Auctions

What this screen is for

Auctions sits under Fundraising, in Campaigns & pages, and has its own entry in the sidebar under Raise. An auction can belong to an event or stand on its own. Each auction has a public page where people register to bid with their name, email and phone. Steward keeps the items, who is winning, who won, whether they have paid and who registered, and it prepares the notes you send. Nothing here sends by itself and nothing here moves money.

Start an auction

1. Click "New auction".
2. Give it a "Title", and choose "Part of an event (optional)" or leave it "On its own".
3. Set "Bidding opens" and "Bidding closes", and add "What it is for".
4. Click "Create auction". The auction opens, with its public page link at the top.

Add an item

1. Inside the auction, click "Add an item".
2. Fill in the "Title", "Category", "Donated by" (a name already on file), "Fair market value", "Starting bid" and "Bid increment". "Buy now (optional)" is there if you want it.
3. Add a "Description" and up to five photos. The first photo is the main one.
4. Click "Save item". Once an item has a donor and a fair market value, "Record as in-kind gift" records the donation on that person's record.

Close out the winners

1. When bidding closes, each item's winner appears under "Winners": the highest bid, and between equal bids, the earliest.
2. If someone won in the room, click "Record the winner" on the item, pick "Who won it" and the "Winning bid", then "Save the winner".
3. Under "Notes to bidders", click "Prepare the winners' emails". Steward writes a draft for each winner with their pay link. Read each one and press "Send", or "Send all" when there are several. "Preview the winner email" shows what the winner sees.
4. "Copy pay link" gives you a winner's link to share another way.

Remind bidders before it closes

1. While the auction is open, click "Prepare "bidding closes soon"" under "Notes to bidders".
2. Read the drafts and press "Send" on each, or "Send all".

What the numbers mean

Raised: every payment a winner has made for an item in this auction, at the amount charged: the gift their payment recorded.

Won, paid or not: the winning bid on every item whose bidding has closed, whether the winner has paid yet or not.

Items sold: every item whose bidding has closed with a winning bid, with that bid.

Items unsold: every item whose bidding has closed with no bid at all. An item still open is neither sold nor unsold.

Bidders: every registered bidder who placed at least one bid, largest total of winning bids first.

Click any of these numbers to see the items or people behind it.

What Steward doesn't do here

Steward never charges a winner and never sends a note on its own: winners pay on your own Stripe account, and every note waits for your Send. Without Stripe connected, winners cannot pay online, so take their payment as you would any gift. Steward does not issue refunds. If a payment needs refunding, the screen lists it under "Payments to refund"; refund it in Stripe, then click "I refunded this in Stripe". "Archive" takes the public page down and keeps every bid and winner.