I am in charge of organizing the annual silent auction for my son's
preschool this year.  This year, we are thinking about having part of
the auction's items go on sale online, shortly before (or perhaps
after) the evening of the live auction.  My question is what options
are available to us to host this "private" auction online.

Here are some of the features I am looking for:
1. The ability to have a single page showing all of the items - sort
of a "homepage" for this online auction.

2. Potentially, the ability to restrict the bidding.  This is not a
requirement - I just want to know if it's possible to restrict the
bidding to people who've been invited.

I have listed items on eBay before.  But I am looking for something a
little bit beyond putting up 20 or so items on eBay.  Is there a
service that would allow you to host your own private auction online?

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Request for Question Clarification by tutuzdad-ga on 07 Dec 2005 10:13 PST

I'd be delighted to know if one of these options suits your purposes:

ECOMMERCE DIGEST
http://www.ecommerce-digest.com/auction-software-r.html

tutuzdad-ga

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Clarification of Question by otraub-ga on 07 Dec 2005 12:42 PST

No - this link doesn't really help.  It's an offer to buy an eBook.

There is probably a company that can sell you auction software. 
However, I would like to suggest a somewhat low-tech option.  You
could make a web page listing the items and opening bids, and then
accept bids by e-mail.  You would need to have someone periodically
checking e-mail and updating the auction web page, but as long as the
number of items and bidders is not too high (and the time period is
limited) this shouldn't be too difficult.

I am also thinking of creating my own auction site, for only a few
bidders, previously invited by me. We could easily put up the list of
items online and check our email for bids during the day but the
biggest problem for me is how to ensure bidders that we are
trustworthy. When "A" bids and sees his bid outbid... how will he be
sure that it was truly outbid or maybe he will think this is a
manouver to exploit? Ebay doesn't host private auctions, is there any
other auction site who does?