Auction outcome?

[BlackjackGabbiani]

Anyone have a list of what was on the block and how much it went for? I heard the comics I donated went for 50$+ and I wanted to see if that was so.

[Mr Silmero]

I can give you the outcomes on the ones I won-


The Second Manga Tote-Bag with Gunsmith Cats, Chunchu among others with the artwork surprise inside- $40 I believe
Domo Painting, Domo Notebook and Invader Zim Pen- $40
Box of Ramune, 10 boxes of pocky, 10 boxes of Happy Panda, BIG box of Botan Rice Candy, Cat Ears, Auctioneers Hand Made Pillow, and picture of 2007 and 2008 Mascot Kissing- $183


Hoped That helped

[superjaz]

Anyone have a list of what was on the block and how much it went for? I heard the comics I donated went for 50$+ and I wanted to see if that was so.

The grand total for this years charity auction was 4400, over twice the amount of last year woot,

part of this We think is because the way we grouped things together they went for more $$$, like i put a case or ramune with a box (filled with more boxes) of panada cookies, paird with a anime movie and labled it "anime party night kit" 

by doing so yes i could see your comice bringing in around 50$ all together, its would be hard to say an exact amount does that make sence?

now by comices do you mean manga or comic books cuz there were both, the comices we paird in totes with other goodies and called manage libery starter kits, and the comic books we paired with somthing else i honestly dont remeber right this second

[gia]

We also ended up grouping a lot of things together sort of on-the-spot due to time constraints ^^

[superjaz]

We also ended up grouping a lot of things together sort of on-the-spot due to time constraints ^^

yeah I was told to add stuff together and other peeps were like what are you doing, and i like 'no time'

also lots of peeps donate stuff the last day of con cuz they jus dont want to take it home

Hand Made Pillow,

yup made it my self you should post a pic of it, i am thinking of making a matching blanket for next years auction

[BigGuy]

 Hey Mr. Slimero! did you eat the granola bar that was warmed in my pocket?

[Teuvan]

Anyone have a list of what was on the block and how much it went for? I heard the comics I donated went for 50$+ and I wanted to see if that was so.

The grand total for this years charity auction was 4400, over twice the amount of last year woot,

part of this We think is because the way we grouped things together they went for more $$$, like i put a case or ramune with a box (filled with more boxes) of panada cookies, paird with a anime movie and labled it "anime party night kit" 

by doing so yes i could see your comice bringing in around 50$ all together, its would be hard to say an exact amount does that make sence?

now by comices do you mean manga or comic books cuz there were both, the comices we paird in totes with other goodies and called manage libery starter kits, and the comic books we paired with somthing else i honestly dont remeber right this second

A general rule of auctions is that grouping items will always reduce the amount of money you take in. The main reason so much more money was raised this year was because there was a bigger audience. I was at the charity auction last year, and it didn't have a fraction of the audience this year's auction did. However, if I remember correctly (that's a big IF), they actually had people form a line for the closing ceremonies last year. This year, people could just take a seat during the auction, and keep that same seat for the closing ceremonies. That certainly helped boost the audience, and thereby the auction's income, tremendously.

I can understand being forced to group stuff due to time constraints, though...really, the charity auction undeniably requires a MUCH larger block of time. Items like the mascot yuri artwork and the pillow needed to be auctioned individually for sure. Item groupings need to be better-planned ahead of time. But I'm sure there will be improvements on how things are handled next year.

One thing I REALLY liked this year was the inclusion of refreshments. The cupcake from Nekopan and the can of BAWLS really helped me make it through the last hours of the convention.

[superjaz]

A general rule of auctions is that grouping items will always reduce the amount of money you take in.

Not this year, as high as the final tally was, never have so many items gone for over 100$ or so i was told  The grouping helped a lot on things that wouldnt have gone for much, like the cases of drinks and snacks, i have seen before go for very little compaired to what they were worth, because people didnt really need a huge box of candy or drinks that once eatten will be gone nothing to show for lost cash, but paird with a movie...
some grouping will ALWAYS be done last minit because when your handed somthing 5 mins before the auction starts, you do what you can to include it in a way that brings up the most buck.

the total seems een higher if you think about this last years charity auction total was 2000, 1000 of which was 1st badge, this year 1st badge went for 800, tho we did have the added bonus of the 2 slants dates which brought in a few hundred more.
I think another reason the $$ went up so much, is we had some vips doing their best to get stuff they wanted and benifit a great charity at the same time! woot for buying stuff for charity yay rockingness 

