How to run an online auction

The first step is to request our staff to create an auction. Please register as a site user with the 'register' link in the upper right side of the page or the page menu if on a phone/tablet. Please use the Contact us page to request a new auction and let us know what charity organization you are afilliated with.

Initial Auction Setup

Once the auction has been created you can log in and will see some new options. There will be a 'Auction' dropdown menu available where you will select 'Edit Silent Auction' to enter the auction details such as start date/time and end date/time and any information on a Live Event if there is one that goes along with the silent auction. You will also use the 'Edit Auction Items' menu to enter the description and pictures of the items in your auction. You can start the online auction well before the actual live event if you want to allow early bidding.

Auction Item Entry

To add a new item, click the icon. To edit an existing item, click the icon. To delete an item, click the icon. Items are automatically assinged a new Item # which starts at 101 for each auction. You enter a short name for the item (100 characters maximum) and can select an existing category of the item or create a new one by typing it in. The Item description can be up to 4000 characters to explain any details of the auction item. A Special Note can be added if there are special things about the item that the users should know, like an expiration date or some other condition. Then enter a Minimum bid that the item will start at (can be zero) and the bid Increment which will be used. For example, if you enter 100 for the Min bid and 10 for the increment, the first bid will be $100 and every new bid will be $10 more than the last one.

You can also enter a 'Value' of the item. This is a text field and can say anything, like 'Priceless$$$' or an amount '$150.00'. Next enter the donor if required. You can select from existing donators or create a new donator by typing in the new information. Next enter the Type of the item. There are currently item types of (C) Certificate, (I) Physical Item, and (GC) Gift card. This will help your staff when looking for the item after the auction is finished.

You can also enter a Table name if you know where the item will be placed to expedite item retrieval after the auction is over. This can be entered by staff during the auction setup by scanning a QR code on the back of the Item Bid Sheet.

Pictures of the item can be added on the 'Pictures' tab when creating a new item or editing. One picture should be added for each item, but there is no limit to the number of pictures you can add.

Alternate Item Entry Method

SilentBids.us also supports auction item entry by importing from a spreadsheet (xls,xlsx) or ZIP file.   There is a 'Download Template xlsx to fill out to upload' link on the Item Editing page that allows you to download a template that you can fill out with your auction items. The item # is optional on the uploaded spreadsheet. If it's not there a new item # is created when imported. After importing you will automatically have the new spreadsheet downloaded back to you with the item #'s filled in.  So if you make updates, it will use the same item # and overwrite the existing item's information.

You can also upload a ZIP file that contains the spreadsheet and images to attach to the item. The ZIP can contain pictures in jpg, png, gif formats and must be named in the format:

[item#]-[picture#]-[anything else].jpg
ie. 101-1-item.jpg, 101-2-item2.jpg, 101-3.png

Table Information

If you are displaying the items on multiple tables, you can enter the table names that will be added to the bid sheets with the 'Edit Auction Table Names' menu option. (See below)

Day of Live Event - Bid Sheets

Use the 'Generate Auction Item Bid Sheets' to create a PDF that can be printed out to put alongside the items which contains the 'main' (first) picture of the item and the description of the item and a QR code that can be used by bidders to automatically go to the item on the SilentBids.us website where they can place a bid on the item. The Bid Sheets can be printed on full page, which has space fo the item's Description, or half page where only the item's picture, name, number and bid information is displayed along with the QR code for bidding.

Also the back of the bid sheet will contain a QR code for all of your tables that have been defined, which your staff placing the items on the tables can use on their Smartphone or tablet to automatically assign the table that the item is placed on which will be printed on the Winning Bidder report so staff knows where to retrieve the item from quickly.

Day of Live Event - Welcome Screen

A 'Welcome' page can be configured in the Edit/Auction Details menu to be displayed on one or more monitors connected to a web browser and can contain a QR code that participants can scan on their phone to register to bid on items in the auction and/or automatically connect to the WIFI system at the event.  The welcome screen will automatically close at the configured auction closing time.

Day of Live Event - Winning Bidder Status Screen

A 'Status' screen can be displayed on one or more monitors connected to the internet by selecting the Auction/Status menu screen. The number of rows in each column can be configured in the Auction/Edit/Auction Details page to fit on the monitor being used.  The auction status screen shows a list of all the auction items and the current high/winning bidders sorted in Item number order.  The column size of all the lists can be adjusted in the first set of columns by clicking on the column seperator and dragging it.  The changes made to the first set of items will be replicated to the other lists when the screen auto-refreshes in the configured time.

Auction Closing - Winners Statement

At the end of the auction, you must select the 'Close Auction' menu option to prevent any more bids and then can download the 'Winners Statement' to get a list of winning bidders sorted by Last Name, First Name. You can select the # of copies of each winner to print, for example, one for your staff and one for the bidder to take home.