i.e. highest bid on the bid sheet at the close of the auction). An announcement should be made prior to closing bids to welcome one final round of bidding, and instructions to claim items won should be provided.
- Monitoring the auction: Have judges monitor the tables to make sure bid sheets are staying in place and people are following the minimum bid and raise rules. These individuals can also be available to answer questions about the bidding process and/or items.
- Tie-breaking: In a silent auction or online charity auction, there shouldn't be a "tie". Individuals are asked to increase the bid amount by the minimum raise in each subsequent bid. However, if someone does place a subsequent bid in the same amount as the previous bidder, they will have violated the auction rules. In this case the first person listed on the bid sheet with the highest amount will be declared the winner, and the individual who matched the bid will have their bid declared as invalid.
- Legalities and liabilities: Determine what references you want to make regarding liabilities. Often there will be very little risk for the hosting organization, but it never hurts to check with your legal department to cover your basis.
Visit our sister-site DoJiggy for more information about our auction software!
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