TL;DR

• In a sealed-bid auction each guest submits one secret amount, nobody sees the figures, and the highest bid wins when the lot closes.
• It is not the same as a silent auction, where bids are open and people can keep topping each other.
• Use it for delicate, unique or high value lots, or anything you want handled discreetly.
• It is quick to run on a phone, and it pairs nicely alongside silent and live lots at the same event.
• The trade off: less of the public excitement, so you would not run a whole event on it.

Most people know the live auction, where I stand up with the gavel, and the silent auction, where guests write bids on a phone or a sheet. Fewer know the sealed-bid auction, and that is a shame, because for the right lot it is the fairest and most dignified way to sell.

I have run all three formats up and down the country, so here is my plain English guide to the sealed bid: what it is, how it differs, when I reach for it, and how it works on the platform.

What is a sealed-bid auction?

A sealed-bid auction is simple. Every guest who wants a lot submits one secret amount. Nobody can see what anyone else has offered. When the lot closes, the amounts are revealed, and the highest bid wins.

That is the whole mechanic, and its power is in the secrecy. Because you cannot see the other bids, you cannot creep up a pound at a time. You have to ask yourself the honest question: what is this genuinely worth to me? Then you write that number down. It rewards conviction rather than tactics.

On my platform each guest submits their one secret amount from their phone, nobody sees any figures until the lot closes, and then the highest wins. Clean, quiet and fair.

How it differs from silent and live auctions

This is the question I get most, because the words “silent” and “sealed” sound similar but the behaviour is very different.

In a silent auction, bids are open. You write your number, someone sees it and writes a higher one, and it goes back and forth until the close. It is a slow motion bidding war, and that back and forth is exactly what drives the price up.

In a sealed bid, there is no back and forth. One shot each, in the dark. You never know if your number was the winner until the reveal.

A live auction is the opposite of both: fully public, out loud, with me on the mic driving the pace and the room feeding off each other.

Here is the honest comparison I give committees.

None of these is “best.” They are tools for different jobs. My live auction page covers the room filler, and the silent auction page covers the workhorse format. The sealed bid sits quietly between them for the special cases. If you want the two most common formats compared in more depth, I have written that up in https://temwa.generosityworks.co.uk/2026/07/21/live-auction-vs-silent-auction/.

When should I use a sealed-bid auction?

I reach for the sealed bid in a handful of situations, and knowing them saves you from forcing the wrong format.

Delicate or emotional lots. Say someone has donated a late relative’s painting, or a much loved local artist has given a one off piece. A loud, public bidding war can feel crass around an item like that. A quiet sealed bid lets people offer generously without a spectacle.

Unique or one off lots. When there is no retail price to anchor against, a public auction can stall while people wait to see what others think. A sealed bid asks each person to decide privately what it is worth to them, which often surfaces a higher number than a cautious room would.

High value or discreet lots. Some bidders, a local business owner say, would happily give a large sum but do not want the whole room watching. Sealed bidding lets them be generous in private.

Fairness sensitive lots. If you are selling something where you do not want the appearance of insiders sniping at the last second, one secret bid each is about as level as a playing field gets.

How do I run a sealed-bid auction on the platform?

On my free platform it takes minutes to set up, and guests run it from their own phones in the browser, no app to install.

1. Create the lot and mark it as sealed bid. Add a photo, a short description and, if you like, a minimum bid. If you are not sure where to pitch that floor, my guide to https://temwa.generosityworks.co.uk/2026/07/22/setting-starting-bids-reserve-prices/ covers it.
2. Share the link or a QR code. Guests open the catalogue on their phone, no download.
3. Each guest submits their one secret amount. They cannot see anyone else’s, and they cannot see a running total.
4. Set a close time. When it hits, bidding locks.
5. At close, the highest bid wins. Payment goes by direct Stripe payout into the charity’s own account, and there is no donor tip prompt on top.

That last point matters to me. Every penny a guest offers is aimed at the cause, not skimmed by a platform or nudged upward by a cheeky “add a tip” screen. If you want to understand the difference that makes, it is the whole reason I built the thing.

One practical tip: tell guests clearly, out loud and on the lot, that they get one bid and it is secret. People are so used to the silent format that they will assume they can come back and raise it. A quick line from me on the mic clears that up and stops any disappointment at the reveal.

The pros and cons of sealed bidding

I would rather you go in with your eyes open, so here is the balanced view.

The good. It is fair and clean, with no last second sniping. It suits delicate and unique lots where a public scrap feels wrong. It is quick, with no drawn out back and forth. And it can draw out a bidder’s true top figure, because they are not being cautious against a visible rival.

The trade offs. You lose the public excitement, the buzz that pushes a silent or live lot ever higher. You also lose the chance for an underbidder to come back with more, so a keen bidder who lowballed their one shot simply misses out. And because there is no visible momentum, an unsure guest might not bid at all. That is why I would never run an entire event as sealed bid. It is a scalpel, not a bread knife.

Can I mix sealed-bid with silent and live lots?

Yes, and this is how I use it most. A good charity night is a mix. The bulk of the catalogue runs as silent lots on phones through the evening, drinks in hand. Two or three star items get the full live treatment with me on the mic. And the one or two delicate or one off pieces go out as sealed bids, so they are handled with the quiet they deserve.

Guests barely notice they are moving between formats, because it is all one catalogue on their phone. They just tap the lot and the right kind of bidding appears. Behind the scenes you have matched each item to the format that will raise the most for it, with the least awkwardness.

A quick note on the tax side, since it comes up. Auction payments are generally treated as payment for goods, not as gifts, so they do not automatically qualify for Gift Aid, though there are specific conditions where any amount paid above a freely available item’s value can count as a donation (Charity Tax Group). And whichever format you use, keep the asks honest and clear, in the spirit of the Fundraising Regulator’s Fundraising Code. If you are unsure on the detail, check with your accountant.

If you want a hand setting up sealed bids alongside your silent and live lots, that is exactly my sort of job. The platform is free to use yourself, and it is free when you book me as your auctioneer too. Give me a call on 07596 851647 and we will match each of your lots to the format that raises the most.