Uncovering Underbidders At Your Next Fundraiser

Underbidders can play a huge part in boosting revenue at fundraising auctions, but these special participants can go undiscovered at a fundraising event. Although small in number, underbidders are often very generous bidders. They need special attention and careful consideration. And you need to know how to find them!

Optimum Prize Conditions

If you want to find underbidders at your auction your prize selection must contain items that are available in multiples. Holidays, weekend getaways, concert or sporting experiences are all great options where multiple packages of the same item can be made available. To maximise your revenue on these items, the more luxurious, highly sought after and desirable the better!

A Great MC

A professional MC is an expert at finding underbidders. With your multiple prize items in place, your MC will know exactly what to do to track them down. Make sure you've briefed your MC ahead of the auction on which items are available in multiples.

Finding Your Underbidders

Now that you have the perfect conditions for the underbidder, here's how to find them. Once the auction is in full swing, lead bidders on one of your multiple prize items will be leading the charge. As the bidding enters its final phase your stellar MC steps in and engages the bidders who are in second or third and even fourth place behind the lead bidder (congratulations btw you've found your underbidders!). The MC then says the underbidders can still win the prize they're after. But they just have to up their bids to….well, an amount that's significantly higher than their current bid (but still tantalisingly close enough to make them go the distance). The result? Multiple bidders get the prize they wanted (and receive some feel goods in the process for helping the cause in question). And of course the event raises more money than it would have done without the underbidders.

Tip: Donation Only!

Some events hold a "donate only" auction. This is where two or three bidders compete to see who can donate the most money. As you can imagine, underbidders in a "donate only" auction are great to have and they are almost always happy to donate their bids.