FAQ Gala/In Person Paper Auction

1. How can I place a bid for a guest at our gala?
2. How can I include absentee bidders in a live auction?
3. What’s the best way to handle proxy bidding for an absent guest?
4. How can an absent winner pay for their item?

A: If you want to accommodate absent bidders for a Gala Auction, you'll need to issue a ticket/bidder number for each bidder that is not present (it can be a $0 ticket). Creating Ticket Types + Video 

Then designate a volunteer/proxy to raise the absent bidder's paddle on the absent bidder's behalf, up to their specified limit, while the desired item is being auctioned.

If the absent bidder wins an item, you can record the sale to their bidder number. Awarding Items One At A Time + Video 

To collect payment, send the absent winner an invitation to Self Check-Out. Overview: Self Check-Out
 

1. Can we switch to an online auction if our gala is canceled?
2. Do guests need tickets to participate in an Online Auction?
3. If I convert my Gala auction to an Online Auction do I need to re-enter my catalog items?

A: Occasionally, organizations need to cancel their in-person galas. That’s a difficult choice to make. While there are way too many factors involved in this decision to tell you what you should do, we can weigh in on what you can do if you decide that you don't want to move forward with your in-person gala.

Instead of canceling your fundraising efforts, you can run a pure Online Auction. If this is of interest to you, here's how to get started.

While online-only events can’t replicate the energy that drives up bidding at in-person events, there are some steps you can take to maximize their fundraising potential:

Run your online auction in stages, starting with a well-curated Silent auction. A well-curated auction includes items that have broad appeal, display well in your catalog, and are likely to generate lots of bidding interest. If you have a large selection of gift cards, be aware that these don’t often yield much online income. But you may be able to combine some of those gift cards with other items and create more interesting auction packages. For instance, if you’ve received a lot of restaurant gift cards, you could create a Give the Cook a Month Off package.

When it comes to online auctions, less is more. Ideally, you want to get 5 - 9 bids per silent item in order to maximize earnings. This means offering fewer items. Think about the number of people likely to bid in your online auction, and limit the number of items you’re offering to 35% of that amount. That means if you expect 100 people to bid, you’ll want about 35 Silent online items in your catalog. If you’ve already procured more items than you need, set some aside for a future event and/or combine some of them into more appealing packages.

Follow up your Silent online auction with an online “Live” auction. Convert your Live auction items to Silent items and set up a separate bidding group for them, so that they open after your Silent auction closes.

Promote the heck out of these items. Be sure to send your supporters an invitation to bid. Remind them to bid high and bid often to support the good work your organization does. Update and resend your invitation to bid daily with a list of who leads the bidding for your most competitive items. Include a list of items that are “too-good-to-be-true” deals to goose bidding on those. The goal is to spur a sense of heightened competition among your bidders.

Use the Extended Bidding feature, so that any item with active bidding near closing time automatically remains open to capture last-minute bids.

Use Max Bidding so that bids are placed faster.

Be sure to turn on Outbid notices! 

After your online “Live” auction closes, tally up what you’ve earned from your Silent and Live items. How close are you to meeting your goal, or to what you typically earn at your gala auction?

Now it’s time to launch an online invitation to give. This will serve as your virtual Paddle Raise. Edit your invitation to give to thank everyone for their support thus far. Let them know how much they’ve raised already, and how much your organization still needs to meet its goals. Remind them of all the great things their donations support.

You can raise money for a single fund or multiple funds. Plus level and Professional level subscribers can set up Recurring Donations on their sites.

Finally, make sure to edit the text at the top of your Give page to highlight your appeal. If you want to produce a short video appeal to appear there, we can help you embed that at the top of the page.

1. What should I do if ticket sales have already started, but I want to organize table hosts?
2. Can I assign seating preferences to attendees based on table hosts?

A: There are several ways to organize "Table Hosts," though it's best to set things up before launching ticket sales.

Here are a few options that other customers have used:

• Guaranteed Table Add-on: Some organizations offer a “Guaranteed Table” as an add-on item below the ticket menu, for an additional cost (e.g., $100-200), allowing you to control quantity. Buyers of this add-on become your hosts, and you can also issue these internally from the Orders page (you can also issue these internally to whomever you want, at whatever price you want from the Orders page). 
  
  Note: Whoever pays for the add-on item gets the receipt, there is no way to divvy up the cost in the software after the fact.
  Instructions:  Selling Items along with Tickets + Video
  Instructions: Creating a New Order from the Order Page
   
• Seating Preferences: If you know your table hosts ahead of time (and thus, know who they are), you can edit the Seating Preference Custom Field to a "List" (dropdown) field rather than a simple text field, showing attendees their table options. 
  Instructions: Editing Custom Fields
   
• Table Host Tickets: If you haven't recruited hosts yet, you can set up a "Table Host" ticket type before regular sales begin. Once you know who the hosts are, create separate ticket types with the available quantity for each Hosted Table (eg. tables of 10 would have 8-9 available, depending on whether the host is attending solo or with a partner). Then set up Coupon Codes for each host’s tickets. This gives hosts control over who can buy tickets for their table. 

Note: When setting up the Host ticket type(s), you can set up both an individual and linked couple option (one coupon code will provide access to both) or offer only individual tickets but add an optional Custom Field so guests can specify if and with whom they'd like to share a bidder number/cart with.
Instructions: Creating Coupons/Discounts for Tickets. 
Instructions: Creating Custom Fields + Video

If your table host system is casual or if ticket sales are already underway, using the Seating Preference Custom Field and assigning tables can work surprisingly well. 

