Please Help Me Understand Silent Auctions

I have been to 2 different events with silent auctions. They both had minimum bid at the top of the page. Each basket was a theme: movie night; wine; snack; chocolate; game night etc. You can ask the organizer and if you think it will be underbid, split it into 2 baskets.

In the past when we have done silent auctions at school events the items were always donated so no cash was spent on the items. Some of the things donated were hand made blankets, paintings, etc and they always brought is a decent price. Baskets didn't tend to be an item unless it was from a parent owned business and included like a massage coupon or something of the sort. A basket like you are talking about does sound more like something that would be raffled.

Hmmm, I've seen silent auctions of individual donated high-price items (hard-to-get- tickets to a sporting event, autographed sports memorabilia, a new technological gadget (an iwatch, etc). But in each case, the key for a silent auction item is that you have to be able to get it for less than market value so that you can make $$ on it.

Alternatively, I've seen people put together fun baskets for raffle - the total value of the stuff in the basket is typically around $50. This is the category that I would put a star wars basket like you describe in. I can't imagine a basket of board games, water bottles, and legos going for over $250 regardless of how much you put in it.

If you are supposed to do a basket for auction, I would suggest thinking of 1 high-priced item that you could buy, then ask local businesses for filler items.

For example, you could do a sports/fitness basket and you buy the newest fitbit (make sure you tuck the receipt in the box in case the buyer needs to return it for any reason), but then to increase the value, ask local sports teams to donate memorabilia and ask the local sporting goods stores to donate gift cards, ask a local gym for a complimentary 1-month membership, etc.

Or an adult reader's basket, and buy the newest Kindle Voyage to put in it with an Amazon gift card, 2 bottles of wine, and ask local bookstores to donate gift cards.

Or a gaming basket with a pair of virtual reality gaming goggles but before you buy them at Best Buy, explain what you are doing and in return for purchasing at their store, ask Best Buy for some donations to go with them (gift cards or accessories).

Or an adventure basket with a Go Pro, and ask the store where you buy if they will donate accessories, etc, and ask a local trampoline park (or something similar) to donate a few tickets for admission.

You have to have some way to make the value of the basket more than what you paid for it otherwise I agree, it doesn't make sense.

Sometimes silent auctions will have a minimum set for the item, and if the bids don't equal at least that amount, the seller can return the item to get the cash back to donate. But this is rare, and you'd have to talk to the parent group in advance if this is what you want to do.

You raise a good point. In most silent auctions that I've been a part of, someone donates a good or service that otherwise couldn't be converted to cash. For example, I once donated a small package of private test-prep tutoring. It was worth around $500 but I was donating my time and materials so even if the winning bidder only bid for $100, that was $100 going to the organization, and it wasn't like I was going to donate $500 to the organization. Other silent auction items I've seen tend to be things like sports tickets, a weekend at someone's beach house, autographed memorabilia, a designer handbag, etc. that people donate and the idea is that the auction winner gets something that either can't be bought, is hard to find or gets something special at a discount.

You're right in that just collecting money and going out to buy something with it that someone wins in an auction doesn't make economic sense. What would make more sense would be to do a basket raffle - that way, you've got lots of people buying tickets for the raffles and the proceeds of the ticket sales typically are more than the value of the donated items. Are you sure that what you're collecting for isn't a raffle basket? Most fundraisers that I've gone to that have a silent auction have the big ticket items in the auction and raffle baskets for smaller things like what you're planning.

The organizers should be able to tell you what themes have been popular in the past. When I organized raffle baskets for school, I used to assign a theme to each class or have the class organizer run their theme by me to make sure that we didn't have duplicates. I think your Star Wars basket is a good idea...the Lego set will be really attractive as will copies of movies, maybe one of the video games, etc.

Often times there will also be donations solicited from businesses. If you are doing a Star Wars theme, you could go to Barnes and Noble and see if they can donate a Star Wars book or a giftcard. Go to Target and see if they can donate a Star Wars toy.

You will often get more luck from local businesses, so maybe there is a local business in town that sells books or toys or something that could be donated. They will often be motivated to make a donation if you include a sign that says, "Donate by ... " (Really, they are paying for advertising and a positive image.)

