Auction Theory: What's the best time to have a raffle at an event?

We run ours after the auction ends. The reason we do this is so people can purchase additional tickets with the money they WOULD have spent in the auction had they won certain items.  Using our software, , people are notified immediately at auction close of what they have won and their invoice total, so they can quickly purchase tickets. In an offline auction (paper bid sheets), it may take too long to tell someone.  So, to Jinghao's point, it really depends on your specific event.

I'm the founder of Accelevents, a mobile raffle and silent auction technology company.  There are a number of factors which determine the best time to run your raffle.  First and foremost, do you expect attendees to stick around for the duration of the event?  If not, are you using a technology offering which allows you to easily contact the winner if they have left?  As Jeff mentioned, if you are not using technology, you need to leave yourself time to run the physical raffle.  You must also find a good time to announce the raffle winners which will not disrupt the rest of your event.

I agree with Jeff P, in part. The first thing I would ask is, what is the reason for holding the raffle? If the reason is, you got so many items donated that you could not auction them all, then by all means find a way that does not interrupt the auction much and pass them out in increments during the auction.  IF however your goal was to sell as many tickets as you can and to hold the audience attention then you should wait until the last item is sold and you will have a full house. (assuming you must be present to win) ALSO I can give you a tip.  Have your ticket sellers write the bidder number on the back of each ticket, and drop these in the bowl. This will save you in 2 ways. 1) you don't have to use as many tickets because instead of giving the bidder a bunch of tickets to hold on to the stubs they simply have to remember their bidder number 2) you can move much quicker thru the raffle number winners and a cashier can spot if a bidder has already paid and left the building.