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You are here: Home / Blog Post / Ready to see bidders “freak out?” Here’s how … don’t include Extended Bidding in your mobile bidding silent auction.
Sep 18

Ready to see bidders “freak out?” Here’s how … don’t include Extended Bidding in your mobile bidding silent auction.

Sherry Truhlar 2 Comments

Scream of furious angry violent manYesterday I explained the difference between Max Bid and Extended Bidding. I don’t want to tell you what to do, but if you don’t understand the difference between the two features (and most people won’t…), you should read that post FIRST.

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Max Bidding doesn’t work that well because most people aren’t honest with themselves when it comes to putting in our “real” top bid.

We put in a number that we “hope” to buy the item for. We don’t put in what we are REALLY willing to pay, should our feet be put to the fire.

Friends, that’s called Auction Fever.

Auctions are filled with psychology. When it comes down to it, bidders will bid more than they planned for items they really want … or when their ego gets the better of them.

Some items in your auction will draw last minute bids. Maybe a fabulous vacation … or a choice bottle of wine. If you could extend the bidding on those items, you’ll raise $100s to $1000s more. 

business fightConsider this TRUE story from a school auction. 

Bidder #25 put in a max bid of $2000 on a basketball suite.

Meanwhile, Bidder #43 put in a max bid of $2100 on the same item.

Extended bidding was NOT offered, so when the silent auction closed at 7:30 PM, Bidder #25 received an alert from his mobile bidding device. He was told his Max Bid was reached but he’s NOT the high bidder. 

He lost. 

And. He. Was. Pissed.

“What the hell!” he was yelling, wildly waving his mobile bidding device at the staff, dashing through the silent auction, “I HAD a Max Bid?! How did I LOSE!? Why didn’t it TELL ME!? I would have been willing to bid HIGHER!”

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Had the technology chosen by the school offered an Extended Bidding feature, this item could have seen a last-minute bidding frenzy. (Bidding frenzies happen regularly in live auction sales, and during my traditional “manual” silent auction closings.)

In the final few seconds before the hammer falls (to use a customary auction term), some bidders are always willing to bid “one more time.” Some are willing to increase the bid in their attempts to buy the item.  

In a live auction, it’s not unusual for a bidder to bid above his intended (and unspoken) maximum bid. Oh-so-many-times after an auction I’ll hear, “I paid more than I planned to tonight.” 

In other words, the bidder paid MORE than his planned Maximum Bid!

Why do bidders bid over their planned budget?  Because reason flies out the window in the heat of the moment.   

If I were to offer Max Bid options in a live auction, it would SUPPRESS BIDDING. It would force each bidder to stick to his intended budget. Spontaneous bidding – for which benefit (and commercial) auctions are known– would HALT as the bidder would be forced to sit on his hands when his Max Bid was reached. 

But you want bidders to enthusiastically pay MORE than they intended! 

What they are willing to pay while sitting at home thinking about your items is usually much less than what they are willing to pay in the heat of bidding.

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Let’s re-imagine the true story I shared above, had Extended Bidding been offered: 

At 7:30 PM when the auction was scheduled to close, Bidder #25 receives an alert. He’s told that his Max Bid has been reached and he’s NOT the high bidder. He’s told that the high bid is now $2100, and – because of Extended Bidding– he has 5 more minutes to reconsider his Max Bid.

He inputs a higher bid … perhaps this time, it is his “real” Max Bid. 

Interesting, eh? Before bidding started, his Max Bid was $2000. Now he’s prepared to bid more.

All bidders who had bid on that item now have an additional 5 minutes to bid. And if one of them bids in the final nanoseconds before the auction closes, ONCE AGAIN, an alert goes out to everyone saying, “Extended bidding is now continuing for 5 more minutes.” The extensions continue until bidding stops. 

REALLY stops, because no one is willing to pay more. It’s not ARBITRARILY stopping because of some silly closing time.

This is auction fever in action!

Handbid_logoAuction fever isn’t just something I’ve observed. Mobile bidding vendor Handbid witnessed bidders “freaking out” when they couldn’t bid again.

They then immediately set about adding Extended Bidding into their application.

Handbid is one of the FEW providers offering Extended Bidding functionality. They noticed bad bidder behavior when one would lose on a Max Bid. 

(You can read the full story about their observations in this blog post, Handbid now has Extended Bidding.  There, now happy, Sherry?)

To quote Jeff Porter:

We saw numerous people at the end of the auction “freak out” when their proxy bid was trumped and scrambled to place a last minute bid on an item to win it.

