Boost recurring donations this giving season with the upsell prompt!Saving a card from the administrator's bidder detail panel has three prerequisites. If any is missing, the Add button under Payment Methods is disabled rather than failing when it is used — so the symptom is a greyed-out button, not an error. Hover over it and the tooltip names the reason. A fourth cause applies only when you take the card on a terminal reader.
1. Is the bidder linked to a Soapbox user account?
This is the most common cause, and it catches exactly the bidders you are most likely to be charging.
A payment method belongs to a user account. A bidder with no account cannot have one saved, and the bidder's detail panel says so in place of the list of cards:
A bidder must be connected to a user before a payment method can be added.
If the bidder also has no phone number, the button's tooltip asks for the phone number first, but the panel still shows this message.
Bidders who arrive without an account:
- Anyone added at a registration desk as a New / standalone person
- Attendees enrolled automatically from an event
Bidders who already have one: anyone who registered themselves online, and anyone added from an existing Soapbox user.
To fix it, open the bidder from the auction's Bidders tab and either Create user from bidder or Link a user. See Linking and unlinking user accounts.
Note: A bidder without an account can't save a card, but can still pay what they owe. On the auction's Checkouts tab, your team can charge a card you type in with New card, record cash or a check, or send the bidder a checkout link so they can pay online. See Why can't I charge a bidder's card?
Important: If you plan to charge saved cards after the auction, check this before the event. Discovering it while a queue forms at the checkout desk is the expensive way to find out.
2. Does the bidder have a phone number?
A phone number is required before you can add a card from the bidder detail panel. Where it is missing, the tooltip reads:
Add a phone number first to enable saved payment methods
Add one from the bidder's detail panel, or ask the bidder to add it on their My Preferences page.
This applies to the administrator panel only. Bidders adding their own card from My Preferences are not asked for a phone number first. So a bidder can end up with a saved card while the button is still disabled for you — if that happens, add their phone number and it will enable.
Whether a bidder is required to give a phone number at all is set per auction under Require Mobile Phone — see Choosing what bidders must provide.
3. Does your site take payments through Stripe?
Saved payment methods are collected through Stripe. If your site takes payments through another processor, or through none, no card can be saved from either side. The button stays disabled, and the tooltip reads:
Payment methods are unavailable on this site — the Stripe payment gateway is not enabled.
This is not something you can change from the auction. Contact Soapbox support if you expect to be taking card payments and the option is unavailable.
4. Is a terminal reader online?
In the administrator, clicking Add offers two ways to take the card: Use Terminal Reader, where the bidder taps their card on a Stripe Terminal reader, and Enter Card Manually. Bidders adding their own card from My Preferences always type it in, so this check applies to the administrator only.
If no reader is switched on and connected to your Stripe account, you'll see "Terminal setup was cancelled." with the message:
No terminal reader is online for this account. Switch a reader on, check it is connected, then try again.
Switch a reader on, check it is connected, and click Try Terminal Reader Again. Or click Enter Card Manually Instead and type the card details. If several readers are online, you'll be asked to "Choose the reader to take the card on."
A reader waits 90 seconds for a tap. If none comes, you'll see "The attendee may not have tapped in time, or the process was cancelled manually. No card was saved." Nothing is saved until you see Payment method saved.
The card is rejected rather than unavailable
If the button is enabled and the card is refused, the problem is with the card or the processor, not with the bidder's setup. Ask the bidder to try a different card.
Related articles: