User Help Center
Frequently asked questions and answers.
If you click the BID, BUY, or BUY-IT-NOW buttons on this website you are agreeing to comply with and be bound by the following Rules which govern the auction/buyer relationship with you in relation to this website.
The term ‘Fundraiser or we’ refers to the host of this auction and the auction management software provider, CausePilot. The term ‘you’ refers to the user, viewer, or participant in this auction. By using this website, you acknowledge an understanding of the following:
• You must be 18 years of age or older.
• This auction website is strictly for amusement and to generate funding for a good cause.
• This auction is not being managed by a professional auction company.
• We are not responsible for auction items that have been misrepresented by a third party.
• Unforeseen circumstances such as server problems, third party email services, internet connections, browsers, and merchant accounts, are outside of our control and therefore we can not be held responsible for actions that take place as a result of these circumstances.
• You understand that by submitting a bid or buying an item in this auction, you are entering into a legally binding contract.
• If you do not complete a transaction, and pay for an item, within the designated amount of time, you may forfeit that item and the next highest bidder will become the winner. This is at the sole discretion of the nonprofit organization hosting the auction.
• All payments are made through a 3rd party merchant account. The online merchant account accepts credit card transactions. Your transaction is taking place on their server and not on the CausePilot server. The fundraiser, at their sole discretion, may accept other forms of payment.
• Payments are submitted directly to the fundraiser’s merchant account. Once payment is received, your only recourse for a refund or cancellation of payment, will be through the fundraiser.
• Email notifications are sent in intervals and/or batches and receipt is not immediate. Emails may be outside of our control and it is your responsiblity to monitor your own interests.
• Watching items in no way guarantees that you will be informed of its activities.
• Every effort is made to notify you when you are outbid, however, you may or may not receive the text or email notification before the auction ends or closes.
• Auctions may begin and end at different times on individual items. You are responsible for monitoring the items you are interested in.
• Most devices experience drift over time (meaning the clock becomes inaccurate). The time on CausePilot’s servers is regularly synced with Internet time servers to ensure auctions’ begin and end times are as precise as possible. Although your device’s time will likely be very close to the time on our servers, it’s always a good idea to bid early. Note that the auction countdown timer is based on your device’s time rather than the server’s time. In other words, if your computer or smartphone’s time is inaccurate, the timer will also be inaccurate and it may appear as though there is time remaining, or that the time has expired, when in fact it has not. The closing time of each auction is determined by NTP (network time protocol) and is set and periodically adjusted based on the atomic clock. Auction countdown reads as follows “D HH:MM:SS”. The countdown timer is for entertainment purposes only.
• Fundraisers may choose to use an optional “Overtime Bidding” feature that adds 10 minutes to the end time of an auction when there is active bidding in the last 5 minutes of the auction close. This gives bidders an opportunity to place a final bid and minimizes sniping. This feature can be implemented a single time or until all bids are received.
• If two or more bids are received at the exact same time an error may occur. In such a case, you will be required to place another bid in order to continue participation in that auction. When two bids appear received at the same time, in the bidding activity table, it generally means that a maximum bid has been entered into the system. When a bid is placed, the user with a maximum bid exceeding this amount will win the bid at that amount.
• We may make changes, deletions, and additions to the auction and auction items at any time without prior notice.
• Fundraisers will determine how auction items will or can be acquired by the winners who have completed their transaction and paid for their item.
• A small portion of the proceeds from this auction will go to CausePilot for payment of their services. Determined by the fundraiser, this amount can be charged to the auction participants, as a percentage of the sale.
• You are solely responsible for any and all taxes that might apply to your purchase. Estimated values may be listed in the item descriptions. If the value is not listed, you can contact the fundraiser for this information. Estimated values that are listed in the item descriptions are fair market values and are estimates provided by the donor or fundraiser. When an auction is hosted by a nonprofit organization, auction items may be tax deductible only to the extent that the amount paid for an item exceeds the fair market value. A receipt will be emailed to you for your tax records.
• Not all auctions are operated and managed by a nonprofit tax exempt organization.
It is important to understand that the fundraiser hosting this event is not a professional auction company and this site is meant strictly for the amusement of its participants and to generate financial support for a good cause. Although the fundraiser is using software, provided by CausePilot, to build and manage their auction(s), it is the fundraiser who is solely responsible for all auction content, as well as, features, options, and management.
How Bidding Works
1. Incremental Bidding: When bidding on an item, you must first meet the minimum bid requirement. All subsequent bids must be greater than or equal to the current winning bid + the bid increment.