Yup. 

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In conclusion, although Max Bid is a nice tool, it doesn’t replace Extended Bidding. These are different features for different problems. 

If you’re selecting a tool and want your bidders to be happy, make sure your tool includes Max Bid. If you’re selecting a tool and want your nonprofit to be happy, find a tool that offers Extended Bidding.

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Auction_Tech_Screenshot_optAre you beginning to sense how much there is to know when it comes to auction technology? Here are two ideas to save your sanity.
  1. This on-demand recorded webinar simplifies the benefit auction technology market. (Scroll down the page to watch a few minutes of it.)
  2. Second, if you want more personalized help deciding which is the best vendor for your auction, schedule a consultation with me. I’ve helped many nonprofits figure out their technology needs .. and not just for mobile bidding! Software … payment services … registration needs …etc.
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Copyright © 2013 Red Apple Auctions Co. All Rights Reserved

About Sherry Truhlar

Fundraising auctioneer and educator, helping schools and nonprofits plan more profitable benefit auctions. A prolific writer for her own blog and other fundraising sites, she’s been covered in The Beacon-News, Town & Country Magazine, The Washington Post Magazine, Northern Virginia Magazine, Wiley's Special Events Galore!, AUCTIONEER, and other publications.

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Comments

  1. Donna Pokowitz says

    November 10, 2013 at 1:21 PM

    Hey Sherry,
    We, at bidcoz.com (formerly School Auction Manager), have been offering this feature since we launched. We call it “anti-sniping” and we saw the need for the very reasons you mentioned above. The way we do it is, in the last 5 minutes of an auction, if someone places a bid, 15 minutes is added to the end time to allow other bidders to come back in and bid again. This can go on until bidders stop bidding or until the auction chooses a final closing time. We don’t want to leave any money on the table during a silent auction! Another great advantage of mobile bidding.

    Reply
    • Sherry Truhlar says

      November 10, 2013 at 1:48 PM

      That’s great, Donna! There are always a few items that are hot property in the silent auction, and that’s an excellent way to maximize their price. When using this feature, a nonprofit is better controlling its guests. Bidders aren’t trained to delay bidding; the silent auction remains an auction instead of a “closest bidder to closing time wins” activity.

      Reply

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Thank you so much for the outstanding job you did for us on April 1! I have received so much positive feedback from so many who attended. You even earned Sister Suzan’s (our Vice-Principal) seal of approval! Safe travels to all your many events and thank you for making our biggest fundraiser of the year our best ever!

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Sherry is “on board” from day one of auction planning, works closely with our steering committee and is only just a phone call away. The night of the auction, we toss her the keys and let her drive the event! We are never disappointed!

Charly Ryan, Director of Institutional Advancement
The Academy of the Holy Cross (Kensington, MD)

I was very fortunate to have Red Apple on board for my first auction. Working with Sherry was invaluable. She provided guidance at every phase of planning, from procurement on forward – and she challenged us to make our event more ambitious and more successful at every stage. Thank you, Sherry!

Pete Goldlust, Director of Development
Oak Hill School (Eugene, OR)

If your auction needs to upgrade, call any auctioneer you find on Google. But if you want your auction to be impressive, meaningful, and profitable, you need to call Sherry.

Erin Banda
2016 NYUMBANI Board member

The auction was entertaining .. proactive … the crowd was involved and felt a part of it,” he said, emphasizing, “The entertainment value was huge.

Darrell, a long-time attendee

We plan on booking Red Apple Auctions much earlier for our next event so we can take advantage of more of the pre-event offerings.

Nicole Carr, Director of Grants and Special Events
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2012 Oakcrest Anne and CarolinaSherry, personally, I can’t even begin to tell you the immense amount of positive feedback that I received having YOU (and Darby) there with is this year!… Read The Rest “Anne Livaudais Knudsen, 5th year gala co-chair”

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Staci Meruvia 150 ptYou have NO idea of how many people came up to me (I know Julie as well) and said, ‘That auctioneer was incredible … she engaged the crowd, …… Read The Rest “Staci Meruvia”

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Most product & consulting remarks are found on their respective webpages, but I’ve listed two below so you’re assured my products are as spot-on as my auctioneering.   Not only was our 2013 auction a blast, but our Washington, D.C. public school raised $67,000 — that’s $25,000 more than last year! The evening went… Read The Rest “Carolyn Kahn-Hall and Andrea Del Vecchio”

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