How to Hold an Online Auction for Your Nonprofit

You've probably either attended or helped organize an in-person auction at some point, whether live or silent. They're the bread and butter of some small nonprofits, and common add-ons to special events at larger nonprofits. Online auctions also offer many advantages, as described in Is a Live, Silent, or Online Auction Best for Your Nonprofit?

If your membership or mailing list of followers includes at least 200 people, an online auction stands a good chance of selling out most of its goods and making a good profit. And the more your followers can forward the links and encourage others to bid, the better.

Here are the basic steps to holding an online auction:

1. Choose a vendor. You'll need to go through an auction site such as Auctria, Charity Auctions Today, GiveButter, or BiddingForGood. Most charge a per-auction or annual fee and/or a transaction commission. They make it easy for you to display your items, then allow bidders to register, enter credit card information (which means guaranteed payment for you from the winning bidders, but also a separate credit card processing fee), and place bids within a set period of time. The ideal auction length tends to be one to three weeks, after which the site collects the payments and transfers the total to you. Compare their service offerings with regard to price, ease of posting, quality of interactions with bidders (for example, some sites will send out "bid alerts" telling people when they've been outbid on or won an item) and so on. Your nonprofit is in charge of actually shipping the goods to the winning bidders.
2. Solicit goods well in advance. The whole reason auctions work as a fundraising concept is that you don't, if you do your advance legwork, pay to purchase the goods being auctioned off. Instead, you solicit these from local merchants, board members, volunteers, and so forth. Nearly anything that isn't used (unless it's legitimately antique or vintage), tacky, or too unusual to attract a wide audience might make a good auction item, from vacation packages to craft items to gift certificates for massage and other services to parties at a board member's home or yacht. When you're close to the auction date, ask businesses such as theaters and sporting venues whether they have last-minute extra tickets to donate. Because of the quick turnaround time, it's usually easier to incorporate such gifts into an online auction than other auction types. In general, however, having a committee of volunteers begin soliciting items three to six months before the auction is optimal.
3. Decide when enough is enough. Since you're not limited by time or display space, you can bring in as many items as you think you can feasibly sell, handle, store, and ship. Set a realistic fundraising goal based on these limitations and the size and financial capacity of your membership. If you're receiving a lot of small, low-value items, consider whether you can combine them into a thematic gift basket.
4. Collect or take photos. You will need photos of every item for an online auction. Multiple photos from various angles are best, as you probably know from your own online shopping experience; however, some sites charge more if you want to display more than one photo per item.
5. Determine fair market values. You can ask the merchants or donors for value estimates, which you'll need in order to set starting bids (described next) and to tell bidders for tax purposes. See Tax Deductions for Charitable Giving for more information. For vintage items, check online marketplaces such as eBay or Replacements, Ltd. for comparables.
6. Set starting bid amounts. You'll need to set minimum bids for your online auction, usually in simple amounts like $10, $20, or $50. It's best to set these at amounts between 25% and 50% of each item's market value. That helps avoid creating the impression that your auction is a mere feast for bargain hunters. It also helps avoid insulting the goods' donors, who might ask or find out the selling prices later. Start higher (75% or so) on items that are essentially cash equivalents, such as gift certificates for grocery stores or restaurants. Base the increments on the items' value, with the goal of reaching its market value or your realistically hoped-for amount within three bids. You can also set a top-end amount (called a "guaranteed" or "buy-now" bid) that lets the person forestall other bids and declare themselves the winner. Of course, you'd set a high figure for these—typically 150% of the market value.
7. Let people know about the auction. People rarely visit auction sites without having a particular charity in mind to support. You'll need to promote it, both before and during. Your newsletter, website, and social media pages are all good ways to do this. Encourage shares!
8. Present goods in an attractive light to bidders. This means not only supplying good photos, but writing up enticing yet accurate descriptions. Don't get so caught up in playing marketer that you forget to provide basic information such as size, measurements, brand, contents or materials, applicable dates for events and such, washing instructions, and the like. The titles of items should definitely be descriptive (for search purposes) rather than cutesy or full of puns.
9. Hold the auction. Here's where it should get exciting. The highest volume of bidding will happen during the first 48 hours. Don't hesitate to monitor the bidding and post interesting news via email or on your social media pages. The auction site should advise bidders of when they've been outdone, and encourage them to keep bidding right up until the end. Fortunately, the "game" aspect of auctions means that most people regard such emails as less intrusive than others.
10. Arrange for delivery or shipping. If these are coming straight from a merchant, you might be able to simply pay the shipping cost or warn bidders that they must pay for shipping, and then reimburse the merchant. In other cases, you'll need volunteers to get the items safely sent or delivered to the recipients. Because international shipping can be a bother, many nonprofits limit bidding to people within the United States.

For more ideas, see Ten Ways to Raise Extra Money During Your Special Event.