All That You Need to Know About Online
                     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. 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.