I’ve headed a few of these events.

We had a tremendous fail once with making baskets in the $30 range. The baskets were all wrapped beautifully but the bottom line was people didn’t want a bunch of little stuff. (We had an ice cream themed basket, kitchen gadgets baskets, kids arts and crafts etc. They were all wrapped beautifully in cellophane wrap with lots of ribbon...people just didn’t want them.)

IMO, having a a basket full of board games, legos and water bottles sounds more like something that go into a basket that was going to be raffled off.

The most popular baskets seem to be the ones that contain alcohol but if you can’t do that put high ticket items in the basket...coach purse basket, Vera bradly beach bag and towel, gift cards to anywhere, tickets to a show or sporting event.

I agree with JB. I think it makes more sense that this is a raffle basket. People buy tickets and you raffle the basket off. That's how it goes at our school.

We would each bring in an item - such as for a garden basket theme - so seeds, a pair of gardening gloves, bug spray, etc. Then the basket is raffled off and the proceeds from ticket sales go to the school. Each family will have spent a minimal amount and that was our donation to the school.

Silent auctions are more the big ticket items that some organization or private (or small) business has donated usually. Usually a restaurant, or some local business, or I just went to one where there were golf clubs auctioned off - or a private party to a games room (pool party). Or sometimes it's a piece of art someone has donated, etc.

Maybe it works - just not sure how you'd do it. Otherwise people might think, Ok I could go buy all this myself. Although some people would obviously want to help the school out and be willing to spend a bit more for the good cause. Good on you for taking this on. I can see why it's a bit confusing. I'd just check with the school organizer. Maybe there's a simple explanation.

Before you start asking local businesses for donations I would run it by the person who is running the auction. It's possible that businesses are being asked to donate other auction gifts. You want to avoid having multiple classes approaching the same business.

You collected a lot of money! Great job! You're right to be concerned about whether the basket will sell for that much. I think your best option is to choose one more expensive item and pair it with smaller related products. For instance, you could create a STEM basket-- an erector set, books, science kits. Or a summer reading basket with a kindle, a few popular books, a book light. Our class did a nerf basket that was really poplular.

Ask the organizer what baskets normally for at your school. People usually understand that baskets sell for more than the goods inside, but it's for a good cause. However, if the school has never had a basket sell for more than 100 dollars they may prefer that you make several smaller baskets.

Since it's definitely a silent auction and not a raffle (per your added comments), I would definitely NOT do a single basket with $250 worth of stuff. No one is going to bid on that. But, just donating the money means that the overall auction won't have as many things, and it won't look as festive. And, there won't be that many people going home with things they've won.

So what I would suggest, if you don't have donations of things others have suggested (major league baseball tickets, vacation weekends....), is that you create a number of gift baskets around different themes. For example, do a baby basket, a wine gourmet basket, a spa basket, and so on. What I would do is not just pay cash for those things! I'd make that money go as far as possible, by getting merchants to donate either in full or at their cost. So, if a spa or hairdresser will donate a cut/color or a facial, see if you can buy some products from them at their cost (not full retail!) and add those to the basket. It gives you something to display, but you might have a $75 value that you only pay $25 in wholesale cost, but it gives the salon/spa some free advertising and a customer, plus some products. Do the same thing with the local wine store (if the school lets you do alcohol) - buy some wine at a deep discount (offer the store some publicity, like a big tag hanging off the basket, and some nice wine. Maybe they'll give you something they have on close-out, and you buy something else at 30% off. Buy 4 wine glasses and some gourmet crackers and a cheese knife, asking each store to give you a deal. Then go to AAA and buy some discount movie tickets, and add in a restaurant gift certificate, and boom! You have a date night basket. Go to the garden store and ask for a gift certificate and a plant, and then see if you can buy some garden implements or decorative items (nice pot, trowel/glove set, etc.) and then package everything in the nice pot rather than a basket.

All the big stores have community dollars to give out - go at the start of the month when they have a fresh budget for that month! - and see what they can do for you in terms of donations. Sometimes they just give a gift card, so ask if you can get things at 20% off with that card.

