We know parents have many questions about the auction! Before bidding begins, review the questions & answers below. If you still have questions, feel free to e-mail the Auction Committee at auctions@neweaglepto.org.
What Do I Need To Know Before the Auction Begins?
The auction will be held completely online from March 22nd – 25th. All items – including New Eagle Experiences for children and adults and classroom art projects – must be bid on during the online auction.
To participate in the auction, you must have a registered user account on the New Eagle PTO website. If you already have an account (i.e., for volunteering with sign-up sheets) you will log in using your existing login information. You may log in using the Account/Login button at the top right of any page of the New Eagle website.
NEW for 2022: All users must have their account updated to include their mobile phone number (for SMS notifications) and valid payment method to use for any auction items won. You will not be able to place a bid until these are added/updated to your My Account page. For more information, please see the Auction – Be Prepared page.
The auction will be accessible via the PTO website. The link will be published on the main auction page once the auction goes live on March 22nd at 4:00pm.
How much of the money goes to New Eagle?
ALL OF IT. All proceeds from the auction go directly to the PTO’s Cultural Arts Committee with the goal of providing engaging and inspiring arts opportunities for our children. This is the only fundraiser for Cultural Arts programming.
How do I register for the auction?
If you’re signed up as a PTO volunteer, you’re already registered to participate in the auction. If you’re not, simply visit the Registration page and complete the registration form. Please note, after you register, you will need to verify your account by clicking a link in an email sent after you register. THEN, after registering, you will need to visit your My Account page to add your preferred payment method for any items you may win in the auction. For more information, see the Be Prepared page. Do this now so you will be ready when the auction opens on March 22nd!
What is available for bid during the auction?
The auction features items such as gift cards from local businesses (restaurants, salons, fitness), sports tickets and memorabilia, NEES Experiences, home design services, health and wellness packages, entertainment tickets and opportunities, gift baskets, and birthday party packages.
How do I bid and pay for auction items? What is “Proxy Bidding?”
To bid for items, you must be registered and logged into the website (see above question for instructions). Once logged in, you will browse the list of auction items. If you see an item that you are interested in, click it to view the details. We offer two types of auctions: Buy it Now, and Auction Bidding. Buy it Now items are limited-quantity items for New Eagle Experiences; these have a fixed price, and are first-come, first served. When you click “Buy it Now” you will immediately be redirected to pay for your item, as you would in a traditional online store.
Most of the items in the auction are up for bidding. The New Eagle Auction operates under proxy bidding. In an auction without proxy bidding, bidders bid an amount that is higher than the current bid, and then wait for someone to outbid them. At that time, they must bid again to become the highest bidder. This type of auction would mean bidders have to keep watching their bid items to know when they’ve been outbid and to bid again.
With Proxy Bidding, however, you can enter the maximum bid you are willing to pay in the Bid Value field, then let the system do the back and forth bidding for you. In the example below, the current bid is $15. With Proxy Bidding, if the top amount you’re willing to pay for the item is $50.00, you can enter $50 as your bid in the Bid Value field, but the actual bid will only increase to the next bid increment (i.e., $20). If the current bidder did not set a proxy bid higher than $20, you will now be the top bidder, with a bid of $20 showing publicly. Nobody will know that you have a proxy bid of $50 entered. If someone comes along and bids $40, they will immediately be outbid, because the system will proxy bid for you, to $45. This will continue until someone outbids your maximum bid.
This allows you to set your bid and forget it — rather than having to watch the auction like a hawk to make sure you can remain the top bidder.
Bidders may also add items to their watchlist. You may place items in your watchlist regardless of whether you’ve bid on them or not. This will allow you to easily follow the auctions you are interested in without having to search or browse through all items. You can view your watchlist at any time from your My Account page (see question below about My Account).
What happens if I win an auction item?
At the close of the auction, you will receive an email letting you know that you’ve won an item in the auction. This email will include instructions about how pick up your items. If you have bid on and won numerous items, you may prefer to visit your My Account page where you can view your winning bid items in one place. All items won will be auto-paid using the payment method you added on file in your My Account page. However even though items will be auto-paid, you must still check out all of your items. Simply visit the My Account page, click Auctions, and at the bottom of the list of items you have won, you may click Check Out All at the bottom of the list.
For Buy it Now items, you will be redirected to the checkout screen right away to complete your purchase of the Buy it Now item, so no email will be sent at the close of the auction for Buy it Now items. Buy it Now items are not auto-debited – you must complete the purchase manually. Also, please note, Buy it Now items do not show under the Auction tab in your My Account page; they appear under Orders on the My Account page.
What payment methods are accepted for auction items?
All items – Buy it Now and Auction items, must be paid for by credit card online, and you must add your payment method to your My Account page prior to bidding. Auction items will be auto-debited upon close of the auction, so you do not need to manually pay for each – but you do need to Check Out all items even after they have been auto-paid. Simply visit the Auctions tab in My Account at the close of the auction to check out. Buy it Now items are NOT auto-debited, and will be manually paid for at the time of purchase.
What is “My Account?”
You can manage your New Eagle PTO online account from your My Account page. You can visit the My Account page by clicking the Login/Account button at the top right of any page of the website, or from the sidebar of any of the auction pages.
From here, you can manage various details of your personal profile, as well as manage certain auction functions: Your watchlist, and your active/won/lost bids.
From your My Account page, you can update your name and address on file, as well as your display name, update your password, etc. You can also add a default payment method (credit card) – which is required before you can place bids on auction products. Please note, your credit card information is NOT stored on the New Eagle PTO website nor is this information obtainable by anyone through this website — it is all stored through our payment processing vendor (Stripe) securely.
By clicking Auctions in My Account, you can view a list of your active, winning, or lost bids, as well as your Watchlist of items. Buy it Now items DO NOT appear in the Auctions page; to view items won through Buy it Now, click the Orders link instead.
What programs are provided by the New Eagle PTO’s Cultural Arts Committee?
The Cultural Arts Committee handles the majority of the assemblies and visiting artists that come to NEES throughout the school year. Parent volunteers help to coordinate events and artists to enrich the current curriculum. Without the CA volunteers and fundraising donations, these assemblies and events would not be possible. The Cultural Arts portfolio of events is rich and diverse to meet the needs and interests of our students and the teachers at New Eagle. Even during the time of virtual schooling, the Cultural Arts programs were excellent and provided a much loved support to the curriculum. Events include the following:
- All grade events are part of each year. In school and virtual at home cultural explorations are part of the broader Cultural Arts and Diversity, Equity and Inclusiveness programming.
- Kindergarten – Mother Goose, Beekeeper.
- 1st grade – African Drummer, Weather presentation by the Franklin Institute and the National Weather Center, Japan Day (February) – Kimono, Karate, and Origami artist.
- 2nd grade – ,Johnson-Matthey Science Presentation, Chinese Festival – Calligraphy, Paper Cutting artist Master Cheng, and Tai Chi, Author visits
- 3rd grade – Beekeeper, Historical Figure (changes yearly), Tipi Building, Johnson-Matthey Science Presentation, Soil Erosion, Author visits.
- 4th grade – Artist in Residence, Immigration/Colonial Showcase, Historical Figure (changes yearly).
If you would like to get involved, or find out more information about any of the events or open volunteer opportunities, please email Sandi Mahar or Jeena Pereira at vpculturalarts@neweaglepto.org
What if I have other questions about the Auction that are not listed here?
No problem! Just e-mail the Auction Committee at auctions@neweaglepto.org and we will get back to you as soon as possible.