GC Auctions - Checkout, Offline Payments, and Refunds

Applies to: GC Events with GC Auctions enabled

Roles: Events administrators with the Manage Registrations permission (refunds also require the events refund permission)

Location: Auction > Checkouts

Outcome: Winners and pledge donors have paid, whether online, by card on file, or offline, and any refunds are processed.

Summary: After you select Confirm & Notify, winners and pledge donors move to checkout. They can pay from the link in their email, or you can charge their card on file. Won items and paddle raise pledges are settled separately, so you can charge an item to a card and record a pledge paid by check or DAF.

This article covers

• What winners see at checkout
• The Checkouts tab
• Charging a card on file
• Marking payments as paid offline
• Auto-charge and reminders
• Refunds

What winners see

Each winner's email lists their Items Won and Paddle Raise Pledges with a combined total and a Pay now button. The checkout page (Invoice details) shows the same two sections and a Balance due. They can Use card on file or Use a different card, then select Pay.

If auto-charge is on, the email tells them when their card on file will be charged if they haven't paid.

The Checkouts tab

Go to Auction > Checkouts to see every winner and pledge donor. Search by name, email, or paddle, and filter by status: Paid, Unpaid, or Payment failed. With Paddle Raise on, columns break out Item Total, Pledges, Pledge Total, Total Owed, and Outstanding.

Select Checkout on a row to open that person's checkout.

Why items and pledges are separate

In each checkout, Auction items and Paddle raise are settled independently. Donors often pay paddle raise pledges differently than auction items: through a donor-advised fund (DAF), a check, or a gift from a family foundation. Keeping them separate lets you charge auction items to the card on file, for example, and record the pledge as paid offline when the check arrives.

Charge a card on file

1. Open the checkout.
2. In the section you want to settle, select Charge card on file.
3. Review the amount and select Charge.

The donor receives a "Payment received" email with a receipt showing each item's amount paid, fair market value, and tax-deductible amount.

Mark as paid offline

1. Open the checkout.
2. In the section you want to settle, select Mark as paid offline and send receipt.
3. For auction items, choose the Payment type (Cash, Check, or Other) and add an optional Reference, like a check number. For pledges, add an optional reference, like a DAF grant number.
4. Select Mark as paid. No card is charged.

Note: Pledges marked paid offline aren't recorded as a gift on your pledge form in Online Giving. If you want the gift in Online Giving, record it there as an offline gift.

Other checkout actions

• Resend checkout email: Send the winner email again.
• Send complete registration email: For winners who don't have a card on file or haven't finished registering, so they can finish and pay.

Auto-charge and reminders

If you turned them on in Settings, GC Auctions sends one checkout reminder, then charges the card on file for unpaid items at the delay you set. If a charge fails, the bidder gets a "Payment failed" email asking them to update their card, and the checkout shows Payment failed.

Refunds:

Auction items are refunded from Checkouts:

1. Open the checkout and select Refund on the item.
2. Enter a Reason and confirm.

The bidder receives a refund confirmation with corrected gift and fair-market-value totals, and the item returns to unsold. You can refund items paid by card (within six months of payment) and items marked paid offline.

Paddle raise pledges paid by card are recorded as a gift in Online Giving, so they're refunded there. In the checkout, select Refund in Online Giving and follow the standard Online Giving refund flow. Pledges marked paid offline don't have an Online Giving gift to refund.

Keywords: checkout, payment, pay now, card on file, charge card, paid offline, check, DAF, donor-advised fund, auto-charge, payment failed, refund, receipt, invoice