We are a small business and have a continue struggle with things like who gets the day after thanksgiving off. I know we could rotate but I came up with the idea of auctioning off the right to take off that day. So an employye could bid like $10 dollars but if another employee bid more he would get the day off. Any comment

Well, I would not raffle it myself. Your employees may find paying to lose a day's pay is asinine, as well as insulting. UNLESS you use the money from the raffle to pay for a better holiday party, or something that benefits (specifically) the employees (and in this, something you view as a benefit to them may not be the same as what they see as a benefit) - maybe take a poll as to what it gets used for?

Or you could go the true employer route:
Track employee attendance, forgiving any holidays or other legitimate days off,
and use attendance as a basis.
Use employee seniority - give first dibs to those that have been with you the
longest (unless you inherited employees - use the time at which you started as a
basis - you didn't hire those you inherited, however you did keep them on)
Job performance - you may not be able to track like with like (as they may not all
be counter sales or phone sales) .... but you can judge each position's
performance, and compare accordingly. The best one gets first vote, and if they
don't want/need the day off - they get to choose who does get it. (They can take
the bribes, etc, then it's off of you as an employer!)

my $.02

geekgirl