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 Payment Method button 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.
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 instead of offering the button:
A bidder must be connected to a user before a payment method can be added.
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.
Important: If you plan to charge cards at settlement, 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 and the button stays disabled.
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.
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.
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