If you have a bunch of things that would retail from $50 to $100, you'll get bids starting at 20% of that and going up to 75% or maybe to top dollar. But they're unlikely to go beyond that.

What I would not do is go to the local dollar store and buy stuff - people know what those stores carry and they don't need you spending dollars on that when they can buy it themselves.

I realize this is a lot of legwork, so delegate some of this to other class parents. And also work with the organizers to see what odd single donations they are sitting on, to do some creative packaging/combining of items to create baskets around a theme. One year, our group had 5 Coach pocketbooks - we knew we couldn't put them all together for a $600 package, so we broke them up and mixed/matched them with other things (one had purse/scarf/manicure, one had purse/jewelry/movie tickets, etc.).

Oh girl. Don't even get me started. I hate auction baskets!!!! The general idea is that yes, people will overbid. It's a fundraiser and people come knowing that they will be spending money and overbidding to get things they like. Plus, everything was donated, so the school just makes pure profit. The reality however, can be very different.

I think it varies from school to school on the participation. Many auctions do start with a minimum bid, but at our former school, we had such a time with those darn baskets. People put so much time and work into them and lots of people donated and they would never (literally never) go for as much as they were worth. The PTA tried putting minimums on them and then they just sat there and no one offered anything, even when they were filled with quality stuff like sports tickets, etc. So then there were a bunch of leftover baskets and we ended up having to sell them on the school FB page for way less. STUPID.

In your case, you need to do a little research. Ask around to other room moms and veteran parents, ask the PTA, etc. If all the baskets usually go for above cost then do a basket. If they don't, then I would absolutely offer to just donate the $250. You should probably run that by your classroom parents first thought, just to make sure everyone is cool with it. I think most people will be but you have to CYA.

If you do a basket, I think your ideas are great. Other popular ones are movie night, outdoor fun, summer fun, pool fun, etc.

For a silent auction you go around asking parents and local businesses to donate things for free. I'm an artist so I just donated $70 worth of ceramic art I made (it didn't cost me that much to make it...that is what I could have sold it for at a gallery) to the school's local silent auction. They might make less than this but that is ok. A parent who has her own restaurant donated a cooking class held at that person's home. So, basically, she has donated her time. Another parent donated a week stay at their vacation condo (a weekend they know they cannot go). Local businesses donated gift cards or services. See what I mean? We also have each class make up a basket...so every parent in the class donates a little thing or small amount of money for the basket. Each class basket has a theme (movie night, game night, beach trip, legos, etc). No one person (say $15 each) put in a ton of money but the person who wins the basket scores a bunch of cool stuff!!

The silent auction is one of the largest fundraisers our elementary school does.

However, grade levels do not make baskets to be auctioned off,etc. The PTA solicits donations from businesses and individuals to go on auction and then they place those items in the auction ... EX: Dallas Cowboys, Mavericks, Ranger tickets, local nice hotels give a weekend getaway, spas, mani/pedi location certificates, food gift cards, collectible items like signed sports jersey, etc.

Now each grade level does have events to auction like.. teacher events.... pizza party, escape room, movies, etc. Then there is the prize auction to name the street after your family, designated parking spot, principal for a day, bat boy at the high school level ball games, lunch with the mayor, etc. These items bring in the highest amount of money to the school.

The idea is to get people to bid more than the item is worth. It does not work in all cases. Last year I bid on Coach sunglasses for $50 just because there were no bids and I won.. $200 sunglasses!

I know it is a pain in the rear to be in the midst of running and planning the auction. I wish you the best and I hope you make a lot of money. Our school typically brings in over $20,000 which helps the PTA fund great events for the children.

I volunteer heavily with an organization that does many auctions. I agree with JB and itsacrazy below. As JB says, an auction item should be ***donated***. The value is noted but any bid at all is money gained, because the item came in for free (donated). As itsacrazy says too though, the plain value is openly stated.

Buying items to auction off is..."silly", in economical-sense terms. You should find out whether anyone has a contact for a donation. (Example: person who works for Ralph Lauren can get a purse donated, etc.)

