Boost recurring donations this giving season with the upsell prompt!With the Auctions app, a bidder's balance on the Checkouts tab is always what they owe now, less what they have paid and anything written off. So a bidder who paid in full can owe again later. When that happens, their status changes from Paid to Partially paid.
To see what changed:
- Open the Auctions Manager.
- Click the title of the auction you want to manage.
- Click the Checkouts tab.
- Click the bidder's name, or click Open on their row.
- Compare Line items (what they owe) with Payments and Adjustments (what they have paid). Communications & activity shows changes your team made, and when.
1. They won or bought something after they paid
Paying settles only what the bidder owed at that moment. Anything they win or buy later is added to the same checkout. This is common when a bidder pays for fixed price purchases during the event and silent items close afterward, or when they use Buy Now after paying.
2. A paddle raise pledge was added after they paid
A pledge is billed once it is attached to the bidder and confirmed. Reconciling pledges after a bidder has paid can add to what they owe, for example:
- Clicking Mark Valid on a pledge held as a possible duplicate
- Attaching a pledge recorded against Unknown bidder
- Correcting a pledge's amount upward
Finish reconciling pledges before you send links or charge cards. See Reconciling paddle raise commitments after the event.
3. They paid part of their balance
Your team can take a smaller Amount than the balance, and a bidder can pay part of their balance from their own checkout. The rest stays owed.
4. A refund, a reversed write-off, or a larger line item
Each of these raises the balance:
- A refund. A refund gives money back without removing the item, so the bidder owes it again.
- A reversed write-off. The written-off amount is owed again.
- An adjusted line item. A line raised to a higher amount reads "Adjusted from" the old amount, with the reason. See Adjusting or removing a line item.
What to do
Take the payment, write off the new balance, or send the bidder a new checkout link. The link they used to pay no longer works once they owe something new. See Why doesn't a bidder's checkout link work?
Note: On a large auction, the tab updates up to 50 bidders each time it loads. Reload until the Bidder checkouts count stops changing — and before you charge a batch, reload until the figures stop changing.
Until the tab catches up, a bidder who now owes more can still show Paid in the list. Opening their checkout always brings it up to date.
If the bidder is owed money instead
If a bidder has paid more than they now owe, for example after a line was removed, their status reads Refund due. Take a payment then reads "This bidder is owed $X. Refund it from a payment in Payments and Adjustments." See Refunding a payment or reversing a write-off.
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