[Mr Silmero]

"I think another reason the $$ went up so much, is we had some vips doing their best to get stuff they wanted and benifit a great charity at the same time!" (does not know how to quote)

Yeah I distinctly remember going into that auction with a certain amount of money and remembering I wanted to make sure I left with not a dime left in my pocket- But I got a cool yuri artwork and a awesome pillow for my troubles, hahahaha...although it was impossible to carry all that stuff out...next year i'm just donating the candy to the Maid Squad, Yojimbo's then the staff..

[superjaz]

info desk and auctioneer <3 candy too 

[Mr Silmero]

of course- candy all around next time

Hey Mr. Slimero! did you eat the granola bar that was warmed in my pocket?

(now knows how to)


And I gave it to a friend of mine, I actually forgot about it until yesterday...

[BlackjackGabbiani]

by doing so yes i could see your comice bringing in around 50$ all together, its would be hard to say an exact amount does that make sence?

There wasn't a record kept? That would probably be handy to have in the future so auction suppliers know what to look for to generate revenue.

now by comices do you mean manga or comic books cuz there were both, the comices we paird in totes with other goodies and called manage libery starter kits, and the comic books we paired with somthing else i honestly dont remeber right this second

I mean some volumes of Pokémon Special in Japanese. I want to say three but there may have been two. I know 7 and 8 were among them, since 7 was the last one translated in North America so 8 never got here.

[Rathany]

I really wish I'd had money for the auction. 

Somehow, I didn't think saying "C'mon guys, you know I'd be good for it in a week or two" would have gone over too well. 

[Teuvan]

I really wish I'd had money for the auction. 

Somehow, I didn't think saying "C'mon guys, you know I'd be good for it in a week or two" would have gone over too well. 

That's another problem with the charity auction: It's always on the last day, and no one has money on the last day. One idea that randomly came to me was to split it into two parts. Have one in the hour before opening ceremonies, so that instead of waiting in line, everyone can grab their seats early and bid on things while they still have money. Even though it would be a little early in the morning, no events would be competing it, and there's always a huge mass of people waiting around before the opening ceremonies. Similarly, the second part would be done in the time before closing ceremonies, like it is now.

[superjaz]

There wasn't a record kept? That would probably be handy to have in the future so auction suppliers know what to look for to generate revenue.

oh records are kept, in a data base format if i remeber right, what i mean is I dont have them on me, and dont remeber everything off the top of my head, there are multible peeps involved in charity auction, I just show up before, help plan lots and auction off stuff the day of....
and do what washgoal otaku and sarah tell me to do, they are the real hard workers of the charity auction.....tho it did take a while for my voice to get back to normal, i started every day sounding like a frog

I do remeber those books, they did go for quite a big when peeps reconized there were original, I do think we paired it with something..I think it was some pokemon plushies ...once again lots of lots, almost 100 groups of stuff

[gia]

Anyone have a list of what was on the block and how much it went for? I heard the comics I donated went for 50$+ and I wanted to see if that was so.

The grand total for this years charity auction was 4400, over twice the amount of last year woot,

part of this We think is because the way we grouped things together they went for more $$$, like i put a case or ramune with a box (filled with more boxes) of panada cookies, paird with a anime movie and labled it "anime party night kit" 

by doing so yes i could see your comice bringing in around 50$ all together, its would be hard to say an exact amount does that make sence?

now by comices do you mean manga or comic books cuz there were both, the comices we paird in totes with other goodies and called manage libery starter kits, and the comic books we paired with somthing else i honestly dont remeber right this second

A general rule of auctions is that grouping items will always reduce the amount of money you take in. The main reason so much more money was raised this year was because there was a bigger audience. I was at the charity auction last year, and it didn't have a fraction of the audience this year's auction did. However, if I remember correctly (that's a big IF), they actually had people form a line for the closing ceremonies last year. This year, people could just take a seat during the auction, and keep that same seat for the closing ceremonies. That certainly helped boost the audience, and thereby the auction's income, tremendously.

I can understand being forced to group stuff due to time constraints, though...really, the charity auction undeniably requires a MUCH larger block of time. Items like the mascot yuri artwork and the pillow needed to be auctioned individually for sure. Item groupings need to be better-planned ahead of time. But I'm sure there will be improvements on how things are handled next year.