1. Do volunteers need tickets to bid?
2. Can volunteers bid in our gala auction? 

A: Since tickets generate bidder numbers, you’ll need to issue tickets to your volunteers in order for them to participate in your gala auction, just like your guests.

Luckily, there's already a complimentary Volunteer($0) ticket loaded on your site. You can distribute this ticket by going to the Tickets page and clicking on the green "Sell a Ticket" button, or directly from the check-in screen when needed. Selling Tickets at Check-in

If you need to customize the Volunteer ticket type, you can easily do this under Site Settings > Registration > Tickets > Ticket Types. Creating Ticket Types + Video

In case the pre-loaded ticket type was accidentally deleted, you can restore it by using the "Show Deleted" button on the same site settings page.
 

1. How can I edit the text at the top of the tickets page?
2. Can we Customize the Registration Form?
3. How can I change the text color of the Tickets page?
4. Is there a way to edit the text at the top of the Registration page?

A: You can personalize the Header, Text and Top Section of your Registration Form using the following these instructions:

• You can edit, add, or remove the text that appears as the Header on the initial screen of the Registration process, also known as the Page Title of the Registration Form:
  • To edit/remove the Header (Page Title): Go to Site Settings > Registration > Tickets > Online Ticket Sales > remove or add text to Page Title and Save.
     
• If you'd like to change the Text Color on the Registration Form you can do that by changing the Theme.
  • To change the text color on the form: Go to Site Settings > Customize Your Site > Look & Feel > Themes and Save.
     
• You can edit, add, or remove Text to the Top of the Registration Form.
  • To add additional content (Instructions, a welcome message) above the form: Go to the Tickets page > click on the green "Sell a Ticket" button > click on "Edit Text" > add content > Save.

1. Can multiple people split the cost of a table and still receive tax receipts?
2. What’s the best way to handle group table purchases if guests want to share the cost?
3. How can I sell a table ticket that will be paid for by several guests?

A: The software does not allow one person to buy and pay for a table, then the order to be edited to reflect that others contributed to the cost of the purchase - the IRS has very clear rules for receipts used for tax purposes - they must be in your own name and reflect the amount you paid/donated. If folks want to buy a full table and split the costs among themselves offline - that's fine - but you can't provide them with receipts which reflect that.

If your event has a tradition of supporters sharing the cost of a table - then they should buy their own tickets - and request to be seated at a particular table. You can encourage this by adding a description to your table ticket to the effect: If you are paying for the entire table, choose this option. If you would like to buy tickets for a shared table, please buy your chosen tickets and let us know which table you would like to sit at when you provide your guest details.

• To provide ticket buyers with a field for specifying their seating requests, you can add our pre-set field for seating preference (provides a text field) or create your own custom field with a dropdown menu of available table hosts.   
• Illustrated instructions:  Collecting Meal Choices and common guest options (seating preference). and Creating Custom Fields + Video 
• Then bulk assign individual guests to sit at a particular table:  Assigning Guests to Tables and Seats

If you have a limited number of tables available, some customers opt to offer them as Add-On Items below the ticket menu (usually for an additional fee for the "privilege" of premium seating).    

For table tickets that have already been purchased by a single buyer- the easiest path forward is to edit the order with the table ticket in it > click on the edit ticket link to choose the ticket(s) the buyer wants to pay for themselves.   Then you can assign everyone to sit at the same table. Editing An Order From The Order Page + Video

If you have more questions about how to proceed contact our Customer Support Team via the Help Widget. If you have questions about specific tickets/orders, please provide the names/order numbers so we can give a specific rather than general question.

1. Why is it better to sell a sponsor a teacher ticket as an add-on item?
2. How can I make sure no one can see which teachers were sponsored and which were not?

A: Admission ticket setup for "Buy a Teacher Ticket". This will work but is fraught with potential awkwardness so we recommend offering this as an add-on item instead of an admission ticket.  

Here's why:
Admission tickets will provide a guest form for the buyer to complete for that ticket and will be forever linked to the buyer's receipt/order. Kindergarten teachers will be sponsored 5 times over and older grades, not so much. While you will be able to reassign the ticket to a teacher the buyer did not specify they will be able to see the edited guest on their account page on future receipts etc. Awkward!

By changing to an add-on item the buyers donate but aren't asked which teacher they want to sponsor and will never know who ultimately used the ticket. Your objective of offsetting the tickets comped to teachers is achieved with no awkwardness.

Create the Sponsor a Teacher Ticket as an item on the Catalog page and flag it as an add-on item for ticket sales:  Selling Items along with Tickets + Video

1. How can I add a waiver to tickets?
2. Is there away to have guests sign a waiver when they purchase tickets?
3. How can I collect waiver signatures through my site?
4. Is it possible to include a waiver during ticket sales?

A: While there isn’t a built-in waiver feature in the software, many customers have successfully used this simple workaround to ensure participants review and acknowledge their waiver:

1. Post a PDF of your waiver at the top of your Registration Page with instructions to read before registering, and an alert that runners who haven't verified reading won't be able to participate: Uploading and Posting PDF or CSV Files. 

   To post text/files to the top of your registration page, go to the Tickets page > Click on the green "Sell a Ticket" button > click the blue "Edit Text" link at the top of the page.

2. Then create a Custom Field for Guests (if you need each registered runner to verify that they've read it), that reads something like "I have read and understand the 5K Run Waiver":  Creating Custom Fields + Video. Make this a Text field and ask them to provide their initials or type their name. 

   (NOTE: We don't recommend making this field a checkbox, but you could make it a Yes/No list response if you don't want to collect names/initials.)

3. Use the Invitation to Collect Guest Information email to collect any un-initialed responses. You could edit this invitation to include the text of the waiver. New! Inviting Guests to Provide Info