How to bid at a charity/benefit/fundraising auction
You made the decision to attend your very first fund raising auction and now you just need to know how to bid. You are nervous, and you are terrified to move, your head starts itching but you are afraid to scratch. Don’t worry, you can scratch without any big risk but at the same time don’t wave vigorously to your friend and by all means don’t take your paddle and swing it around if you don’t want to buy what the auctioneer is offering.
Here is what you need to know, first of all to bid at an auction you generally need to register. While benefit auctions are auctions it is impossible to say exactly how each one works because each one is run by a different group. What most groups do is register you as you come in and give you a program. Generally you will have a paddle or a number printed on the back of the program. The best way to bid is to raise you paddle and perhaps wave it a bit to make sure the auctioneers sees it. If you want to bid more you can keep your paddle up but that can get expensive very quickly. A paddle that stays up means to the auctioneer that you are still bidding. To the auctioneer it also means count faster, and switch the bid increment. If you thrust your paddle up and snatch it right back down when the auctioneer acknowledges your bid you are generally far safer.
This is where it gets tricky however. You are 100% certain that the auctioneer took your bid, he or she was looking right at you and then turned to the other bidder and started asking for a higher number, but wait, did they really acknowledge your bid? What if there was a bidder right beside you, or behind you who the auctioneer saw bid first? How would you know if the auctioneer really took your bid? While looking straight up at the auctioneer wait until he or she is looking back at you take both of your hands and open them with your palms facing each other as if you were extending both hands like you were going to clap, then take your fingers and turn them in with both hands and touch all of your fingers together on your breastbone. This hand movement is understood by 99% of all auctioneers to be the hand signal for “Am I the high bidder?” The auctioneer should then say something like yes sir/ma’am my bid is with you or no sir/ma’am I’m over there on the right side over there and you are going to have to be.
If the auctioneer does not acknowledge your bid when you hold up you paddle or bidder number it is not considered rude to make a bit of noise to make sure the auctioneer sees you. It is a benefit auction, we auctioneers love to see excitement, the money is going for a good cause, don’t hesitate to let out a whoop!!!
If the auctioneer is asking for some amount say $1,000 and has a bid of $900 you don’t have to bid $1,000. If you think the item is worth $2,000 and you would be happy to pay $2,000 you can hold up 2 fingers and yell out $2,000. You may be able to keep the other bidder from going above $2,000. If you bid only $1,000 and the other bidder keeps bidding by $100 increments he may well stay in to $2,000 and above. By jumping the bid to $2,000 from $1,000 you might discourage the other bidder from bidding again.
It doesn’t happen often at a charity auction but the auctioneer may sell choice or bidders choice. When an auctioneer sells choice what that means is they are selling the right to choose and you are agreeing to pay the bid amount for each choice. If there are 3 choices and your high bid was $250 then you could choose 1, 2, or 3 choices but each choice will cost your $250.
We would love to talk to you regarding your upcoming benefit auction!
Please give us a call today at:
314-680-8599 or 314-680-8598.
