Pre-authorizing credit cards

Cristy Balcells

I was wondering how other nonprofits handle credit cards for live auctions at events.

 

In an ideal world, I would love to capture and pre-authorize our attendees credit card prior to our event that way we can elimante the check-in lines for the people who have pre-registered via convio. 

 

Unfortunately since BlackBaud does not store any credit card information, we have always had to get our guest's credit card info as they arrive and check into the event. This has always caused quite the line for our attendees so we are trying to figure out a way to fix this.

 

Ideas and tips would be greatly appreciated! 

Brian Mucha

I'm pretty sure this is not possible in a usual 'stock' way.

 

I do wonder if you could leverage the DSP (delayed self pledge) functionality normally used with TeamRaiser.

 

DSP allows us to guarantee fundraising minimums by charging the participants cards for any shortfalls after the event.

 

This is done by having the participants enter their card into a special donation form. The form charges the user a nominal fee, which is really the first charge in an installment. Once the event is complete we can upload a 'DSP Charges' csv, which includes the amount to charge each constituent for. That charge is really the second installment payment - no need for a card or anything.

 

I think you could get the form working, but I'm not so sure you can do the upload without TeamRaiser.

 

Unless someone has a better idea, it's where I would start investigating.

 

NOTE: Nothing can stop the user from canceling their card right after doing the first DSP 'holding charge', so if you want to hand out an auction item to the winner and then charge the user the next day via the upload, you may discover it gets rejected. (I guess you could upload right at the event, it doesn't take a ton of time.)