How Does A Silent Auction Work?

You might have seen multiple auctions. You might have also participated in some of them. However, do you know what is a silent auction? Do you know how they work? Yes, most of us might not be aware of the silent auction, or might not know how a silent auction takes place. A silent auction is quite different from a conventional auction that takes place. In case of a silent auction, the bidder or the participant might not be aware of the current highest bid. Even though there will be an auctioneer present, but he won’t read out the highest bid amount. Neither he will close the bid, once the bidding is stopped. Rather, bidding is done privately in the silent auction. The bidding is done through clipboards or paper chits, that will be available on the table of bidder or participant. The good thing is, the bidder can bid on multiple items at a single chance. This is actually not possible in conventional auctions. Later, all the bids are examined, and the bidder with the highest bid for each of the item is declared as the winner. As you can see, the silent bid operates in a different way. However, the procedure is pretty simple.

As the name reveals, everything is done silently. Each item category will have an auction bid sheet, where the bid is noted down. Sometimes, the clipboard placed at the bidder’s table will have all the items listed, and the bidder simply puts his bid against each item on the clipboard. As mentioned previously, the bidders are not aware of the other bids at any point in time. In some silent auctions, shared bid sheet is given, where the bidders put their bid on the same sheet. However, the bidder's name is not displayed on the paper, only their identification number is displayed.

Traditionally, it has been seen silent auctioning is more active in the fund-raising events. For example, it is often used in charity dinner to raise funds for the ones who require. As the whole process is completely silent and noiseless, it ensures that the primary event is not disrupted. The only time the auctioneer or the host speaks is when he is going to close the bids, by announcing the winning bids. Also, it has been found that on most of the occasions items successfully achieve bid value, which is well above the market value. This goes with the fact, that bidder understands that he is bidding for a cause.

There are many companies who facilitate in organizing silent auctions for a different event. One such company is Silent Auction Company. They have been organizing silent auctions for different fundraisers, for the last 20 years. In fact, they have taken silent auction to a new level, by introducing mobile bidding and online auctions. Today most of the reputed companies that facilitate silent auctions, offer mobile bidding and online auctioning. It can be said that technological progress has just pushed silent auction into newer levels.

Apart from this, there is multiple silent auction software available in the market which can be used to manage the complete event. These type of software can take care of everything, right from planning the even to raking in some healthy donations. It can also take care of some of the essential activities such as item procurement and seating planning. Often, we tend to spend hours on these activities. In today’s highly developed environment aided with information technology, silent auction software is definitely required. You can just reduce the chaotic moments in your event by using a silent auction software. Some of the known names which you can consider are Galabid, Giveffect, GoCharity, Sumac, SchoolAuction, AuctionMaesto, and Qtego.