Sponsors, table buyers, and board members often commit to your auction weeks before the event but pay on their own timeline. With invoicing for auction registrations, you can register them right away and collect payment later. At any time, you can see who has paid and who still owes.
When a registrant chooses Invoice as their payment method, their registration An invoice registration is an auction registration that's recorded now and paid later. Instead of paying when they register, the registrant chooses Invoice as their payment method. Bloomerang Fundraising then:
Holds their seats
Records the registration as unpaid
Sends the registrant their tickets immediately
Emails the registrant an invoice with a link to pay
For example, a local business sponsors a table at your gala. Its accounts payable team can't pay until it receives an invoice. The sponsor registers by invoice, so their table is reserved and their guests get their tickets. Then the business pays through the invoice email when its payment is processed. If it mails a check instead, your staff record the payment in the Virtual Terminal.
Invoice registration works well for supporters who:
Pay by check, often weeks after they commit.
Pay through a company's accounts payable process.
Need an invoice before they can pay.
How It Works
After you enable invoicing for an auction, Invoice appears as a payment option in two places:
The public auction registration form
The auction Virtual Terminal in Bloomerang Fundraising
Invoicing works with both Bloomerang Payments and WorldPay payment processors.
At this time, invoicing is not available as a payment option:
At auction checkout or for bidding
In the Givi app
In the Bloomerang Fundraising app
For peer-to-peer campaigns
For registrations with a $0 total
Note: Invoice registration isn't the same as the Pay Later status at auction checkout. Pay Later applies to bidders settling their won items at the end of the event. Invoice registration applies only to the registration itself.
Where Registrants Can Choose Invoice
Registrants can choose Invoice when they register on the public auction registration form. They must enter an email address when they register so that Bloomerang Fundraising can send the invoice.
Tip: Your staff can register someone by invoice from the Registration tab of the auction Virtual Terminal. For more information, read Auction Virtual Terminal: Registration.
What Happens When Someone Registers by Invoice
When someone registers by invoice, Bloomerang Fundraising:
Holds their seats: The registration counts toward your attendee list and package inventory, just like a paid registration.
Sends the registrant their tickets: Registrants receive their tickets immediately.
Marks the registration as unpaid: The registration stays unpaid until someone pays the invoice.
Sends the registrant an invoice email: The email includes a link the registrant can use to pay.
Important: Invoice isn't saved as a payment method for bidding. When a registrant who registered by invoice checks in at your event, add a payment method they can use for bidding. For more information, read Auction Virtual Terminal: Attendee Check-In and Management.
How Payment Is Collected
Invoices can be paid in two ways:
The registrant pays online: The registrant follows the link in their invoice email and pays on the auction's payment page. If they have a donor account, they can also find the invoice in the Open Invoices section of their account. For more information, read What Donors See When Using the Invoice Payment Method (With No Donor Account) and What Donors With Donor Accounts See With Invoice Payment Method.
Your staff collect the payment: On the Invoices tab of the auction Virtual Terminal, staff can see every invoice for the auction and collect payment by credit card, bank account, cash, or check. For more information, read Auction Virtual Terminal: The Invoices Tab.
When the invoice is paid, Bloomerang Fundraising applies the payment to the original registration.
The Invoice Email
When you enable invoicing for an auction, Bloomerang Fundraising creates an invoice email for that auction. You can customize it from the auction's System Emails page, on the Invoices tab. The auction's invoice email uses the same invoice tags as standard donation form invoices, such as the link to pay. For more information, read [Auctions] System Emails.
Note: You edit the auction's invoice email on the auction's own System Emails page, not on the organization-level Receipts page. Invoice reminders aren't available for auctions.
Where Invoices Appear
Invoice registrations appear in the same places as your other auction data:
Auction reports: The Auction Registrations report lists each registration transaction, and the Auction Attendees report lists each attendee tied to it. A transaction's details show the payment if the invoice was paid, or an option to view the payment page if it wasn't. For more information, read Auction Reports.
Invoice reports: Auction forms appear in invoice reports and have their own heading in the Forms filter. For more information, read Invoice Reports.
Registration Sync: Registration Sync to Bloomerang CRM works the same for auctions as for standard events. Attendees with unfulfilled invoices aren't eligible to sync. For more information, read Registration Sync.
DonorPerfect: If you use the DonorPerfect integration, auction invoices export along with standard donation form invoices. For more information, read How Invoices Work with a DonorPerfect Integration.
Requirements
To use invoicing for auction registrations, you must enable invoicing in the auction's settings. For steps, read Auction Settings and Activate Invoice as a Payment Method.
Note: The invoice permission applies to your whole organization. So organizations with the Auction Package can also turn on invoicing for their standard donation forms.