Boost recurring donations this giving season with the upsell prompt!With the Auctions app, you can add a bidder yourself rather than waiting for someone to register online — at a registration desk, over the phone, or in advance from your event's attendee list. There are three ways to create one, and the one you choose determines what the bidder is connected to.
To add a bidder:
- Open the Auctions Manager.
- Click the title of the auction you want to manage.
- Click the Bidders tab.
- Click Add in the toolbar. The Add bidder window opens.
- Under Add a bidder, choose one of the three options below.
- Complete the bidder's details.
- Click Save.
From event attendee
Use this when the person already has a ticket to the event your auction is attached to. Search by name, email, company, order number or ticket number, then select the attendee. Their details fill the form.
Important: This option needs the auction to be associated with an event. If it is not, the form says so instead of offering a search. See Associating an Auction with an Event.
Updating the attendee's ticket
While Also complete the attendee's blank ticket fields is selected (it is by default), anything you type that the attendee left blank is written back to their ticket. If you change a field they had already filled in, you are asked first — you can Update ticket or Leave ticket.
Note: Writing back to a ticket updates the ticket only. It does not update Salesforce or Microsoft Dynamics, and it does not change a wallet pass or badge that has already been issued.
Existing Soapbox user
Use this when the person already has a Soapbox account — a past bidder, donor, or event registrant. Search by name or email and select them.
Their name and email then come from that account and are not editable on the bidder record. If they are already a bidder in this auction, the form tells you so rather than creating a duplicate.
New / standalone person
Use this for someone with no ticket and no account — a walk-in at the registration desk. Enter their name, email, phone and shipping address directly.
A standalone bidder can bid immediately, but cannot have a saved payment method until it is connected to a user account. Select Also create a Soapbox user account for this bidder to create one at the same time, or link one later.
They can still settle what they owe. From the Checkouts tab you can record cash or a check, charge a card you type in, or send them a checkout link so they can pay online by card.
What each bidder needs
| To do this | The bidder needs |
|---|---|
| Place bids | A bidder number |
| Have a saved card charged from the Checkouts tab | A linked user account, a phone number, and a saved payment method |
| Pay what they owe | Nothing extra. Cash, check, a card your team types in, or a checkout link all work without an account |
| Receive text alerts | A phone number and an SMS opt-in |
Removing a bidder
Important: Removing a bidder is temporarily unavailable. At the moment, Remove bidder (and Delete in the Bidders toolbar) shows an error message, and the bidder stays in the list. A fix is on the way, and this section will be updated when it ships. A bidder added by mistake does no harm while it has no bids, so you can leave it in place.
Open the bidder, then click Remove bidder and confirm with Remove.
Important: Removal is permanent and cannot be undone. A bidder who has bids, wins, or paddle raise commitments cannot be removed. If the problem is a duplicate, see Merging duplicate bidders.
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