St. Vincent de Paul's PTO gala is the kind of event most schools think they're too small to run a real live auction at. They ran one anyway. Auctioneer Johnny Bravo called the Argentina Dove Hunt twice in the live auction at $3,500 each. The Fiesta en Mexico package sold separately at $2,500. The Golf Passport went silent at $4,800.
Four winning bids, three formats, $4,320 net to the PTO — proof that a small school auction with the right packages and the right auctioneer can outperform its size.
Why it worked
- Multi-winner Argentina Dove Hunt let the live auction collect both the top bidder and the under-bidder.
- Format diversity (live + silent + direct sale) meant every bidder type had a path to participate.
- Consignment kept the PTO's exposure at zero on every unsold item.
Net to mission: $4,320.