Post-Gala: Offering Unsold Items Online
Your gala may be over, but your fundraising doesn't have to be! Unsold items — whether leftover spaces in signup parties, extra sellable quantities, or silent auction items that didn't receive any bids — are a great opportunity to keep the momentum going and maximize your fundraising impact.
This article covers two easy options for offering unsold items online after your event. If you have just a few fixed-price items to move, a simple Fundraising Campaign page can work as an online store — no account or login required for buyers. If you have a larger inventory or want to continue accepting bids, setting up or extending an Online Auction may be the right fit.
Read on to find the best approach for your situation and get those remaining items in front of your supporters!
An Online Auction or your Donate Now page can be useful tools for selling any remaining spaces in Signup parties, extra quantity of Sellable items and/or repositioned Silent items that did not receive any bids during your Gala.
Option A: Online Store page:
If you just have a few different fixed-price items remaining to sell, it is simplest to create a a Fundraising Campaign page for use as an online store. Campaign pages are easy to set up and have a big advantage that buyers do not need to create an account or login in order to make purchases.
Option B: Online Auction:
1. If you have many unsold items and/or items you want to continue to offer to the highest bidder - you can setup (or extend) an Online Auction. If you haven't used the online/mobile bidding feature on your site yet, you'll need to:
- Turn it on and set up the desired access to bid
- Choose your bidding settings
- Confirm your winner notification and online payment settings
2. Edit the items you want to offer online:
- Create an Online Bidding Group with the desired open/closing date/time for your online auction.
- Change "Bidding Via:" to Online/Mobile (and select the newly created Online Bidding Group).
- Since the item did not receive any bids at the Gala, reduce the minimum bid amount.
- If the item is a lot/basket, consider breaking it apart and selling items individually.
3. Hide any items you do not want displayed in the public catalog:
- If you're setting up a new online auction, you can simply configure your display settings so the public can only see Online items by setting the catalog default view to Online and disabling the button bar.
- If you have other online items you don't wish to display, select the items to hide, then bulk edit to Visible to Public? = No.
4. Promote! Make sure your supporters know that these items are still available and send them Invitations to Bid.