One thing I REALLY liked this year was the inclusion of refreshments. The cupcake from Nekopan and the can of BAWLS really helped me make it through the last hours of the convention.

Most of the grouping Jaz talked about is the adding of cookies and things to, say, a single volume of manga. I mean, how many solo auctions could we have done of a box of Hello Panda or a case of Ramune before people lost interest in those anyway? @_@ As for the closing ceremonies...it definitely added in a lot of crowd towards the latter quarter of the auction, but only a couple of them participated in the auction. Though I think it may have been a bit hard for them to hear, and we didn't always manage to make it all the way back to them with the items before someone else had already bought them.

I wonder if we could do a setup with a camera so that we can do a closeup of the items that appears on a screen everyone can see?

It would be nice if we could set up the groups earlier and not have to do any last-second, which is both a matter of the timing issue towards the end and, as Jaz said, a lot of last-second donations. @_@

[superjaz]

It would be nice if we could set up the groups earlier and not have to do any last-second, which is both a matter of the timing issue towards the end and, as Jaz said, a lot of last-second donations. @_@

which dont get us wrong, is great! Lots of times its costumes that peeps dont want to take home , so maybe if some one knew they were going to donate it on the last day, they could tell the donation booth what they are going to donate, so we can be a bit more prepared

[Antares]

WashougalOtaku has the final database of winnings.

[RemSaverem]

Here's what I would recommend:
Have one auction at the beginning of con, when folks still have money. Have this include things that would be accumulated all year prior to con, and maybe even some schwag left over from the prior con. Have things that would be of value to the purchaser DURING con, such as save one ticket for the VIP dinner for this auction, maybe gift certificates for 2 for some nearby romantic restaurant, maybe the first item(s) screened with the next year's mascot, posters with this year's mascot signed by all the execs--things that would make good show & tell, maybe some cosplay props....maybe special privileges like being the first ones admitted into the dance or cosplay (if that could be worked out with yojimbo), maybe a gift certificate for room service for the con hotel........Then have another auction at the end of con of stuff exhibitors and guests present at con have donated, autographed, or whatnot.
In fact I'd have a 3rd auction as a silent auction held either at a general meeting, or it could be a month-long process online with a dedicated web link with photos of each item.
Personally I'm all for grouping little prizes into packages with themes.
A peace group I was with for years would group prizes regionally into themed vacation packages. This wasn't done as an auction (though imho it should've been) but was done as a raffle, and it always brought in a lot of money and made winners very happy.
Raffles are another way we could potentially make $ off extra schwag (both made by us and donated to us). These could be held at con, at meetings, potentially by snail mail or online. And it would be fun making themed packages out of them.

[valliegirl]

...  and RemSaverem will run all three.

kidding.  ^_^

[leashy]

Three auctions?  That might be a little tough both scheduling and making sure enough people show up to each one to make it worthwhile.  Because generally we host the auction in main events because it goes right before closing ceremonies, but usually during the con main events is all booked up or being set up for other events.  Therefore if we had to put the first two auctions in a smaller rooms and they ended up being so popular that not everyone could get into the room, then it could hurt the $$ outcome.


I like the formula that we have now, and I think if we worked to either control the room a little better when people get chatty in back or just make it feel more "intimate" although it is a large space, that the auction will be even more booming than before.


ANYWAY I had a lot of fun at the auction this year watching everyone bid <3

[RemSaverem]

...  and RemSaverem will run all three.

kidding.  ^_^

Well, if someone (maybe Antares?) was up to coordinating a middle- of -the - year Silent Auction, I could probably be persuaded to help with that.

How about this:
Given the post (and the obvious reality) that many are out of $$ by the end of con:
Has there ever been, to anyone's knowledge, a con that experimented with having its auction after Opening Ceremonies rather than before Closing Ceremonies?
I simply imagine that it's not an illogical possibility that having the auction before most folks have spent all their $ might bring in more $. Also realistically I have historically known of many folks who have had to leave con prior to late Monday afternoon--last year I myself had to leave in time to work at 2pm Monday.
So if more folks are present the first day of the con than the third;
and if most folks still have $$ in their pockets / ATM accounts on the first day than the third;
is it really that illogical to consider having Auction with Opening instead of with Closing?