Sandra J. Paluzzi
The Bead Peddler®

Quarter auctions are a fun night out.  The concept is a cross between a live auction and a lottery.  Simply put, an item is put up for bid.  If you're interested you put money in the bowl and are given a number.  Then a number is drawn - sometimes from balls rolling around in a cage.  If your number matches the winning number you won the item. 

Typically, there are a variety of new goods at a quarter auction.  Many vendors join together in forming the market.  You can find rubber stamps, tupperware, Home Interiors, Taste of Home and of course jewelry.

Recently, I joined with two of my friends in placing items up for bid at a quarter auction.  We were told we had to put 2 entries in each of the following 4 dollar value categories.  Bids were priced according to the value of the merchandise.

Under 25.00 - Bid .25 a number
25.00-50.00 - Bid .50 a number
50-75 - Bid .75 a number
75-100 - Bid 1.00 a number

We brought our jewelry to the auction about a half hour before it began.  We also brought a typed description with dollar value for each piece of jewelry we consigned.  We were free to put our business cards near our items. 

People bought their numbered paddles at the door - the fee is typically between 2.00 and 4.00.  At the auction I attended, paddles were made with construction paper glued to popsicle sticks.  The numbers were written on the paper with felt tip markers so they would stand out.  When an under 25.00 item came up, all interested people put at least one quarter in the bowl at their table.  They then had the right to hold up their paddle.    One of the organizers collected the money from each table.   Then a number was drawn and the lucky winner claimed her item.   If person holding the winner number had not bid, everyone shouted 'loser' and another number was drawn until a bidder was chosen. 

When selecting merchandise to put in the auction, we were careful to choose items that we thought had mass appeal - our perennial best sellers or pieces that everyone had admired but no-one had yet bought. 

The auction house took 20% of the take on each item and we got to keep the rest.   Of course, there were no guarantees that an item would bring its value.  But the three of us made a profit on all our items.  More people bid on the lower end items than on the higher end ones.  It seemed people were willing to throw in one or two quarters for anything they kind of liked,  but only wanted to part with three or four quarters if they really wanted the piece. 

If your area doesn't already have quarter auctions, you may want to consider organizing one.  But remember a quarter auction is gambling.  Check to see if your state limits gambling to non-profits.  If it does, just choose a charity to support.  The charity would get the take from people 'buying' their number (each number costs between 2.00 and 4.00 depending on the auction site).  The charity would also get a percentage of the sales.  Of course, you could take out your expenses, such as the rental hall cost, before donating to the charity.

There are probably about a zillion variations on the quarter auction.  You could team up with some local craftspeople to hold your own auction.  You could define the value of the prizes you wanted and decide how to divvy up the costs.  These auctions are  a great way to sell jewelry in good weather or bad and to attract new customers.  If you organize with other craftspeople, then you would all be inviting people who valued crafts and were willing to pay for them. 

Of course, you would have responsibilities as the organizer.  You would have to rent the hall, put up the tables, create numbers on a paddle and come up with a way to draw the numbers.  Paddles have to be sold, items have to be shown and described, bids have to be collected and put in a separate pot for each vendor.  Of course, you would want to put up fliers and use word of mouth to spread news of the upcoming auction.  But guess what - so would all the venders.  They will all want to contact potential customers telling them of the opportunity to get jewelry cheap.  After all, they want their items to do well.   

While organizing a quarter auction will take time, I think it's worth the effort.  In fact, I plan on organizing a quarter auction for the American Cancer Society next year.  And you can bet I'll be putting some of my beaded jewelry up for auction.  I think everyone involved, vendors and charity, will end up making money.  I also think the bidders will have a great time.  To me, quarter auctions bring a new life to the marketing game.  And, if nothing else, they are fun. 

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