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      Starting Bids, Minimum Bids and Buy Now Values

      BUY NOW

      We recommend that the buy now price be typically over Fair Market Value (FMV), usually 150-200% (we've seen events that lose money due to low Buy Now values).


      It is possible for a bidder to bid over the buy it now values. If a person chooses a bid increment that is higher than the buy now price then the buy now button automatically disappears and the bidder does not win the item for placing a regular bid for the buy now amount. 


      The Buy Now feature is for silent auction items only. Some organizations use this feature for all of their silent auction items, some choose not to use it at all, and some choose to use it for hot items. 

      If a bidder really wants the item and it has a buy-it-now price on it, they can click the buy now button and purchase that item rather than get into a bidding war.

       

      NOTE: The buy now feature is not used for items that you want to sell multiple of. Those are to be set up as a Quantity item type and the set price is the purchase price or it would be the starting bid (start) in the item template.


      We do not recommend putting a buy now price on things with sentimental value like projects/art made by kids, prime parking spots, lunch with a favorite teacher, things like that. If you don't have a solid FMV then leave Buy Now off that item.

      STARTING PRICES

      30-45% of FMV is typical in the industry.

      If you have consignment items (where the org has to pay a third party when the item is sold), make sure the minimum bid covers the amount to be paid to the third party.

      Incremental bids are usually 5-8% of FMV. We suggest 5% up to around $150 FMV and then go to 8% above that. 

      We would also recommend rounding up STARTING bids to:

      • the nearest $5 when FMV is under $100
      • the nearest $10 up to $400 in FMV
      • the nearest $25 up to $600 in FMV
      • the nearest $50 up to $800 in FMV
      • the nearest $100 over $1000 in FMV

      RAISE PRICES

      To try and keep this clean, we recommend:

      • $5 for items with FMV between $50 and $150
      • $10 for items with FMV between $150 and $250
      • $20 for items with FMV between $250 and $400
      • $25 for items with FMV between $400 and $600
      • $50 for items with FMV between $600 and $1000
      • $100 for items above $1000

      These are general and can and should be tweaked for your event(s).