Here's our cashing out procedures. They're dependent on our 2-page bidsheet design. The layout of Page 1, the main page, is included on the tools cd that comes with the PTOtoday Auction Toolkit.
We use a two page bid sheet per item (we create these ourselves on regular paper, not carbon-less forms). The top page is for the actual bids and has all the item info on it like Item #, item name, donor, value. The second page has the Item #/name again, but also a big box for the winning bidder name and the winning bid amount. When the bidding closes, our Runners circle the winning bid on the top sheet, write down the winning bid name and amount on the bottom sheet and take the top sheets to the cash out station. The second sheet stays on the table so people can see who won and how much they owe.
The Runners take all the bid sheets to our cash-out area where we have 4 "IN" trays set up, each for a different part of the alphabet (A-G, H-M, etc.). The Runners quickly sort the bidsheets into those major groups. (This assumes our bidders are using their names, not numbers. You could do basically the same thing if you assign your bidder numbers.)
The cashiers sit on the other side of the table and as the bidsheets are dropped off, the cashiers remove them and file them by specific alphabet letter, plus they group bidsheets together for the same bidder. The cashiers file the bidsheets in a table-top file box that has a folder for each letter of the alphabet.
After all the silent auction items are closed (we close in 3 different waves), we start cashing out our guests. The cashiers pull all the bidsheets out of the file for the guest, staple them together and total the amount due. Our bidsheet is designed with a receipt/claim check on the bottom, where the cashier writes the total amount due and payment method. We cut those claim checks off and keep the top part of the bid sheets for our post-auction analysis. We also have our cashiers manually log every customer on a spreadsheet which is where we record how they paid, how much, contact info, and amount due. At the end of the night, we use these logs to verify each cashier's cash box. (We have at least 4 cashiers).
With a simpler bid sheet design, you could easily have a separate little form that the cashier fills out at this point. On this form, the cashier would write the total amount due and the item # of each item the bidder won. The form would be printed with the organization name, the date, and the tax id number.
We give the receipt/claim checks to the customer who then goes and picks up their item(s) from the auction display. We do not relocate the items to a secure area, nor do we use Runners to get the items for our customers. Too much hassle, not enough space, and not enough time. Our Runners are around to help people locate items, but the customers take the stuff themselves.
As I write this, it sounds labor-intensive, but I've seen this system in action and we can cash people out in a hurry. We have not had success with online credit card processing, though we've tried. In a temporary setting like a banquet hall, it's just too hard to get the phone lines set up and every online cc transaction requires a separate phone call. Too much of a bottleneck. We just write down the credit card number and expiration date on the cashier's log and process them later. We pay a higher fee to the cc company to do it this way, but at least we can accept credit cards for payment (a major plus if you want your guests to spend lots).
Our receipt/claim check has the organization's name, transaction (event) date, tax id #, and amount paid, so it's really all the customer needs for their records. We haven't had any complaints.
Cashing out can be a major headache. I hope these suggestions help you out.
[ 01-27-2006, 10:18 AM: Message edited by: Critter ]
