32auctions

With minimal information necessary, you can create an account and have an auction ready to go in a matter of minutes.  We've made it very easy to setup and run a silent auction online.  The auctions are also private, giving you the ability to determine who participates based on who you provide your auction id and password to.  Having a private auction allows you to invite a trusted network of participants.  The people who join your auction are those who are interested in seeing your organization raise money to reach your goals.

Creating your user account is a simple process which involves providing minimal information, including a valid email address.  An email will be sent to the email address provided, containing a link to finalize creating the new account.

Once your 32auctions account is finalized, you will be able to:

• Join an auction you have been invited to
• Bid on auction items
• Create your own silent auction
• Upload an image for your account
• ...and more!

If you are interested in creating a silent auction, you will first need to tell us a little bit about your organization.  This information is useful for auction participants to recognize the organization or cause they are supporting, so add as much identifying information as you can.

A benefit of registering your organization is that over time you'll be able to run many silent auctions without having to re-enter this information.  We will also track the total amount of money raised by your organization through 32auctions.

The user who registers an organization is automatically the organization coordinator.  Organization coordinators can invite people to be organization coordinators and auction organizers.  They have the right to manage the organization as well as all auctions associated with the organization.  They are also responsible for the initial creation of all new auctions being run for the organization.

Once you have an organization, you can create many silent auctions for it.  The organization coordinator is the person responsible for the initial auction creation.  They will need to enter the name of the auction as well as the starting and ending date/time.  An auction can start anytime within 3 months from the date it is created and can run for as little as 1 day to a maximum of 30 days.

Additional information can be added, including the pickup instructions and the fundraising goal.  Pickup instructions will be displayed with each auction item.  This will inform the participants how they can recieve their items should they win.  The fundrasing goal will allow us to track the amount of money bid versus your goal using a goal meter.  The goal meter is displayed on the auction information page.

Once the auction is initially created, the organization coordinator can invite people to be auction organizers.  An auction organizer has the right to manage their particular auction.  They can edit the auction information and add items to the auction.  They also have the ability to invite additional auction organizers to their auction.  An organizer does not have the right to modify any organization information.

You have the opportunity to upgrade individual features of your auction anytime before the auction ends.  Take a moment to review the currently available upgrades and the simple process for upgrading in the Guide to Premium Features.

Gather up the pictures, item descriptions, fair market values and start adding items.  When adding items, it is important to set a detailed description so the participants are well informed.  For each item you must choose to allow bidding and/or set a buy now price.  These options are further detailed here:

• Allow bidding - Allows users to bid on the item.  Additional information is needed, including:
• Starting bid - The price to start the bidding at
• Bid increment - The amount to increase the price after each bid
• Reserve price - (optional) The item is considered sold only if the winning bid meets or exceeds the reserve price
• Buy now price - Allow the item to be purchased for a set price.  If bidding is also enabled, the buy now option will be available until bidding moves the current selling price at or above the buy now price.

Also, be sure to upload pictures.  Displaying pictures for your auction items can increase the selling price.  Pictures allow bidders to get a better understanding of the items you are selling, not to mention they add to the attractiveness of your auction!

It's important to note that auction items can be modified by auction administrators anytime before the auction ends as long as there are no bids on it.  Also note that auction administrators can remove an item anytime before the auction ends.  This should be reserved for rare cases like if the item has been recalled or damaged.

Within 32auctions, there are 2 types of administrator roles: Coordinator and Organizer.  These roles determine the rights a person has within an organization and auction.

The user who registers an organization is automatically the organization coordinator.  Organization coordinators can invite people to be organization coordinators and auction organizers.  They have the right to manage the organization as well as all auctions associated with the organization.  They are also responsible for the initial creation of all new auctions being run for the organization.

An auction organizer has the right to manage their particular auction.  They can edit the auction information and add items to the auction.  They also have the ability to invite additional auction organizers to their auction.  An organizer does not have the right to modify any organization information.

Inviting participants involves setting an auction id and password of your choosing.  Once these have been set, you should provide them to anyone you wish to invite to participate in your auction.  Your invitees can view the auction anonymously (using the View An Auction box on the home page), or they can join your auction from within their My Auctions page.  A link for the auction is also generated, which you may provide to the participants.  The auction link will allow the participants to view the auction without having to enter the auction id and password.  We also provide an email form from within the auction for you to use.  All you need to do is provide the email addresses you wish to send the auction id, password and hyperlink to and we'll take care of the rest.

Getting the auction id and password to your invitees is very important.  You'll want to have a large number of participants to maximize the potential for reaching your fundraising goal.

Here are a few suggestions for getting the word out about your auction.  Choose what make sense for your situation.

• Email
• Fliers
• Mailings
• Posting them on a web site (Facebook, Twitter, blog, charity site)
• Distributing door-to-door

Shortly after an auction ends, an email is sent to the winning bidders informing them they won items.  An email is also sent to the auction administrators with a link to the Sales Summary page for their auction.  The Sales Summary page displays a list of the auction items.  For each item you will see the selling price and name, email and phone number (if available) of the winning bidder.  This summary is very useful when winning bidders are picking up their items.

Winning bidders will be able to submit payment using a PayPal account for the items they won, if this feature has been added to the auction.  Payments can only be made after the auction has closed and all items need to be paid for in a single transaction.  Learn more about this premium feature in the Guide to Premium Features.