To price silent auction items, establish a realistic value, check any costs the charity must pay, then choose a starting bid and minimum bid increment. Set any reserve or Buy It Now price separately. The aim is to make the first bid approachable while giving each sale a sensible path to money retained for your cause.
A donated gift card and a consignment vacation package need different decisions. The gift card may cost your organization nothing. The package could create a bill whenever it sells. Applying the same percentage to both can hide that difference.
Separate the numbers before choosing a price
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Estimated item value | A supported estimate of what a buyer would ordinarily pay for the item or experience |
| Starting bid | The lowest amount accepted as the first bid |
| Minimum bid increment | The minimum increase required for the next valid bid |
| Reserve | An optional minimum sale threshold; a leading bid below it may not win |
| Buy It Now price | An optional fixed amount that ends bidding on that item when accepted, if the auction rules provide for it |
| Winning bid | The successful bid under the auction's closing and reserve rules |
| Net item proceeds | Money collected for the item after the costs assigned to that sale |
Keep those labels consistent in your catalog and bidding instructions. Calling both the starting bid and the reserve a “minimum bid” creates avoidable confusion.
Establish a supportable item value
Start with evidence you can explain to a bidder. For an unrestricted $100 gift card, that could be its face value. For a product, use an ordinary current selling price. For a service, ask the provider what they normally charge for the same scope.
Record conditions alongside the estimate. A weekend stay that excludes school holidays is different from an unrestricted stay. A dinner package for four should say whether drinks, gratuities or particular dates are included. For a basket, list the contents and their reasonable values without counting donated packaging as an unexplained premium.
Some experiences have no close retail equivalent. Record the comparison and reasoning you use instead of pretending the estimate is precise. Supporters can choose to bid more because they care about your cause; that enthusiasm does not change the underlying market value.
Choose an opening bid with room for your audience
Auction providers publish different starting formulas. OneCause suggests opening bids of 30–50% of fair market value, while 32auctions describes roughly 40% openings and 5% increments. Treat those as provider rules of thumb, not a proven optimum for every event.
For donated items, start with a plausible opening, then ask whether someone in your audience would take the first bid at that amount. Consider the item's restrictions, local appeal and competing lots. For anything your organization must purchase or pay a supplier for, calculate the cost floor before accepting an opening price.
The following figures are illustrative planning choices, not expected sale prices or Mobli defaults.
| Item | Estimated value | Example opening | Example increment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unrestricted gift card | $100 | $30 | $5 |
| Donated family activity basket | $180 | $60 | $10 |
| Donated dinner experience | $300 | $120 | $15 |
| Consignment package with costs checked below | $600 | $300 | $25 |
The last row is deliberately not priced by applying a standard donated-item percentage. Its opening needs to work with the bill the organizer must pay.
Test the bid increment as a sequence
An increment should make the next decision understandable. For the $100 gift card above, the minimum valid sequence starts at $30, then $35, $40 and $45. If larger jumps are allowed, someone could bid $60 straight away; the next minimum would be $65.
Write out a short sequence for different item values. An increment that feels manageable on a high-value package may be too large for a small gift card. An extremely small increment can require many bids to move a more expensive item very far.
Think about your bidding window and audience, then choose convenient amounts that your volunteers can explain. Use your own past event results when available, rather than assuming another organizer's experience will transfer unchanged.
Protect proceeds when items have costs
Suppose a consignment package costs the organization $240 when it sells. Assume $10 of additional fulfillment cost and a hypothetical transaction charge equal to 5% of the selling price. These fee assumptions are for the example only and are not Mobli's pricing.
At a $300 sale, the arithmetic is:
$300 collected − $240 supplier cost − $10 fulfillment − $15 transaction charge = $35 retained.
At a $240 sale, the organization would instead lose $22: $240 − $240 − $10 − $12. A sale can therefore look successful on the bidding screen while reducing funds available for the cause.
For this simplified model, break-even selling price equals fixed item costs ÷ (1 − fee rate as a decimal). Here, 5% is 0.05, so $250 ÷ (1 − 0.05) is approximately $263.16. An opening above that amount still needs to leave enough surplus to justify the work. Add any other applicable charges to your own calculation and check whether the supplier charges for unsold items too.
If the necessary opening is unattractive to your audience, reconsider the item or its supplier terms. Do not rely on a bidding contest to rescue a sale that begins below the amount you can afford to accept.
Set reserves and Buy It Now rules explicitly
A reserve protects a minimum sale threshold only if the auction actually supports and enforces it. Explain what happens when bidding ends below the reserve. If there is no reserve mechanism, use an opening you can accept or choose a different arrangement.
A Buy It Now option lets a supporter purchase at a fixed amount. Decide whether that purchase ends bidding, whether the option remains available after bids start and whether its price covers your costs. Make the policy visible before people participate.
Review items that attract no bids
No bids do not identify one certain cause. Check the description, photo, restrictions, visibility, bidder access and price. An unclear pickup requirement or an item nobody has seen will not necessarily improve after a price cut.
If you change an opening, increment or other material rule, follow your published policy, announce the change and preserve existing valid bids. Never silently erase a bidder's participation to restart an item.
Common pricing questions
Should every item use the same percentage?
No. A common starting method can make preparation easier, but item costs, restrictions, audience interest and value differ. Review the exceptions before opening bidding.
Can a winning bid exceed the item's value?
Yes. A supporter may value the experience or the cause enough to bid more. Keep the item value and the amount paid as separate records.
What should we do with unsold items?
Check donor or supplier conditions and your event rules before offering them again, returning them or using another sales format. Record any costs already incurred.
With the item decisions made, plan the rest of your silent auction. If you would like to explore Mobli for your fundraising team, apply for early access.