Charging Cards on File After the Event

After your event, some guests still owe money because they left early or never used their self-checkout link. Apply to Accounts, on the Payments tab in Auction Conductor, creates charges on saved credit cards for the contributors and households that still have an unpaid balance, so you don't have to collect from each guest one at a time.

This article covers:

• Before you run Apply to Accounts
• Which card is charged
• Creating the charges
• Reviewing and submitting pending charges
• Guests with no card or a declined card

Before you run Apply to Accounts

Apply to Accounts charges whatever balance each guest still shows, so make sure those balances are right first.

• Wait until checkout is over. Guests should have had their chance to pay at the checkout desk or through self-checkout. Often waiting several days, and sending self-checkout reminders is reccommended.
• Record payments you received another way. Enter checks, cash and other payments on each contributor's Activity tab first. If a ticket or sponsorship was paid by check and the check isn't recorded, the guest's card can be charged for something they already paid for. See Adding a Payment and Applying It to Sales.
• Mark those who are paying later as "Invoiced". If someone has indicated they will be sending in a check or paying via DAF, make sure they are marked as Invoiced, so thier card will not be charged.
• Check household billing contacts. A household is charged on its billing contact's card first. To change the billing contact, go to Contributors, open the household, edit the billing contact and save.
• Check preferred cards. When a guest has more than one card on file, their preferred card is the one charged. Check-in staff can change which card is preferred. See Event Check-In Process.

Which card is charged

Apply to Accounts picks one card for each contributor who isn't in a household, and one card for each household. A household's card covers the unpaid balances of all its members. For a household, the card is chosen in this order:

1. The billing contact's card.
2. Otherwise, the card most recently used by another household member.

A preferred card always takes priority over other saved cards. For more about billing contacts and shared cards, see Contributor Households.

Creating the charges

1. In Auction Conductor, go to the Payments tab.
2. Click Apply to Accounts.

   

Auction Conductor creates a PENDING charge for each contributor and household that has an unpaid balance and a card on file. No card has been charged yet.

Reviewing and submitting pending charges

A pending charge is a charge to a card on file that hasn't been submitted to the bank yet. Someone on your team needs to review the pending charges and when you are ready, AES staff will submit them.

1. On the Payments tab, review the pending charges in the Submit Payments grid. Check that each one uses the right card for the right amount.
2. If the wrong card was picked, delete that pending charge. Then open the contributor's record and add a payment with the correct card on the Activity tab.
3. Contact AES to submit the pending charges.

The guest's bank approves or declines each charge. An approved charge pays the balance. A declined charge leaves the balance unpaid.

Guests with no card or a declined card

Apply to Accounts can only charge a saved card. Guests with no card on file, and guests whose charge was declined, still owe their balance. To follow up:

• See who still owes. This is visible on the Contributors grid, Balance Due column. You can also filter to show guests with no card on file.
• Send a reminder. In the Messaging Center, send contributors with a balance due a message with a smart link to self-checkout, where they can pay by card. Self-checkout must be open for the link to work. See Messaging Center and Configuring & Using Self-Checkout.
• Send a personal payment link. For a sponsor or a large balance, create a payment link and send it yourself. Payment links work for tickets, sponsorships, donations and other multi-unit purchases, but not for auction wins. See Creating and Sending Payment Links.
• Take the payment yourself. When a guest calls with a card or mails a check, add the payment on their Activity tab.

Frequently asked questions

• Is a pending charge a payment? Not yet. Nothing is collected until the charge is submitted and the bank approves it.
• A guest was charged for something they already paid for. What do I do? Refund the charge. See Refund a Payment. To avoid this, record checks and other payments before you run Apply to Accounts.
• Why is one card charged for the whole household? Households are formed for couples and families that wish to bid and buy on the same master account. To charge a different card, delete the pending charge and add a payment with that card on the contributor's Activity tab.
• Do our processing fee settings apply to these charges? Yes. Your processing fee settings also apply when cards on file are submitted in Auction Conductor. See Offset Credit Card Processing Fees.