ReadySetAuction helps to reduce the possibility of entering duplicate patrons by requiring a patron’s email address to be unique from that of any other patron. However, the email address field is optional. Therefore, it is possible to enter the same patron multiple times if no email address is provided or if the same person has been entered with two different email addresses. Should this occur, ReadySetAuction provides the ability for your RSA Administrator to merge two patron records that you determine are duplicates into a single record.

******* Important Warning *******

• PayReady (Reports > Activity Reports)
  
• Seating and Meals (Reports > Activity Reports)
• RSVP Party Assignment by Party (Reports > Activity Reports)
• All Patrons (Reports > Data Exchange)
  

Terminology

When you merge two patron records, you will choose one to keep (the “Keeper”) and one to discard (the “Duplicate”). The Duplicate patron record’s information will be re-associated to the Keeper’s patron record. Then the Duplicate record will be deleted.

What Information Transfers

With some notable exceptions noted below (See “Caveats”), most of the information currently associated with the Duplicate patron will be re-associated to the Keeper patron. Specifically,

1. Any empty fields in the Keeper’s patron info page will be populated with data from the Duplicate’s corresponding field. Keeper fields that already contain data will not be overwritten by data from the Duplicate record. For example, if the Keeper’s phone number field is empty, but the Duplicate’s phone number field is populated, then the phone number will be copied to the Keeper. However, if the Keeper already has a phone number, the Duplicate’s phone number will be discarded. [Exception: Name fields will never be merged, even if empty in the Keeper. Name fields include Salutation, First Name, Middle Initial, Last Name, and Suffix.]
   
   
2. Duplicate’s affiliations will be added to Keeper.
   
   
3. Duplicate’s Patron Notes will be added to Keeper.
   
   
4. Duplicate’s Patron History will be added to Keeper.
   
   
5. Keeper will become the donor for all Duplicate’s donations.
   
   
6. All bids placed by Duplicate will now be assigned to Keeper.
   
   
7. All the Duplicate’s winnings (fixed-price purchase, ticket purchase, etc.), if any, will become Keeper’s winnings.
   
   
8. All Duplicate’s payments and associated receipts will become Keeper’s payments and receipts.
   
   
9. If Keeper has not been assigned a bidder number, the Duplicate’s bidder number (if any) will be reassigned to the Keeper.

Caveats

1. The Duplicate patron’s donation history from the prior event will be discarded once that patron is merged into another patron. It will not be re-associated to the Keeper patron. Therefore, you should only merge a patron record if you have already sent your solicitation/procurement letters for your current event (or if you don’t intend to utilize this feature).
   
   
2. If the Duplicate patron has any credit cards on file, all such credit card information will be deleted, not re-associated to the Keeper. This is for security reasons.
   
   
3. If the Duplicate patron is a confirmed bidder, that bidder’s login account will be deleted, not re-associated to the Keeper. This is for security reasons.
   
   
4. If the Duplicate patron is an activated bidder, the activation credit used by that bidder will be lost and cannot be reclaimed.

To Perform A Merge

1. Go to Patrons > Everyone > Merge.
2. From the Patron to Keep menu, choose the Keeper record.
3. From the Duplicate to Merge/Discard menu, choose the Duplicate record.
4. As you complete steps 2 and 3, details about the Keeper's and Duplicate's records will appear in a preview pane.
5. Click the Next button.
6. Review what the merged file will look like.
7. Click the Merge button. WARNING! When you click this button, you will perform an operation that cannot be reversed. Patron records merged into a single record cannot be unmerged. Using this feature incorrectly could lead to data loss. Do not merge patrons unless you are certain that they are duplicates.