atgPay: Auctioneer Initiated Payments

atgPay provides auction houses with the option to charge winning bidders via credit card for unpaid invoices. This article describes the process for initiating bidder payments via atgPay. 

This article contains the following sections:

• About Auctioneer Initiated Payments
• Enabling Auctioneer Initiated Payments
• Initiating Payments
• Editing the Bidder Shipping Address
• Editing Bidder Shipping Method

 

About Auctioneer Initiated Payments

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atgPay provides auction houses with the option to charge winning bidders via credit card for unpaid invoices. This feature works for initial invoice payments and additional fees that may be charged later.

In order to use auctioneer initiated payments, the following requirements must be met first:

• The invoice must be sent to the winning bidder.
• The invoice must be in a unpaid status.
• The auction house must confirm the bidder's Shipping Address and Shipping Method on the invoice.
• If credit card limits have been put in place for the event, the total hammer on the invoice must be less than the credit card limit.

Limitations

• Credit cards are the only payment method available for auctioneer initiated payments.
• The auction house must have a High-Risk Merchant ID on file in order to process payments for invoices that contain high-risk items.
• First time Proxibid bidders, having never gone through the payment process, are not likely to have a credit card on file, which is a requirement to use this feature.
• The Invoicing page in AuctionBuilder will indicate if the bidder has a credit card on file, but that does not guarantee that the card is valid. For example, the credit card could have expired since it was added.
• There may be some invoices that indicate there is no card on file. This does not mean the bidder registered without a card but simply that the bidder has not participated in an atgPay auction previously. Within one week of the end of the auction, the card the bidder used to register for the sale will be added to atgPay. 
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Enabling Auctioneer Initiated Payments

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Auctioneer Initiated Payments will be automatically enabled on events using atgPay.

Prior to using auctioneer initiated payments, auction houses should update the Payment Instructions field under their Payment & Terms to reflect the use of this feature.

• Example: "The buyer's credit card on file will be automatically charged within xx hours of the end of the auction, if the invoice has not already been paid."

 

Initiating Payments

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If Autopay is being used for the event, the auction house should wait for Autopay to run on all invoices before attempting to initiate payments.

1. Click on the Invoice link of the applicable auction event from the AuctionBuilder Dashboard.
2. Click the Click Here to View Sent Invoices link.
   • Auctioneer initiated payments cannot be performed on unsent invoices.
3. Click the Edit link to the right of the applicable invoice.
4. Confirm that the Shipping Address at the top of the invoice is correct.
   • If it is not, click the Edit link to the right of the Shipping Address. See below for more information.
   • The Edit link will not be available on unsent invoices.
5. Confirm that the Shipping Method at the top of the invoice is correct.
   • If it is not, click the Edit link to the right of the Shipping Method. See below for more information.
   • The Edit link will not be available on unsent invoices.
6. Click the Save button at the bottom of the invoice to save changes.
   • A confirmation message will appear at the top of the page.
7. Click the Back to Invoicing link at the top of the page to return to the Invoicing page.
8. Check the box to the left of each invoice to be charged.
9. Click the Process Payment button on the right side of the page.
10. A pop-up window will open. Click the Confirm Process Payment button to process payment on the selected invoice(s).
    • If the bidder has a valid credit card on file, the card will be charged at this time.                           
11. A second pop-up window will open advising how many payments were processed. Click the Done button to continue.                                       
12. The status of the successfully processed invoices will appear as 'Paid' on the Invoicing page.
    • Click the Edit link to the right of each invoice to view more specific transaction status information. For more information, see the 'Tracking Bidder Payments' section of the atgPay: Bidder Payments help article.
    • The selected Shipping Method will also now appear on the Invoicing page.
    • The winning bidder will receive an email confirming their payment was successful.

If additional fees are added to the invoice and the invoice moves to an 'Unpaid' status, the auction house can initiate payment again to cover those additional fees. For more information, see the 'Adding Fees to a Paid Invoice' section of the atgPay: Invoicing help article.

 

Failed Payments

If the auctioneer initiated payment failed, it may be because the bidder does not have a valid credit card on file, the hammer is over the credit card limit, or the invoice has already been paid.

If the payment failed, the invoice will not be listed as 'Paid' on the Invoicing page.

The bidder will not be notified that the auctioneer initiated payment failed, so the auction house may need to reach out to the winning bidder directly to have them pay their invoice manually.

 

Editing the Bidder Shipping Address

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To edit the shipping address on the bidder's invoice:

1. Navigate to the bidder's invoice in AuctionBuilder.
2. Click the Edit link to the right of the Shipping Address. The address window will expand.
   • If the Shipping Method is currently set to Local Pickup, the Shipping Address cannot be updated (because the item is not being shipped).
   • The Shipping Method will need to be changed before the Shipping Address can be changed.
   • The Edit link will not be available on unsent invoices.
3. Edit the address as needed.                 
4. Click the Save button in the address window. The Shipping Address on the invoice will update.
   
   • Any shipping fees and taxes on the invoice will update accordingly.
5. Click the Save button at the bottom of the invoice.

 

Editing the Bidder Shipping Method

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To edit the shipping method on the bidder's invoice:

1. Navigate to the bidder's invoice in AuctionBuilder.
2. Click the Edit link to the right of the Shipping Method. A pop-up window will open.
   • The Edit link will not be available on unsent invoices.
3. Select a new Shipping Method.
   • The Shipping Methods listed in the pop-up are based on those selected in the event's Payment & Terms.                                                                       
4. Click the Save button in the pop-up window. The Shipping Method on the invoice will update.
   • Any shipping fees and taxes on the invoice will update accordingly.
5. Click the Save button at the bottom of the invoice.