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.