6 Live Auction Games That Increase Profits

October 12, 2022

Including one or more of these six live auction fundraiser games will increase your event’s profits and add fun and excitement to your gala, or other auction events. These activities are a great source of supplemental income to go along with your live auction. This blog will provide details and tips from fundraising experts Murad Auctions about these popular live auction fundraiser games. 

Live Auction Steal

The Live Auction Steal fundraiser game is a fun, profitable activity that creates elements of mystery and competition at your fundraising event. It’s a great way to maximize profits for your event because you have two ways to earn money; from the raffle and from the live auction. 

Guests purchase raffle tickets during the weeks prior to your event. The winner of the raffle gets to choose one of the live auction items as their prize.   Typically, tickets are priced at $100 each, and you limit the number of tickets sold to 100, so you should make $10,000 from this raffle! Be sure to publicize the live auction items when selling the tickets so the raffle buyers are enticed to buy tickets and can plan to steal their favorite package. If all the raffle tickets are not sold out before your event, choose outgoing volunteers to sell the tickets before the live auction as your guests arrive. 

The key to maximizing the profits of this live auction game is to offer auction items that can be sold more than once, so no revenue is lost at all!  If you have items that are donated, you can ask the donor if the item can be sold more than once if their item is chosen.  If they cannot donate the item again, ask them what they would want to be paid for the item and decide if it makes sense.  Include no-risk auction packages. These allow you to add luxury travel and experience packages to your live auction line up.  These items can be sold multiple times. The best part is that your organization has nothing to lose because it doesn’t pay for the package unless it is sold at the fundraiser.  Even though the live auction package is “stolen” by the raffle winner, the package can still be sold again in the live auction.

Check out this Murad Auctions video and blog for more details.

Heads Or Tails 

Heads Or Tails live auction game is another popular fundraising activity that helps get the attention of your guests before the live auction and raises several thousand dollars as well. Guests purchase a token, necklace or light up bracelet during the cocktail hour for $25. Once guests are seated, the auctioneer announces that it is time to play the game, and asks those who want to play to stand up!  

We like to offer a last chance to buy in before we play.  This can be done easily by asking those who want to play to hold up their bid paddle and the auctioneer calls out the numbers in the room while a team member writes down the numbers.  This allows people to quickly jump into the game. (You will need to enter the bid numbers into your auction management software to charge your guests for their purchase.)

Before the game starts, the auctioneer explains the rules and encourages guests to play. The last person standing wins the prize.

Watch this video or read this blog for all the rules of the game and more details.

Dead Or Alive 

Dead Or Alive is a live auction fundraiser game similar to Heads Or Tails. Guests purchase a chance to participate in this game at the beginning of the event. They are given paddles or cards that are green on one side and red on the other side. 

The auctioneer asks participants to stand, and he displays images of Hollywood actors on the screen. He asks guests to hold up the red side of the paddle if they think the actor is dead or the green side if they think the actor is alive. If they guess correctly, they stay in the game. The guests who answer incorrectly sit down. The last person standing wins the game. This is a fun game for a Hollywood themed event. For full details, watch this Murad video.

Last Hero Standing 

The Last Hero Standing live auction fundraiser game is a way to get more donations after the giving moment. When everyone has given, and the auctioneer gets down to the lowest donation level, he tells guests that he is looking for the last hero of the night and encourages them to donate to win a prize. He asks: “Who wants to be the last person to donate $100?” Guests raise their paddles to donate this amount. The last person to donate wins a prize, such as two roundtrip airline tickets or a $1,000 gift card. 

Sometimes to get the game to end, the auctioneer will need to increase the donation amount to $250 or higher.  Everyone who raises their bid paddle, will donate.  Only the last person to donate wins the prize.

Theatrical Dessert Live Auction Item

Do you want to get your audience’s attention during the live auction? Try setting a dessert on fire on stage!  Flamboyant desserts prepared by a popular chef during your live auction will increase bidding and garner extra income for your organization. 

Invite a chef to your event to show off their latest creation on stage such as Spanish Coffee, Bananas Foster, or Flaming Baked Alaska and turn it into a theatrical dessert live auction package. Have your live auction during dinner and serve dessert after the money has been raised.

It is best to do this live on stage, but you can also show a brief video of the chef preparing the dessert if they cannot be there in person. Add some dramatic background music while the chef is preparing the dessert or while the video is playing to generate excitement. 

After the dessert is made, the auctioneer starts the bidding. The highest bidder wins the delectable dessert for all the guests at their table to enjoy immediately. Other guests receive a different, more standard (but delicious) dessert.

See a video of a dessert being prepared. Get the Flaming Baked Alaska recipe here.

Paddle Sweep 

Use the Paddle Sweep live auction game to quickly generate extra donations at the end of the live auction. It’s a great way to end the event and gives everyone a chance to donate to your cause. 

After the live auction and giving moment are over, the auctioneer announces that a final prize is available for last minute donations. The auctioneer encourages all the guests to give their bid paddle to a volunteer walking around the room and tells them they will each be donating $100 for a chance to win a prize.  The paddles are placed in a large basket and given to the auctioneer.  The auctioneer draws a winner. Common prizes are a weekend stay at a resort, a $1,000 gift card, or a flight voucher. Each bid number is charged $100.  

These are just a few ideas to jumpstart your creativity. For more ideas, visit Murad Auction’s YouTube channel, and don’t forget to subscribe while you’re there. You can also visit their blog for additional ideas. 

About Murad Auctions

Murad Auctions offers professional charity auction services to non-profits for successful benefit auction events. Since 2000, Murad Auctions has helped hundreds of non-profits achieve their fundraising goals. Murad Auctions relies on years of experience, crowd-pleasing enthusiasm, and technology to take benefit auctions to the next level.

If your organization needs advice on your auction event, please get in touch with Murad Auctions at 972-238-0249 x 102 or contact us. You can also schedule a free consultation here.

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