Understand: Charity Auctions
Learn about RallyUp’s Auction options and how to customize them.
Running an online Auction may seem complicated, but RallyUp provides many tools and customization options to help you run a smooth and successful Auction. The links below will take you to other Knowledge Base articles with further information.
Types of Auctions
RallyUp offers two Auction types: English Style and Proxy Bidding. Learn which type may be best for you in this Knowledge Base article:
Understand: Auction Bidding Styles
Example Auction
See what a live RallyUp Auction looks like from a donor’s perspective (colors may differ depending on your Experience settings):
Costs
- Auction-only fundraisers must be run using our Advanced Pricing option, which includes a 7.5% platform fee.
- The 7.5% platform fee for each Auction item will never exceed $100, letting you keep more of the funds you raise from high-value items.
- Learn more about our pricing options by visiting our Pricing Page or the following article:
No Item Limits
You can add as many Auction items as you like, and you can customize how your items are organized. If you have a lot of items, consider putting them into categories so donors can quickly find what they’re interested in:
If you want to highlight a particular Auction item, you can create a link specifically for that item:
Promoting Your Auction
RallyUp has tools to help you get the word out about your Auction and make it easy for people to participate:
- Share the link to your Auction through social media or email to increase exposure to potential donors:
- Enable Text-to-Give, which allows people to text a keyword to 33100 and receive a link to your Auction on their phone:
How-to: Promote Your Experience with Text-to-Give
- Create QR codes for each Auction item and add them to your organization website or promotional materials:
How-to: Create QR Codes for Your Auction Items
- Add a Livestream to boost engagement:
Bidding Process
RallyUp helps you manage all steps of the bidding process:
- Donors bid directly from your Experience Page.
- When donors place their first bid, they’re asked to enter their credit card information and create a RallyUp account. This makes it easy for donors to increase their bids later if they are outbid.
- Donors can bid as many times as they want on as many items as they’d like.
- RallyUp only charges the winning bidders after the Auction ends.
Buy It Now
You can allow a bidder to buy an item immediately if they don’t want to risk losing the item to another bidder. Buy It Now allows donors to skip the bidding process and purchase an item for a set price:
Can I Add Buy It Now to My Auction Items?
Auction Gifts
If a donor doesn't win an Auction item, you can allow them to give an Auction Gift so they can still support your cause. This feature can seriously increase the amount you raise since you could potentially receive donations from all Auction participants, not just the winners:
Outbid Notifications
Donors automatically receive email notifications when they’re outbid, but they can also get text notifications when they place their first bid and create their account:
Both email and text notifications include a link that allows donors to easily update their bids.
If you choose to let our system automatically notify the winners when the Auction ends, winners who opted to get text notifications will receive both an email and a text.
Tax-Deductible Receipts
When the Auction ends, we charge winning donors’ credit cards and send them a receipt. If you include the Auction item’s Fair Market Value, the receipt also acts as a tax receipt that donors can use to claim tax deductions:
How to Designate ‘Fair Market Value’ for Auction Items to Appear on Winners' Receipts
Auction Reports
RallyUp provides several reports you can use to manage Auction details and analyze data:
Additional Resources
Speak to our customer success team by emailing success@rallyup.com or by logging into your account and clicking on the purple chat bubble in the bottom right corner of your screen:
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