When SilentBid receives a bid, it needs to know who that bid came from. We therefore ask guests to pre-register their details with the SilentBid system before the event, using a simple online form which we will provide (customised with your event logos). Pre-registration also means that you capture contact details for your guests so that you know how to reach people to pay for the items which they've won.

Our smartly-dressed on-site staff are equipped with iPads to register guests at their table. Guests wanting to register simply send a "HELP" text message with their table number to SilentBid, and one of our staff will then come to the table to register the guest. It's all very quick, easy and non-intrusive for the guest. We can also supply additional iPads for your own staff or volunteers if you prefer or have a lot of guests to register at the event.

That's very common and SilentBid is fully equipped to handle these items. While bidding is still below the reserve price, SilentBid will display a "RESERVE NOT MET" message against the appropriate items. You can optionally have SilentBid display the reserve price, although most events prefer to keep the reserve prices hidden to encourage bidding. You can see some examples in our gallery.

Absolutely. SilentBid has an automatic countdown facility. You tell us when you would like the auction to end, and SilentBid will display the amount of time left for guests to place their bids. Ten minutes before the end time, the countdown clock will start to flash and automated alerts will appear in the information ticker. You can see some examples in our gallery.

Generally within 5-15 seconds, depending on how quickly the bid arrives with us from the guest's mobile phone.

Of course! Basic customisation of the screens to incorporate your event logo (and possibly Silent Auction sponsor) is included in the price. You can see some examples in our gallery. We can also provide a full customisation of the look-and-feel of the SilentBid screens - although we would probably need to charge a small additional fee for this work.

Absolutely. SilentBid includes a scrolling news and information ticker at the bottom of the screen (you can see some examples in our gallery). You can display whatever message you like here, including alert-style highlighted messages (rather like a Breaking News alert that you see on Sky or BBC news). In addition, any of the messages can be set to automatically appear at pre-determined time during the event - for example, a DINNER SERVICE WILL START AT 1930 - PLEASE TAKE YOU SEATS IN THE MAIN BALLROOM message that displays from 1900 until 1930.

No, in fact that's perfect! We will bring all of the equipment necessary to interface our output with your existing A/V partner. For the technically minded, our default output is VGA at 1280x720 (HD) resolution, but we can also provide output at other standards and resolutions if necessary.

We use broadcast quality playout hardware and software to produce a look-and-feel similar to that of a professional TV studio. We do not use inferior 'web' or 'Flash' software to produce our output. Our playout servers are duplicated (in case one has a problem) and we use multiple web servers to receive and process the text bids to protect against any single point of failure. We even have secondary text numbers in case there's a problem with the mobile phone network.

Yes, that's not a problem. We can supply and rig projectors and screens at your event venue (for an extra charge). We can also supply a full A/V service, including lighting, sound and production facilities, through one of our A/V partners.

A printed auction guide is generally a good idea. Typically it will contain pictures and comprehensive details of all of the auction items, plus simple instructions on how to bid by text message. We can design and print these for you, or just supply some instructions for you to include in your own brochure.

SilentBid maintains a running total of the money raised so far. This can be displayed continuously as a rolling update in the news ticker, put on-screen at appropriate moments during the evening, or just displayed as a big reveal when the auction closes. You can see an example in our gallery.

We can. SilentBid will automatically print invoices for each item when the auction closes so that you can take payment from auction winners. We have a standard invoice format that we can customise with your event logo and other details.

Yes - we can generally customise the look-and-feel to match anything you care to throw at us. Do bear in mind, however, that we will probably need to make a small charge for this service.

SilentBid is very affordable and we have various ways for charging for the service. Visit our pricing page for more details..

Yes - please visit our demonstration page for more details..