Is it necessary to check-in guests at the event?
Check-in is not technically necessary. Even if the bidder's status is not 'checked in,' your committee can still record winning bids to that bidder for the traditional auction (auctioneer and/or bid sheets), and if your organization has the Complete plan, the bidder can still bid electronically. That said, we suggest you conduct Check-in for the following reasons:
- to verify bidders' contact information (and fill in missing information) so you have accurate contact information for your records
- to inform the bidder of his/her bidder number, table and meal
choice; and change them if necessary
- to capture the bidder's credit card information (as long as a merchant account is linked to your ReadySetAuction account)
- Complete Plan: to send the bidder either: a bidder invitation email (if not yet registered to eBid), or a welcome email with a link to the auction website (if already registered to eBid).
- to handle walk-in guests. That is, to capture the information of and, if offering eBidding, send a bidder invitation to a walk-in guest. Walk-in guests may include 'guests of guests' whose names you didn't have ahead of time.