Run a sports club auction, A to Z

1. Decide the event and responsibilities

Choose the fundraiser, venue, audience, pickup location and item terms. Confirm donor permission and availability. Assign an organizer, an auctioneer, a floor clerk and a pickup volunteer. These are event jobs, not automatically granted OutbidX account roles: organizer controls and receipt release belong to the auction owner. Invitation membership grants guest access, not organizer powers. Do not share passwords.

Choose Silent for scheduled online bidding, Live for an organizer-led queue, or Hybrid for silent bidding followed by a live segment. Set a reserve only when the item should remain unsold below that amount. Set Buy Now only when you are ready for an eligible accepted purchase to collect payment immediately.

2. Set up the organizer and seller

1. Sign in, open your profile and add your organization name and public organizer information.
2. Open Dashboard and complete Stripe Payout Setup. Follow hosted Stripe onboarding and check readiness. Pasting a Stripe profile link is not seller setup.
3. Review Pricing: Starter allows one open active auction and ten items. Paid plans remove the Starter quota, while import/edit batch limits still apply. An older unfinished event may still consume your Starter allowance.

Do not invite guests to pay real money while the deployment is in TEST mode. Seller verification and bank payout timing are separate from a successful bid.

3. Create the event and catalog

1. Open Create an auction. Choose the optional Sports club fundraiser template for hybrid bidding and a leading-lot board, or choose your own format. Templates set format and screen defaults; suggested items are ideas, not real listings. Enter the title, description, visibility, address, contact phone and bid increment. Review the five audience display choices; your title and dates stay yours when you change a template.
2. Set start/end times using the local timezone shown on the form. End must follow start; choose a future start. Double-check daylight-saving changes and tell remote guests the timezone.
3. Review type and visibility before Save & Continue: both are fixed after creation.
4. In Item Catalog, add items or use Import Items. Review money, reserve, Buy Now, donation goals, sponsor logos, photos and terms. See catalog help.
5. Select Finish & Launch to save the catalog. This saves your scheduled auction; it does not mean a live session has started or seller payments are ready.

4. Rehearse before inviting the club

Arrange a test-mode rehearsal with support. Use clearly fictional items and separate organizer and guest accounts. Keep the real event catalog separate. Practice sign-in/card setup, a valid bid, a lower rejected bid, outbid email preferences, a private invitation, a pending payment and pickup. For a live/hybrid event, rehearse Go Live, item start, Pause/Resume, a floor bid, item close and End. Practice switching the projector between Current lot and Lot leaderboard, and use the owner-only Configure screen control to decide whether to show goals, sponsor logos, activity and comments. A displayed bid or pledge total is not collected money.

Open the participant and projector views on the devices and venue network you will use. Test QR cards by scanning printed samples. Homescreen installation varies by browser; browsing works without an app-store download. Have a venue contingency plan and pause bidding if authoritative state or connectivity is uncertain.

5. Invite and run the event

Use the event’s sharing controls to copy its link and print item tags/list. For private events, open the auction’s invitation controls and issue an authorized invitation; a copied catalog URL alone is insufficient. Ask guests to sign in and authorize a card before online bidding.

Silent bids are accepted only within the allowed schedule. Live operations use the auctioneer guide. Explain that eligible last-second bids may extend the clock when anti-sniping is enabled. Record floor amounts and paddle identifiers carefully; entered floor names/identifiers can be displayed publicly. Avoid putting unnecessary personal information in them.

6. Close, reconcile and hand over

1. Close the active live item before moving on; End ends the live session and does not by itself certify that every award is paid.
2. Use the event’s finalization control for remaining eligible obligations. Review the resulting paid, pending, cash-due and unsold statuses. Keep settled financial history intact.
3. Ask pending card winners to open their receipt and complete Pay now when offered. Collect floor cash and confirm the exact CAD amount separately.
4. At Fulfillment Desk, look up the receipt code, verify payment and select Mark as Released only after handing over the item.
5. Review Financials and download the payment CSV. Compare receipts, refunds and cash records; captured money, bids and estimated proceeds are different totals.
6. Resolve refunds and outstanding items with the winner, then archive an eligible finished auction from Dashboard. Archiving preserves history and does not refund payments.

If something goes wrong

For an uncertain save or payment response, wait for the pending action, refresh and check the existing event/receipt before trying again. A payment may have succeeded even when a screen lost its connection. Do not create a replacement auction or purchase merely to clear an error. If type/visibility was chosen incorrectly, contact support before taking bids. If an item has bidding/payment history, its pricing/type or deletion can be locked; settle or resolve its obligations first.

Contact support with the visible error and relevant event/receipt information, keeping credentials and full card details out of messages.