Registering and managing bidders from the floor

At a live auction, people arrive who are not yet bidders and bidders arrive whose details need fixing. Soapbox Engage Onsite lets your team do both from a phone at the registration desk, without going back to a laptop.

To open bidder management:

1. Tap Auctions in the app.
2. Tap the auction you are working.
3. Tap Manage Bidders.

The Registered Bidders list shows everyone already registered for the auction, with their bidder number and whether they have a card saved.

Finding someone

Enter a name or email address in the search box. Results show both people already registered for this auction and people with a Soapbox account who are not yet bidders — a person who is not yet a bidder is marked as such and is registered when you save.

Registering a new bidder

Use this when the person is not in the results at all.

1. Tap Register New Bidder.
2. Enter their First name.
3. Enter their Last name.
4. Enter their email address.
5. Tap Create and continue.

The app checks the email address against existing records as you go. If it belongs to someone already known to your site, the app tells you it was found via duplicate email check and connects them to that record rather than creating a second one.

Note: Registering someone this way creates the bidder immediately. Have their email address to hand — it is how their record is matched, and how anything sent to them later reaches them.

Assigning or changing a bidder number

1. Find the bidder and open their record.
2. Tap the edit control next to Bidder Number.
3. Enter the number on their paddle.
4. Save.

The number is written to the bidder's record straight away and is what your spotters will call out during a paddle raise.

Important: The app refuses a bidder number and explains why in two cases: the number is already held by another bidder in this auction, or it falls inside the range your auction reserves for pre-printed paddles. Check the paddle in front of you, and check the auction's reserved range, before assigning by hand.

Related articles:

• Saving a bidder's card and setting their auction default
• Capturing paddle raise commitments in Spotter Mode
• Managing Bidders