Urgent Help about Running a Charity Auction Required Please!

wigwam12

I would appreciate some advise particularly from peeps who have done this kind of thing before:

At this http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=261429 charity dinner I am the Auctioneer. I hope that some of the prizes will go for a fair bit.

Now this is where I get a little anxious. Those who pay cash on the night - great.
Those who pay by cheque - fine

What do I do about those people who make bids and win but do not have the funds on them to pay? I was planning to take contact details and arrange a swap of prize for money.

For some of the prizes it isn't too much of an issue - they are vouchers entitling the holder to free gym membership/train tickets/helicopter ride etc etc. I could either do as above or even hand over the voucher on the night but point out they were not active/valid until I confirmed payment with the donor.

BUT there are things like a huge hamper of make-up/jewellry/a mobile phone....

I do not thing it is feasible to restrict bidders only to "those who can pay on the night" as the primary event is the dinner and fashion show. Whilst the auction has been mentioned on the flyer, it is an additonal bit of merriment to be undertaken during break in the fashion show; hopefully people would have some money/cheques with them but as the idea was to generate extra cash from guests coming to the show rather than them coming an auction per se I could not reasonably expect them to bring "enough" and I would potentially lose alot of donations by that restriction.

As per the other thread the list of prizes includes:
#1 Helicopter flight from Manchester to London; Shopping at Harrods; Flight to Paris for Dinner

#2 All expenses paid 2 nights in Barcelona [blind date]

#3 Studio Photoshoot (value ~£300)

#4 2x £500 make-up hampers

#5 Deluxe make-over at home

#6 jewellry set (value ~£300)

#7 2 rtn 1st Class Tickets anywhere on the Virgin Trains network

#8 "Gold Membership" at the Galleon Leisure Complex (£240 retail)

#9 Signed Cricket Bat by Lancashire CCC

#10 Signed Silver Adidas Football (Defoe and Cisse)

#11 Creative Zen Nano Plus [black] 1GB (£60 retail)

#12 Adult Home European Liverpool Kit

#13 Samsung E900 Mobile Phone (£200 retail)

Thanks :beer:

GiveItBack

Personally, if they don't have the means to pay on the night - cash, cheque with card!, or credit card - if you have facilities, and no-one will cover it on their behalf - I'd hang on to it until they can get the payment to you. Take name and address details - which a charity should be doing anyway.

Also, if you get more than the market value, and this is a registered charity, then the difference can be Gift Aided. PM me for more info.

Alternative is handing it over and having the (minor) risk that they then take item and don't pay - it does happen.

At least this way you keep item, and if they don't pay up you can resell it.

GiveItBack

also:

have you auctioneered before - or do you know a pro? They can bring in bigger amounts.

do you have people inthe audience you can count on if bids aren't fast in coming in?

wigwam12

I'm afraid the answer is no [to the auctioneer pro]. We held a similar show lst year and I go gor most of the prizes then too. On that occasion our PA did the auctioneering and I was annoyed as I felt I could have gotten more money hence I'll be doing it this time.

What do you mean about people in the audience?

My plan is to make up some chits which say something along the lines of:

"Congratulations. You made the winning bid of £xx for the xyz prize".
Whilst the auction is going on, a hostess would go to that winner, fill in the blanks and give them them chit. Then she could either:
#1 Collect the money from them and give them the prize
#2 collect their cheque and get their contact details saying we need to pass in on to the donor to "activate" the prize
#3 get their contact details [as well as the prize won and for how much] and then I could make arrangement to trade money for prize.

How does that sound? In terms of open "accounting" for the prizes/money - the fundraising manager for the charity [yes it is registered] is actually a guest at the show so hopefulyl that will help keep it as "above board" as i possibbly can....

GiveItBack

'in the audience' - I mean people you know who are happy to bid (and buy) things if the bidding for an item starts slow. Sometimes people don't want to be the first to bid.

Get the addresses of everyone - cash or otherwise.

Also for any bids that sell for more than market value (hopefully all of them), then get the buyer to complete a gift aid declaration. This means that you can claim the tax back on the excess. - Speak to the fundraising manager for more about this, they'll want to know who spent the cash, and addresses will be loved.

I'd also ask her/him for their view on the money aspect.. Generally speaking its their job to make the fundraising that volunteers do as easy as possible.

Good luck.

wigwam12

Thanks mate.
I decided that I will get a hostess to issue "winners chits" to every winner containing the details of what they won/amount owed/my contact details.
I will also get them to take down winners' details at the same time.
Asking the restaurant manager tomorow if they will swipe credit cards for us and sbtract the value from the bill we owe them.
Those that pay cash/credit card on night get the prize. All others get it when payment is made/cleared.

I would greatly value some objective guestimates at starting bids too please!

Thanks for your help mate!