Post event, winning bidders must be invoiced in order to utilize the atgPay feature. This article outlines how to utilize this process. For information relating to bidder payments, see atgPay: Bidder Payments.
This article consists of the following sections:
- Invoicing the Winning Bidder
- Automatic Payment Reminder Emails
- Passing Processing Fees to the Bidder
- Adding Fees to a Paid Invoice
- When to Ship/Release Items
Invoicing the Winning Bidder
Generating Invoices
Invoices are generated and sent from AuctionBuilder.
It is imperative that auctions are reconciled and invoiced as soon as an event is closed. Payments cannot be made or collected via atgPay until invoices are sent to winning bidders.
Click on the Invoice link at the bottom of an auction event on the Dashboard to edit and send invoices.
- An auction's status must be set to Closed in order to invoice. For information on changing an event's status, see Event Status.
The Invoices page will default to display unsent invoices.
- Click the Click here to view sent invoices link at the bottom of the invoice list to see a list of invoices that have already been emailed.
Invoices can be sorted by Name, User Name, Paddle Number, and Total by using the Sort By drop-down located at the top of the invoice list.
View/Edit Invoices
Click on the Edit link to the right of a bidder's name to view or edit a specific invoice.
If needed, shipping fees can be applied to the invoice prior to sending. For more information, see atgPay: Shipping Options and Fees. If an invoice contains shipping fees, they will be collected via Autopay if Autopay has been enabled on the event.
- Taxes will be calculated automatically based on the Shipping Method and Shipping Address. As such, the taxes cannot be edited on the invoice. For more information, see atgPay: Internet Sales Tax.
- If a bidder should be tax exempt, they can upload their Tax Exemption Certificate to Proxibid by logging into their account. For more information, see atgPay: Tax Exemption Certificates.
Once all the necessary changes have been made, click the Save button in the bottom right corner of the page.
Discounts
At this time, discounts cannot be applied to a bidder's invoice before it is paid. Instead, once the bidder pays the invoice, a refund can be issued back to the bidder in the amount of the discount.
Any negative Miscellaneous Charges (fees) added to an invoice will result in a "Failed to reach ATG Pay" notice until the negative charge is removed from the invoice.
Emailing Invoices
To email multiple invoices, check the box to the left of each invoice to be sent, or click on the Check All link at the bottom of the invoice list. Once invoices are selected, click the Send Invoices button at the bottom of the page. Invoices will be sent to the bidders' email addresses on file. A confirmation message will appear.
- Individual invoices can be sent by clicking the Edit link to the right of the invoice and then clicking the Send Invoice button at the bottom of the invoice.
Emailed invoices will come from invoices@proxibid.com and will also appear in the bidder's MyProxibid account under My Proxibid > Invoices.
To edit the text that appears in the body of the email that is sent along with the invoice, see Updating the Invoice Email.
For steps on how a bidder can access and pay their invoice, see Paying with atgPay.
Automatic Payment Reminder Emails
After bidders receive their invoice, they will automatically receive up to two additional emails reminding them to pay their invoice. The emails will come from payments@proxibid.com.
The first reminder email will be sent 2 calendar days after the invoice was sent, if the invoice is still unpaid. The subject line of the first email will be "Proxibid - payment reminder" followed by the name of the auction house.
The first reminder email will be sent 4 calendar days after the invoice was sent, if the invoice is still unpaid. The subject line of the second email will be "Proxibid - payment final reminder" followed by the name of the auction house.
The bidder will not receive payment reminder emails once the invoice is marked as being "paid".
If payment is taken outside atgPay, the invoice will need to be marked as "Paid" manually. The bidder will continue to receive payment reminder emails until their invoice is marked as "Paid". For information on manually marking an invoice as being paid, see Invoicing.
Passing Processing Fees to the Bidder
Auction houses have the option to pass credit card and ACH processing fees on to the bidder. To use this feature, check the Buyer Pays Fees box on the event's Payment & Terms page. The fees will be automatically calculated based on the invoice total and will appear as "Processing Fees" on the bidder's invoice and checkout page. Enabling this feature will disable any other credit card fees that may have been manually added to the auction event.
This selection must be made prior to sending invoices to bidders. Attempting to enable or disable this feature after invoices have been sent to bidders can create issues with invoice calculations.
If the bidder's state requires that processing fees be taxed, that will be automatically calculated and included in the Sales Tax as it appears on the bidder's invoice.
Adding Fees to a Paid Invoice
Additional fees can be added to an invoice after the bidder has paid.
- Navigate to the applicable invoice in AuctionBuilder.
- Click the Add New Charge to Invoice button. A new section will appear on the invoice.
- The Add New Charge to Invoice button will not appear on unpaid invoices.
- The Add New Charge to Invoice button will not appear on unpaid invoices.
- Enter information for the New Charge.
- Enter a description of the fee.
- Select the Fee Type from the drop-down.
- Enter the fee amount.
- Click the Add link to the right of the New Charge.
- If needed, add additional fees. Once all the fees have been added, click the Confirm & Send button to send the new invoice to the bidder.
- There is no limit to the number of additional fees that can be added.
- There is no limit to the number of additional fees that can be added.
- The invoice will update. The added charges will appear under the "Additional Line Items" section of the invoice.
- Additional taxes will automatically be calculated and added to the new amount being charged to the bidder.
- The bidder's invoice will no longer appear as "Paid" on the Invoices page or the Winning Bidder report.
- An additional payment request will be sent to the bidder. The email will come from invoices@proxibid.com with the subject line "(Auction Company Name) has updated your invoice".
- The bidder's updated invoice will also be available in their MyProxibid account.
- If Autopay has been enabled on the event, the bidder's credit card will be charged for the additional fees within 24/72 hours of re-sending the invoice.
- Once the bidder has paid the additional charges via atgPay, the invoice will appear as "Paid" again on the Invoices page and in the Winning Bidder report.
- If the additional payment is accepted outside of atgPay, the invoice will need to be manually marked as "Paid".
Adding a Buyer's Premium to a Paid Invoice
If an additional Buyer's Premium needs to be added to a paid invoice, the auction house can follow the steps above to do so.
If the additional Buyer's Premium is added by editing the Internet Premium box on the invoice, the Invoice Paid box at the bottom of the invoice must be unchecked and the Save button must be clicked prior to re-sending the invoice to the winning bidder.
The auction house will then need to notify the winning bidder that an additional charge has been added to their invoice so that the bidder can log into their Proxibid account and make an additional payment.
When to Ship/Release Items
The items will be safe to release when the transaction status is “Settled" in the atgPay Payment Processing Portal. The "Settled" status indicates that the process of transferring funds between the cardholder and your payment processing account is now completed, and the money is now part of your Available Balance.
Payments made via bank transfer (ACH) will take longer to appear as "Settled" than credit card payments.
For more information on shipping, see atgPay: Shipping Options and Fees.