Auctioneer

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All That You Need to Know About Online Silent
Auction Sites

• Like traditional auction houses, online silent
  auction sites display the items put up for sale
  and people place their bids and buy them. But
  that is where the similarity ends. Instead of a
  physical room or hall, this type of auction is
  done online on specialized websites, there is no
  auctioneer, and the bids are silently ticked off
  on an online bidding sheet. The whole process is
  carried out without a word being said and hence
  the nomenclature silent auction.
• How do these online silent auction sites work?
• At a silent auction, the items are put on sale
  well before the start day. This gives the
  organizer time to promote the auction and create
  a buzz on social media channels and through
  emails. It also gives enough time to the
  potential bidders to check the items. Each item
  has a number on the bidding sheet. This sheet is
  available to all participants who have registered
  for the auction.
• Online silent auction sites have a predetermined
  end time. All bids have a minimum bid that
  increases in set amounts. After the bidding and
  the auction end, the winners are announced and
  the items are shipped to the winning bidders
  after receipt of payment. The merchants handle
  the shipping and delivery if the items are with
  them or by the organizers if the items are in
  their possession.

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• The bidders can make payments via credit cards
  and use the gateway of the site. However,
  merchants handling the deliveries generally
  insist on receiving cahiers checks before
  deliveries are initiated.
• Online silent auction sites typically follow a
  set of rules that are common between all such
  sites.
• There is a definite time limit for each organizer
  and the auction must end within that time frame.
  This helps to create a sense of urgency amongst
  bidders to get on with the auction and place the
  bids quickly and is necessary as no physical
  auctioneer is controlling the pace of the auction
  and going through the bidding quickly.
• There is a limit on the number of items as
  bidders here do not have the luxury of moving
  leisurely amongst the items in gigantic halls
  before an auction as in traditional processes. At
  online silent auction sites, all items have to be
  displayed within the confines of a conventional
  web page. Experts suggest that there should not
  be too many items in online auctions and the
  limit should be one item for every two people
  registered for an auction.
• Online silent auction sites advise organizers to
  list the items in the bidding sheet from the
  least expensive to the most expensive. The logic
  is that if the higher-priced items are placed at
  the start, bidders will choose only one item and
  fail to bid on the lesser-priced items, leaving
  them unsold.
• This is how the online silent auction sites
  function.