Bidding support for participants

The auction is aimed at families and the community, and that is right. But it is happening in a building full of people, some of whom made the items, and they should be able to take part on their own terms if they want to.

Two things to hold onto while setting this up. Nobody should feel pressed to bid — a participant on a fixed income who wants to watch and not bid is participating correctly. And assumptions about who is and is not online are usually wrong; plenty of participants have a tablet and would rather be shown once than helped every time.

A bidding table, staffed

The simplest thing that works: a table in the lounge, two afternoons a week during bidding, with a volunteer, a laptop or tablet, and a printed catalogue.

• Print the catalogue large — 14 point minimum, high contrast, one item per page
• Show the current bid on a screen or a whiteboard, updated when someone asks
• Teach rather than do, where the person wants to learn. Many do
• Have a chair at the table, not just for the volunteer

Proxy bidding, done so it does not fall apart at checkout

If a volunteer places a bid for someone, the account and the money are the center's problem unless you set it up deliberately. Four rules make it safe:

• Written authorisation per item. A simple form: participant name, item, maximum bid, signature, date. The volunteer bids up to that maximum and no further
• An agreed payment method before the bid, not after. Cheque, cash at the office, or a card they will bring in. Never assume
• One named person owns the forms and reconciles winners against them at close
• A stated maximum on proxy bids, published in advance. It protects against a participant committing more than they intended in the excitement of a final hour

The last rule matters more than it sounds. A bidding war is designed to pull people past what they planned, and that mechanic aimed at someone on a fixed income is not something to leave to chance.

Family-assisted bidding

The best version of proxy bidding is not a volunteer — it is the participant's own adult child, bidding from another state on something their parent chose. Publish a line saying exactly that: pick the item, ring your family, tell them the number. It converts a participation problem into a fundraising one, in the right direction.

Accessibility on the auction page itself

• Large, high-contrast QR codes and a short typed URL for people who prefer typing
• Item descriptions that make sense read aloud, because they will be
• Real photographs of the item rather than stock imagery
• A phone number on the page for anyone who wants to ask a person

What not to do

• Do not let a volunteer bid on someone's behalf without a written maximum
• Do not name who bid what publicly — in a small building that is a private matter
• Do not run a live outbid announcement in the lounge; it turns a fundraiser into pressure
• Do not assume a participant cannot use the site. Offer, then follow their lead

Checkout mechanics: silent auction checkout. Mobile bidding generally: mobile bidding.