to raise funds by auctioning a high priced item is it best to sell small amounts of high priced tickets or ,,,

Question

If I am trying to raise funds for a charity and have a high priced item to raffle off, like a car or a Harley Davidson motorcycle, is it best to sell a lesser amount of higher priced tickets (say 500 at $100 each) or a greater amount of lesser priced tickets (say 1000 $50 tickets) ? Or is there a better alternative than either of these ? Thanks.

Answer 1

You know what you want, but the unknown is the ticket sales. Study your market. Who are you planning to sell the tickets to? How many will want the prize? How many just want to help you out and couldnt care less about owning, much less driving a Harley.

Once you figured those numbers out, you will find that that more people will want a car. Arrange to have a few smaller prizes such as a thousand dollars or 500 dollars cash consolation prizes.

If you can be sure of a lot of wannabe Harley owners, go for that as the main prize.

The second consideration is how fat the wallets are of your market group. That will determine the number of tickets and how much to sell them for. Figure this one out by doing a survey.

Answer 2

How receptive do you think your market will be to higher priced tickets? What income level do you approximate the market would have? Typically you want to appeal to more people, so lower prices can help do that.