Know your crowd!

Know what teams, players, and celebrities are popular with the people at your event.

Know what your audience is willing to spend.

Items need to be in the proper price range to attract the attention of your crowd.

Set the minimum bids (a.k.a. the reserve price).

Normally we suggest starting items in Tier 1 ($5-$10 above the consignment cost), Tier 2 (+$10-$20) and Tier 3 (+$20-$50). That insures that the charity will receive something if the item is not successfully bid on. Knowing your crowd helps determine this.

Do not offer too many items!

Too many items for too few people make it difficult to raise funds. In consignment auctions you need competition between bidders to drive bids up.

Make your crowd aware that you are having an auction.

Make sure the items are displayed where they can see them. Make sure you set an end time to your auction and keep the bidders aware how much time remains prior to the auction ending. Too often auctions are stuck in the corner and go unannounced leading to poor results.

Turn a bidding war into a unique opportunity.

If an item has a consignment cost of $100 and the winning bid is $300, you have just raised $200 ($300 winning bid less $100 consignment cost= $200) on the sale of that item. Let’s say the second place bidder bid $280. You can offer that person the same item for that price. If they accept, King Bee will ship the same item directly to that person for free. By doing this, you raised an extra $180!

Save all packing materials when your shipment arrives!

This will make it easier for you to return items to the King Bee if they do not sell.