This article describes the process for enabling and using Holds for atgPay event.
This article contains the following sections:
- Holds vs. Deposits
- Eligibility
- Enabling Holds for an Event
- Bidder Impact
- Charging Non-Paying Bidders in a Hold event
- Refunding Holds when Payment is Made
- Holds Housekeeping
Holds vs. Deposits
The ability to establish a Hold or collect a Deposit on an event allows for validation that bidders have some level of investment and some amount of money to pay for winning lot(s) before being allowed into an auction.
What is the difference between the two and what tools are available within atgPay to validate potential bidders?
Applying a Hold to an event will run an availability of funds which is immediately released to ensure the bidder has available credit to participate in the event. Holds is available for use with atgPay along with various ways to collect payment from winning bidders. There are no fees for verifying bidder funds via Holds, however, if a Hold ends up being charged to a non-paying bidder, regular processing/transaction fees would apply.
Previously, and no longer, offered Deposits charged the bidders credit account to be applied toward anticipated purchase. Should the bidder not win an item, the funds were then returned to the bidder.
Eligibility
Event Eligibility
Holds are only available for atgPay events using a Tier 2 or Tier 3 Bidder Approval Criteria. For more information, see the 'Approval Criteria for Buyers' section of the Create an Event help article.
Bidder Eligibility
Bidders who have been added to an auction house's auto-approve list will not be subjected to a Hold, even if Holds are enabled on an event. Proxibid recommends auction houses review their auto-approve list regularly to ensure it is current.
If a bidder fails to submit a successful Hold or pass MarketGuard, the auction house still has the option to manually approve the bidder and bypass the Hold.
Enabling Holds for an Event
Once an event has been created, navigate to the Payment & Terms page:
- Ensure atgPay has been enabled.
- Select the Hold Requirement checkbox.
- Holds cannot be enabled or disabled while the Event Status is 'Online'.
- This box will not appear on events that have selected a Tier 1, Tier 4, or Tier 5 Bidder Approval Criteria.
- Enter the dollar amount for the Hold Requirement
- Dollar amount must be a whole number, cannot be negative, and cannot be or zero.
- This value cannot be edited once the Event Status changes to 'Online'.
- Select the Hold Approval Method for the event:
- Require all bidders to verify funds regardless of MarketGuard approval.
- Require only bidders who are not approved by MarketGuard to verify funds.
- Finish entering/editing the Payment & Terms.
- The Payment Instructions field should be updated to reflect use of holds. Example: “This event requires a hold in the amount of $200 in order to participate and bid. Holds will be collected if an invoice is not paid in full within 1 week of the event."
- Click the Save button at the bottom of the page.
Bidder Impact
Event Registration
When eligible bidders view the event, a banner at the top of the page will announce the Hold (Fund Verification) requirement and include a Click Here to Apply link. If the bidder clicks this link or attempts to place a bid, a pop-up window will appear prompting them to either select a card to use for the hold, or enter a new card. Once the card has been verified, the bidder will be able to place bids.
For more specific steps on the steps bidders need to take to participate in an event with holds, see atgPay: Fund Verifications.
If the Hold validation is unsuccessful, a Fund Verification Failed message will appear, giving the bidder the option to select or enter card information again.
- There is no limit to the number of attempts the bidder can make, however they are limited to making 3 attempts every 15 minutes.
Invoices
The Hold will not appear on a bidder's invoice.
Charging Non-Paying Bidders in a Hold Event
If an event has closed and the auction house has been unsuccessful in utilizing Autopay or Auctioneer Initiated Payments to collect payment on an invoice and the winning bidder has been unable/unwilling to pay manually, the Hold amount can be charged to the bidder.
- Navigate to the event in AuctionBuilder and click on the Invoices link.
- Click the Click Here to View Sent Invoices link.
- View the Hold Status column to the right of the winning bidder.
- The Hold Status column will either display 'Eligible' or 'Not Eligible', depending on whether the bidder was subjected to the hold.
- Bidders on an auction house's auto-approve list will not be eligible to be charged for a Hold.
- Click the Charge link for the appropriate bidder. A pop-up window will appear.
- Click the Confirm button to proceed with the charge.
- If the charge fails due to an internal issue, the auction house will have the option to attempt to charge the hold again.
- If the charge fails because the bidder does not have funds available, the auction house will not have the option to attempt to charge the hold a second time.
- A new pop-up message will appear confirming the Hold. Click the Close button to continue.
- The Invoice page will update to reflect that the Hold was charged successfully.
The following items should be noted when charging the Hold:
- The auction house will only be able to attempt the charge once. Proxibid recommends confirming the bidder's non-payment intent prior to charging the Hold amount.
- The Hold charge will appear at the bottom of a bidder's invoice but will have a separate invoice number, as it is separate from the winning lot(s) invoice.
- Applicable taxes and fees will be applied to the Hold when it is charged.
- If the bidder does end up paying, they will need to pay the entire original invoice amount and then have the hold refunded to them.
Refunding Holds when Payment is Made
Since a collected Hold is not applied to an invoice, a bidder will still need to pay the original invoice amount in full in order for their invoice to appear as 'Paid'.
Should the winning bidder end up paying their invoice in full, the auction house should send a request to release and refund the Hold to payments@proxibid.com. The Payment Operations team will team will then issue a refund to the bidder. Refunds generally take 3-5 business days to process.
The Hold amount cannot be deducted from the final sale invoice, as it is a separate bill of sale with differing applicable fees and taxes from the bill of sale for the won lot(s).
Holds Housekeeping
A few pieces to note surrounding atgPay Holds:
- Holds should be enabled before the event goes online.
- The only way to enable or disable Holds after an event goes online is to place the event in a 'Disabled' status.
- The hold amount cannot be edited after an event goes online.
- Holds will only be collected from bidders who register for the event after holds are enabled for the event.
- There is not a way to retroactively collect holds from bidders who registered for an event before holds were enabled.