“MobilBid was the perfect service for our silent auction at our Els for Autism charity golf tournament. The platform is intuitive, and their team is genuinely interested in the success of their clients' auctions.”
A golf tournament has a problem no gala has: your bidders spend most of the day on the course, far from the auction tables. With paper bid sheets, the auction only really happens in the hour before dinner. With MobilBid, golfers bid on their phones from the first tee to the last putt.
A tournament day on MobilBid
- The week before: open the auction online and send the link with your registration confirmations. Sponsors, golfers and supporters who aren't playing can all start bidding.
- At registration: golfers join on their phones; there's no app to download. Many set a maximum bid on the items they want, so the system bids for them while they play.
- On the course: when someone outbids them, golfers get an alert by text and email and can bid again between holes. Scheduled messages can remind everyone when the auction closes or point to items that need more bids.
- In the clubhouse: the big-screen leaderboard shows the auction as it happens, with your tournament sponsors on screen.
- At dinner: run your live items, such as a foursome at a private course, in the same auction, and take donations from guests who didn't win anything.
- At the close: the auction ends at the time you set and winners are told straight away, so the evening ends without a line at the auction table.
Why it suits golf events
- Items with several winners. Golf auctions often offer the same item several times, such as rounds of golf or club fittings. List it once and let each top bidder win one.
- Bidders beyond the course. People who couldn't get a spot in the tournament can still bid from home or the office.
- Same tournament, next year. Copy this year's auction, with its items and settings, and start next year's from there.
- English and French for bidders.
Humber River Hospital Foundation moved the silent auction at its golf tournament from a manual process to MobilBid. Read what they said on our page for galas and foundations.
What a golf tournament auction costs
MobilBid charges 5.5% of silent auction sales and 1.5% of donations and live auction items, with a $220 minimum and a $2,500 maximum per event. A tournament auction that raises $12,000 in silent items and $5,000 in live items and donations pays $660 + $75 = $735. Card processing fees and applicable taxes are separate. There's no contract and no annual fee. Try your own numbers in the fee calculator.
Common questions about golf tournament auctions
Can golfers bid while they're on the course?
Yes. MobilBid bidders use their own phones, so golfers can bid from anywhere on the course and get outbid alerts by text and email.
Can people who aren't playing bid in the auction?
Yes. You can share the auction with people who aren't at the tournament, so supporters, sponsors and families can bid from wherever they are.
Can we run live auction items at the dinner?
Yes. Live auction items, silent items, items with several winners and donations can all be part of the same MobilBid auction.
Run your next auction on MobilBid
Open a free account and build a test auction, or talk it through with us. You only pay when you run a real event: 5.5% of silent auction sales, $220 minimum, $2,500 maximum.