Hosting an online silent auction during your golf tournament fundraiser can significantly boost the funds you raise for your cause. It’s a fun, effective way to increase engagement, excitement, and friendly competition, too.
There’s a lot to consider when organizing a charity golf tournament fundraiser, so we hope to make your life a bit easier with this complete guide to hosting a golf tournament silent auction.
Here, you’ll find important details about:
- Choosing the best silent auction items
- Displaying your auction items for more bids
- Promoting your silent auction
- Following best practices
- Avoiding common mistakes
The Best Silent Auction Items for Golf Tournaments
Silent auction ideas for golf tournaments tend to attract more bids when you offer items that are unique, high value, and hard to purchase. Also include a variety of items to appeal to your broad audience.
Types of items to consider for your golf tournament silent auction:
- Golf-related experiences (lesson packages, meet-and-greets with a pro, golf rounds)
- Golf memorabilia and unique items that are signed
- Golf tech gadgets like GPS watches, wireless/Bluetooth speakers, and rangefinders
- Tech gadgets like wireless headphones
- Sports memorabilia, artwork, travel packages, and unique food and wine-tasting experiences
Check out our available guides for more golf silent auction item ideas or visit Risk Free Item Shop for top-notch items on consignment.
Displaying Your Online Auction Items
With Bid Beacon, all of your auction items will be visible within the app and can include multiple images.
For golf tournament fundraisers, it’s important to also have your items displayed live at the event in the same room where your guests will gather before (at registration and breakfast) and after golfing (for dinner and presentations).
Pro tip: Every item listed in Bid Beacon can also have a descriptive page printed, which includes its own QR code. We recommend placing the printed QR code beside each item displayed so that guests can quickly access and bid on the items they care about most.
Once they’ve bid on the ones they like, they can easily find and continue bidding on them. This is very helpful when an event has lots of items.
Promoting Your Auction to Tournament Guests
Once you’ve determined where your tournament and online silent auction will take place, secured prizes, and obtained the necessary sponsorships, it’s time to make sure your event will be well-attended.
This is where social media, email invites, and printed materials like flyers or mailouts will come in handy.
Shareable Links
Promoting an event of any kind is generally a lot of work, but if you’re hosting online, Bid Beacon can make this stage of the process easier. Our platform provides shareable links that go directly to your event’s registration page, removing barriers to entry for interested parties and making it easier for them to participate.
QR & Access Codes
Each auction also has its own QR code and Access Code, which can be combined with printed or digital material to help onboard guests into your online auction. If you have a high-value item or two that will attract a lot of attention, every item can be directly shared and promoted online.
We generate a link preview that shows the item’s image, name, and description. Additionally, each item also has its own QR code to send guests directly to that item’s page! This is a perfect way to build excitement before or during your event.
Printed Materials
At the live event, we also recommend including printed material to go on each golf cart. This is a great way to re-highlight your cause and also provide instructions (the QR Code) on how to get into the auction (if attendees haven’t already).
Best Practices for Running Your Online Silent Auction
Give your silent auction the best chance of success at your golf tournament fundraiser by:
Start the Bidding as Soon as Possible
Ideally, before the event even starts. This will allow you to promote your auction in advance and give attendees the chance to get in on the action earlier, increasing both your turnout and the amount of funds you’ll raise.
Clearly Label Each Auction Item
This is easy to do in Bid Beacon—just type in the name and description for each item and include clear, well-lit photos. Include multiple images displaying not only the front of the item’s package but also the back, especially if there are details that may sway the guest to bid.
Monitor Bid Beacon During the Event
And use the in-app messaging feature to answer questions from guests. This will remove barriers that could otherwise prevent people from bidding on the items they want.
Set Appropriate Starting Bids
We recommend 20-40% of each item’s retail value and reasonable bid increments. Leaving the minimum bid increment at $1 can lead to an item selling for well under its true value, especially for big-ticket items.
Encourage Bidders to Bid Early & Often
Provide updates throughout the event on current high bids or new items. Bid Beacon admins can do this by sending out in-app notifications to guests. Notifications also go out automatically when new items are added to an auction that is already in progress.
Make Announcements Early & Often
Following the tournament, once people gather in the clubhouse dining area, make announcements early and often. Let guests know details, highlight your fundraising dollar goal, and when the auction will end.
Pro tip: Make sure you announce 30 and 15 minutes before the auction closes to keep folks bidding till the end.
Bid Beacon has tools that let you communicate with attendees to send messages like this, but don’t be afraid to use the microphone. You can also extend the auction a few minutes if bidding is still active. Don’t leave dollars on the table!
Make the Closeout Process as Simple as Possible
Bid Beacon supports payment providers such as Stripe Connect, Stripe, PayPal and Square. With both Stripe options, auction administrators can require their guests to enter their credit card information before bidding, and the winners are automatically charged when the auction closes.
This prevents you from needing to run around and collect cash or confirm that the winners have paid at the end of the event. You can also communicate this to your guests that once they have paid, they can simply collect their item and leave. No line-ups!
Common Silent Auction Mistakes to Avoid
You’ll also want to avoid some basic errors that can impact your online silent auction’s success. Here are a few of the most common:
#1: Too Many Low-Value Items: E.g., travel mugs, hats, golf balls. It’s best to have these all packaged as a silent auction basket. Doing this will raise more!
#2 Too Many of the Same Items: If you have 5 of the same items, maybe only two will be bid on, or most will sell below their desired amount, as scarcity drives up demand and price
#3: Not Promoting Your Online Auction Properly: Do it before the tournament, in the morning at the breakfast gathering place, and on each golf cart (with QR code).
#4: Not Displaying Items Clearly: Not displaying items with your QR code where golfers can view them means it will be harder to get bids.
#5: Unclear Auction Rules: Organizing your silent auction with online hosting tools like Bid Beacon makes it much easier to automatically apply (and display) your rules to all attendees.
#6: Not Announcing Your Fundraising Goals: Remember to remind guests of your targeted goal and push updates about the auction close time to maximize bids.
#7: Setting Bid Increments Too Low for the Item: E.g., a $1 increment on a $500 item.
#8: Setting the Starting Bid Too High or Low: If too high, you may miss bids from guests, and if too low, you may not receive the desired amount for the item.
#9: Having a Cumbersome Checkout Process: Allowing guests to pay by cash, check, e-transfer, and other e-commerce options will create line-ups for the auction admins. This is stressful for them and causes frustration for guests as they’ve had a long day by then. Best to pick manage everything through Bid Beacon and have all items paid by credit card by trusted payment providers.
Pro tip: Guests tend to spend more when using their credit card.
Make Your Golf Fundraiser A Success with Bid Beacon!
Online silent auctions and golf tournament fundraisers go hand in hand. Executing yours well can take your fundraiser to the next level and generate some serious funds for your cause.
When it comes to maximizing ROI from your golf tournament silent auction and simplifying your event, you’ll want Bid Beacon in your back pocket. With our silent auction app, you can ensure a smooth, successful auction experience. Check out our demo to see for yourself.
If you want to learn more about how silent auctions can work for your golf tournament fundraiser, contact us today.
