Money can't buy auction lots: sourcing, valuing and selling them

Money can’t buy auction lots are the ones a winner could never have bought for themselves, and they are usually the lots that decide whether a night hits its target or sails past it. I’m Kevin Durham, and in twenty years on the mic I’ve sold hundreds of them. I’ve also watched good ones fall apart weeks later because nobody wrote down who was delivering what, to whom, and by when.

What makes money can’t buy auction lots genuinely unbuyable?

One question settles it: could the winner have bought this tomorrow, from anyone, at any price? If the answer is yes, you have a retail lot with a good story attached, and the room will price it accordingly.

HMRC draws the same line for tax purposes. For a lot that is commercially available, the value is the shop sale price. For a lot that is not commercially available, its value is simply the auction price the winner paid.

Three things get mistaken for money can’t buy lots:

• A voucher for something the room can book online, which is really a discount in a nice envelope.
• An expensive object. A handbag is not unbuyable, it is only costly.
• A packaged experience day sold by a gift company, which is unusual rather than unique.

The real ones have someone behind them who has chosen to open a door that is normally shut.

Where do money can’t buy auction lots come from?

They come from people who are already close to the cause: trustees, long-standing supporters, corporate sponsors, and the charity’s own work. Almost never from a catalogue.

Trustees. Trustees often hold the access a fundraising team cannot reach: a box at a ground, a shoot, a boardroom, a house in a place people dream about. Take the offer, then handle the governance properly. Declare it, note it in the register of interests, and keep the trustee out of any decision where their own interest sits, as the Commission’s guidance on conflicts of interest sets out. Trustees must also not receive any benefit from the charity unless it is properly authorised, so if the donation comes with promotion attached, get that agreed in a meeting the trustee is not voting in.

Supporters. Ask the ones who host rather than the ones who write cheques. The retired head chef, the pilot, the artist, the conductor, the person whose job sounds like a story.

Sponsors. Companies sitting on hospitality, rehearsal space or a seat in the design studio can give something that costs them little and can’t be bought anywhere.

The asking is a job in itself: the scripts are in my guide to how to source lots.

Lots from the beneficiary’s own world

This is the strongest seam and the most delicate one. A conservation charity can auction a morning with the ranger team. A theatre has two seats at the technical rehearsal. And a research charity can put the winner in the lab with the scientist whose work the room has just watched on film.

Nothing a shop sells competes with that, because the room has just spent an hour learning why it matters.

Handle it with care. The Code of Fundraising Practice requires clear safeguarding procedures covering everyone involved in an activity, and trustees must take reasonable steps to protect people who come into contact with the charity through its work. In practice that means three rules. Everyone appearing in the lot agrees in writing, in advance. The lot gives access to the work, never to a person the charity supports. And no child or service user is ever part of what is being sold.

How do you value a money can’t buy lot honestly?

You do not give it a retail price, because it does not have one. Publish what is included and let the bidding decide the number.

That is not only a presentation choice. Because the lot is not commercially available, HMRC treats the benefit to the winner as the full auction price, so there is no portion of the hammer price to claim Gift Aid on. Splitting a payment into purchase plus donation only works where the lot is commercially available and the bidder knew, at the time of the winning bid, that it could be bought separately and for how much.

Your finance team will still need a figure for the accounts, where donated goods are recognised at fair value on receipt. That is an accounting judgement, not a marketing claim.

An inflated value in a catalogue is also a compliance problem, because fundraising must not mislead by giving inaccurate information or exaggerating details.

Honesty sells better anyway. One charity I worked with had used an external auction company the year before: it grossed around £13,000 and the charity saw about £1,300. When I came in, I told the room at the start exactly where every pound was going, lot by lot. The company’s lots took a fraction of the previous year, and the live pledge raised £8,300, all of it to the charity. I didn’t trash anyone. I just turned the lights on, and the money followed the transparency.

How do you describe a money can’t buy lot so it sells?

Describe the day first, the constraints second, and never mix the two. The room bids on the day. The winner is the one who needs the constraints.

Four facts belong in every description:

• Who is hosting it, and where.
• The dates it can happen, and the dates it cannot.
• How many people.
• What is not included: travel, accommodation, food, insurance, extra guests.

Keep the emotional work for the stage. There is more on that in my piece on experience lots, and if flights or a stay are involved, the detail sits in my guide to travel lots.

The delivery and expiry terms that protect everyone

Get one page from the donor, signed, before the catalogue is printed. It takes ten minutes and prevents almost every argument I’ve seen six months later.

• A claim-by date. Twelve to eighteen months is reasonable, and it belongs in the catalogue, not in the small print. Which? found gift cards typically expire a year or two after purchase, yet a quarter of recipients said the expiry date was not clear to them. Do not repeat that with a £6,000 lot.
• Date windows and blackout dates. A stadium lot in the close season is a different lot.
• A named contact at the charity who owns fulfilment. Winners should never be chasing the donor.
• Transfer rules. Say whether the lot can be gifted on, and make resale a flat no.
• Risk and insurance. The Code requires a risk assessment and clarity about who is insuring against each risk. Flying, sailing and driving lots need that in writing.
• A fallback. If the donor cannot deliver, agree now whether the winner gets a substitute or a refund. Deciding that afterwards is where goodwill dies.

One for the finance lead: HMRC’s manual treats a fundraising auction as an event that can fall inside the fundraising exemption when the conditions are met, so check the VAT position before printing terms about it.

Why do money can’t buy auction lots outperform retail items?

Because there is no price for the room to check. A retail lot is anchored to a number everyone can find in thirty seconds, and the charity gets a modest premium on top of it.

Research on eBay’s charity auctions put that premium at around 5 percent over identical items with no charity attached, and it shrank as items got more expensive, as though bidders hold a maximum donation in their heads. That is the ceiling you are fighting with a television or a hamper.

Remove the comparison and the ceiling goes with it. Two people who both want the same impossible afternoon will take each other somewhere neither planned to go.

Jigsaw Trust expected £14,000 from their live auction. The auction generated £27,000, and a live pledge they hadn’t even planned raised a further £30,600. That was a strong team behind a strong charity, with lots their own people had opened doors for. Fewer, better lots and a properly structured live pledge beat a long catalogue every time.

Common questions about money can’t buy auction lots

How many should a live auction have?

Two or three, inside a short list of about eight lots. More than that and they stop feeling rare.

Should a money can’t buy lot carry a reserve?

Usually not in a live auction, where the job of holding the room belongs to the auctioneer. If a donor needs protection, agree a written minimum before the night rather than improvising on stage.

What if the bidding stalls?

Withdraw it and re-offer it next year rather than letting it go for a number that insults the donor. A lot sold cheaply is harder to ask for again.

Can we auction the same lot every year?

Yes, if the host is happy and the room still wants it. Once it becomes expected, refresh it or rest it for a year.

Putting a lot list together and want a second opinion on what will fly in the room? I offer a free fundraising consultation. Call 07596 851647 or hire an auctioneer to check availability.