Buying stuff to fill a basket should lead to a "basket raffle". I've done those too, they're fun! (People buy raffle tickets and drop tickets in jars next to baskets of fun stuff, then a winning ticket is drawn from each basket jar at end of event.)

ETA: I disagree that silent auction items often/usually go for more than their market value. A silent auction "win" is often fun for that very reason - it's a fun "deal". A good example is a $100 restaurant gift card - I've seen those at silent auctions - people stop bidding as the bids approach $100. Unless you get a bidder who is "just being nice", but, lol, people like that are the exception!

Honestly, with that much money I would look at buying tickets for a sporting event, theater event, year family membership to a museum, tickets to an amusement park, guided fishing trip, wine tour, etc. I know $250 would easily cover 2-4 tickets to a WNBA game. You could also talk with a local restaurant like a pizza place and see if they would work out a deal with you. Maybe for $250 they would be willing to donate the remaining amount needed to cover a free pizza a week for 6 months or a year.

I personally am more likely to bid on an event then on a basket of stuff. A few years ago I “won” a basket that included 4 tickets to a minor league baseball game. They have a team pig, so the basket also included a piggy bank and a stuffed pig. It was a popular item and sold for about $10 more than the value. It made for a fun outing for our family and I wasn’t stuck with a bunch of stuff. Another time I “won” a basket of toys. Most of the toys were too young for my kids or we already had them. I ended up giving them most of them to Toys for Tots. I didn’t mind, since it more or less doubled my opportunity to give but a lot of people won’t bid on stuff.

Where our son went to school - we were asked to make donations for items for a basket on a given theme.
Like Cooks Basket - people would get dollar store items like mixing spoons, muffin tins, mixing bowls, kitchen gadgets, etc.
You can Google basket themes if one hasn't been assigned to you - there are lots of great ideas out there.

Then the school would auction it off - and I have no idea how that part works.

Since you are making up the basket - stretch your cash and make a visit to the dollar store because $250 will get you a lot of stuff there.

Very familiar with this! Silent auction items pretty much ALWAYS go for more than they are worth. Since you've been asked to do a basket then DO A BASKET. Likely the organizers have already planned and advertised this theme/style so don't divert and just do whatever you want (like some have suggested.)
The most successful baskets are family oriented. Star Wars sounds fun. You could also do "game night" (board games, bowling or mini golf tickets, etc.) "summer fun" (pool/waterpark passes with sunscreen, etc.) "movie night" (movie/pizza certificates, popcorn/candy) you get the idea.
Hopefully this will be fun for you and it will bring in some serious $ :-)

You need to ask the fundraiser manager for guidance. That way you know what the other gifts will be like so that you won't be far off from them.

Tell the manager what your ideas are and see what she thinks.

It's true that people usually get a "deal" by paying a discount on a silent auction prize. And as nice as it would be for people to just give money so that there would be no work involved, they just don't. Instead, an event is planned and people are encouraged to write their names down and bid up the price of the silent auction gifts. Then everyone's happy - the people who feel like they got a deal, and the organization that is getting the benefit of the fundraiser.

Ask the manager if there will be a "Buy it now" price. On a popular prize, people sometimes circle that price just so that they are assured that they will. For a $250 priced basket, the "Buy it now" price would probably about $220...

Lots of well-meaning thoughts about silent auctions here but very little practical advice for you, it seems.

( Ladies... regardless if your thoughts on how a silent auction SHOULD be done, Ebird’s mom was asked to collect money and make a basket. So that’s what she’s asking about! )

Ebird’s mom... ask the event coordinator for ideas for your theme. He or she will know what has worked in the past and what hasn’t. Run your idea by them and see what they say. Personally, I love your Star Wars idea. Kids will love it. If you put in a couple of bigger Lego sets, you will have no problem spending $250.

I will tell you the when my boys were in elementary school, the class themed baskets were always a hit, and they never failed to sell. Other moms here have different opinions...Different schools... different expectations... different cultures... but the fact is that you and others would not have been asked to make baskets if they didn’t sell.

Have fun putting it together and with the event!