Auto-enrolling event attendees as bidders

When your event has an auction, you can have Soapbox create an auction bidder for each person who registers, so they arrive already numbered and ready to bid. This saves keying the same guests in twice and keeps your bidder list matched to your attendee list.

To turn auto-enrollment on:

1. Open the Events Manager.
2. Click the title of the event you want to edit.
3. Open the Auction Bidder section.
4. For Auction, click Select and choose the auction these attendees should bid in.
5. For Auto-Enroll Attendees as Bidders, select an option:
   • Off — no bidders are created automatically
   • All attendees — every attendee becomes a bidder
   • Selected ticket type(s) — only attendees holding the ticket types you choose
6. If you chose Selected Ticket Type(s), select the ticket types.
7. Click Save.

When bidders are created

A bidder is created as each registration is completed. Someone who registers after you turn the setting on becomes a bidder; someone who registered before does not.

Important: Auto-enrollment is not retroactive. Turning it on partway through a registration period leaves everyone who already registered without a bidder record. Add those attendees yourself from the auction's Bidders tab, choosing From event attendee — see the Auctions article on adding a bidder.

This is the single most common surprise with this setting, so it is worth turning on at the same time you associate the auction, before registration opens.

What each new bidder gets

Attendees enrolled this way arrive with:

• Their name, email and phone from their registration
• A bidder number, assigned automatically
• An Attendee connection badge on the auction's Bidders tab
• An origin of Events — auto from attendee, so you can always tell how they got there

They do not automatically get a Soapbox user account. A bidder needs one before a payment method can be saved against them, so if you plan to charge cards at checkout, create or link accounts for these bidders before the event.

Changing your mind

Turning the setting off stops new bidders being created. Bidders already created stay in the auction — remove them individually from the Bidders tab if you need to.

Changing which ticket types are selected affects registrations completed from that point onward, and nothing already created.

Related articles:

• Associating an Auction with an Event
• Adding a bidder to an auction
• Managing Bidders
• Linking and unlinking user accounts