Last year, I auctioned off several stash alotments, over on Instagram, and they were very successful. This is the first time I have auctioned off a quilt. I thought I would send along some tips and lessons that I learned from the process :)
Tips:
1) Choose your dates, carefully
- Include weekdays, especially a Monday, and tag large fabric companies in your posts, so that they can share your post and increase the number of people bidding.
- Be careful about holidays, etc. I had forgotten that September is back to school month, since, well, the Kid hasn't gone back to school in a thousand years ;0 So, I reduced the number of folks who could bid on my quilt, as they had spent the budget in the previous month on necessities. October is also Halloween in the US, and that means buying or making costumes, which is also expensive. Note to self... September and October are poor months during which to post sales or auctions.
2) Take a variety of pics, in a variety of settings, to show the size and quality of your quilt.
- It was raining like the dickens here, and I think my pics didn't show the colors as well as they could have. I now have bright white lights for photography. Amazon!! So cheap!
3) Have it be fun!
- I tried to start a little friendly competition between my followers, and we all had a lot of fun with it. Even folks who weren't bidding, were having fun egging other people on :)
4) Have a purpose.
- The purpose for my auction was to donate to charity, and to add to the fund for making more items for future charity auctions. I made no money for myself on this auction. If you were looking for dollahs for stash acquisition, and not charity, you might have that be the theme of the auction. Mama need some new stash, yo!!
5) Follow through!!!!!
- I cannot emphasize this enough. You MUST follow through and contact our winner (s) immediately after the end of your auction. Then follow through with an invoice, and a thank you.
- I immediately let the winner know that she had won, and contacted her donation recipient so that she knew I wasn't going to rip her off, and keep all that green for moi.
6) Be grateful!!
- Please please please remember to thank all who participated and bid on your object/quilt. There is nothing less inviting than a person who takes and runs. Know what I'm sayin'???
The recipient of our donation had this to say:
"Lori,
This Mom has recently lost her daughter in a horrible accident. If you'd like to learn more, or send along your love or a donation, check out her blog. I am warning you, it is a hard read, and completely heartrending. Oh Mom!!! I wish we could make it better for you.Oh my God I had no idea! Seriously? Wow, that is so amazingly generous! I cant even believe that. Thank you with all my heart. Really!
People have simply amazed me at this horrible time. I never had any idea that there were such good hearts out there who cares for strangers. It really just has me in shock.
Thank you very very much. Bless you "
Or check out @auction4caitlyn over on Instagram
I just adore the quilting community and how supportive and generous you are. Kuddos to you, you lovelies!!!!
XX!
Lori
I've found I get much more for quilts when raffle tickets are sold. Seems most folks don't want to pay for anything these days.. Spoiled by,child labor and Walmart pricing.
ReplyDeleteThat is so interesting. I hadn't thought about raffles. I think it is difficult to find a target market for quilts, but it is certainly growing as making becomes more mainstream. XX!
DeleteBless you for doing this Lori. I'm sorry I couldn't bid at this time of year. This is an awesome thing to do. The recipient of the quilt will love it too because the colors are fabulous.
ReplyDeleteNice post. thanks for the shared with us.heather grey melange
ReplyDeleteJust a useful blog found here about how to auction quilt. Good to have this blog here with us . Thanks and keep sharing more useful blogs with us.
ReplyDelete