What is AirAuctioneer and what inspired you to set it up?

AirAuctioneer is a new, Australian owned, online auction platform which helps charities, fundraisers and businesses raise funds.

The inspiration to create this tool came several years ago when I wanted to raise money for a Sydney children’s charity. There was no online auction platform solution available that was easy to use, affordable or flexible enough to suit my circumstances. As a result, I had my own website developed which provided me, and many others, a simple and cost-effective solution to run an online auction. With our combined 15-plus years’ experience, my business partner, David, and I designed and recently launched AirAuctioneer.com , which is a multi-featured online auction platform that is user friendly, flexible and very reasonably priced.

Tell us the nuts and bolts of how the platform works.

The platform is free to trial so people can easily see for themselves how it works. In summary, the auction host simply:

• Customises their own auction page.
• Adds an unlimited number of auction items – and uploads any number of high-resolution images.
• Fine-tunes how their auction will operate with a full set of helpful features.
• Shares their customisable auction URL with potential bidders.
• Can elect to self-manage the collection of funds from auction winners’ or choose the platform to manage this via Stripe.
• Keeps track of bidders’ checkout progress with simple order management views.

Bidders can:

• Browse auction items using smartphone-friendly layouts with sorting and filtering options.
• Bid via a quick/simple registration process – by connecting a Google or Facebook account or by signing up with email address and password.
• Keep track of rival bids through helpful views and email notifications.

Who has been using the platform to date?

The platform is relatively new but has already been used to run auctions in many countries across the globe.

Charities (including third-party fundraisers for charities) and fundraisers (schools, clubs etc) of all sizes have all raised funds using AirAuctioneer. Businesses can also use AirAuctioneer and have done so frequently.

AirAuctioneer has also been designed with live events in mind so many of our clients are using the platform in combination with a live event.

What has been the impact of AirAuctioneer to date?

AirAuctioneer has provided a cost-effective tool for charities and fundraisers of all sizes to raise significant funds for their worthy causes.

What are your tips for holding a charity silent auction?

• Decide early if the auction will be completely online or used in conjunction with a live event. (AirAuctioneer can be used in either case but extra time would be required to prepare for a live event.)
• Determine if you wish to showcase your auction items before the bidding will start. (AirAuctioneer does have this feature and this may require extra time.)
• It is helpful to have good images to support your auction items to maximise the bidding. (AirAuctioneer does not limit the number of high-resolution images which can be uploaded to each auction item.)
• Think about the amount of time you wish to run your online auction. (We have had auctions as short as one hour and as long as one month but on average an online auction is run between 8-12 days.)
• Decide to either self-manage (saves money) or use the platform to manage (saves time/hassle) the funds from auction winners. (AirAuctioneer supports both options.)
• Consider the auction end day/time carefully. Try to finish the auction at a time when bidders/potential bidders are likely to have time to bid/counter bid.

What is  a recent example of an organisation using the platform?

SnowsBest.com (an independently owned and published snow news, views and travel blog) held an auction to raise funds for some of the charities involved in the Australian bushfire crisis in early 2020 (including Australian Red Cross, Wildlife Victoria and WIRES Wildlife Rescue).

They listed 116 items, had over 320 unique bidders who made over 1,100 bids, and raised $213,495.

SnowsBest.com chose the convenient option for AirAuctioneer to manage the collection of funds from the many auction winners and were delighted with the success of the auction.

Here is their testimonial:

“We had a limited time to pull together 120 auction items worth $300,000 for a bushfire appeal, so you can imagine the stress levels. The team at AirAuctioneer took so much of that stress away, their communication skills are inspiring, always happy to answer any question at any time, and the site is so easy to work on with an intuitive dashboard and a clean simple visual. I could not recommend AirAuctioneer enough. I know their dedication and platform ensured we raised the maximum charity funds we could and we were thrilled.”

All about AirAuctioneer

Here are some other features that make AirAuctioneer an effective platform:

• Low cost 12-month account allows for multiple auctions
• It is free to trial
• Payment collection method options
• Anonymous bidding option
• Starting Price, Bidding Increment and Reserve Price settings
• Password protection option
• Automatic Auction Extension options
• Proxy bidding options
• Live event options
• Several optional emails can be used
• Buy it now option
• Option to stagger auction item finish days/times

For more information visit the website.