2. Buy It Now: Some items may have the Buy It Now option. This is a direct purchase of the item. If you choose Buy It Now, you will have 15 minutes to pay for the item or the order will be canceled and removed from your Checkout Cart. The auction on the item will continue until the item has been paid for. The Buy It Now option will no longer be available if bidding exceeds the Buy It Now price or if there is less than 15 minutes remaining in the auction.
Incremental Bid Example:
Minimum bid is $50 with an incremental bid amount of $5.
• First bid must be $50, then next bid at least $55
• If $100 is entered into the bid field, the user will have a bid of $100.
Maximum Bidding: Users can place a “maximum bid”, that is not disclosed to other participants or to auction administrators. Entering a maximum bid authorizes the system to bid on your behalf, up to that amount. By entering a maximum bid, you will maintain the winning bid for as long as another bidder does not enter a bid greater than your maximum bid amount. The maximum bidder will win each bid entered until they are outbid. In the case that someone bids an amount greater than your maximum bid, they will then be the high bidder. In this scenario, the user is shown, with their bid, that they are willing to pay more than your maximum bid amount. In the event another user places a bid at exactly the same amount as your maximum bid, you will have the high bid at that exact amount.
Maximum Bid Example:
Minimum bid is $50 with an incremental bid amount of $5.
• User #1: Bids $50 (min bid)
• User #2: Bids $100. User #2 now has the high bid at $100.
• User #1: Is Outbid by User #2. They choose to enter a max bid of $200. Their next bid is automatically $105 (next incremental bid).
• User #2: Is Outbid by User #1 at $105.
• User #2: Bids $110. User #2 is immediately Outbid by User #1’s max bid.
• User #1: Has the high bid at $110.
• User #2: Sets a max bid of $200. They are Outbid immediately by User #1.
• User #1: Has the high bid at $200.
• User #2: Bids $205. User #2 now has the high bid and User #1 is Outbid.
In the bidding activity on the item’s catalog page, when a max bid is placed, each bid against the max bid will appear as the same amount. In the scenario above, User #1 and User #2 would show that they both placed a bid of $105 for example; however, the user with the max bid will be the high bidder.
Create
To create a maximum bid, click “Create Max Bid” under the bid field. This will open a new field. Enter your maximum bid and save. The system will bid for you up to this amount.
Edit
Click edit in the maximum bid area, change the entry, and save.
Cancel
In the max bid area, click cancel. This will remove any additional bidding opportunity. Your last high bid will be your last unless you place another bid manually.
The system will keep you apprised if your bid is the high bid or you’ve been outbid each time you place a bid.
If you get a notification that you’ve been outbid immediately, it is because another bidder has placed a maximum bid. Each time you bid, you are raising their bid. You will receive an outbid notification until you have exceeded all maximum bids.
You cannot cancel an incremental bid. When you participate in an auction, you are committing to any bids that are placed. It is up to the nonprofit organization whether or not to allow cancellation of bids.
If you placed a bid and no longer want to win that item, you have two choices:
- Let the bid stay in place and trust that someone will outbid you.
- If you are not outbid, contact the fundraiser (See Contact Us on the home page) and ask if they are willing to cancel your bid or win.
You can reduce a maximum bid to the last highest bid so you will not bid any higher.
Order
When ordering tickets you will be asked to provide the names and email addresses of your ticket holders. If you do not have the information at the time of purchase, you may self-claim all tickets.
You will have 15 minutes to complete your purchase or the ticket order will be cancelled.
Assign or Change
At any time, you can open your tickets (see ticket icon in menu) and reassign each ticket to the person attending. Updating your ticket holders will save a great deal of time at check-in and assist the organization in knowing who attendees are in advance.
Cancellations
Keep in mind, your purchase of a ticket shows support for the cause. Tickets can not be canceled once purchased. To cancel a purchase contact the fundraiser directly. See Contact Us.
Certain items in an auction, shop, fund-a-need, tickets, or registrations, may have a limited time to purchase. These may be buy-it-now items, fixed priced items, and/or have limited inventory.
Buy It Now may be an option on an auction item.
When you purchase items that have a limited inventory, for a fixed priced, this purchase will also time out.
Tickets and Raffle Tickets also are limited in availability so they will time out if not purchased within the designated time period.
You will have 15 minutes to complete your purchase or the items will be cancelled and removed from your checkout cart.
You will be asked to add a credit card for each fundraiser you participate in. When you add a credit card in CausePilot, it will not be used for any other purpose than the current fundraiser you are participating in.
If you’ve added a credit card for the current fundraiser and would like to change or update it, click the Account icon in the main menu. Choose My Purchases
Go to Account in the main menu. Choose add if you have not yet entered a credit card and would like to. Choose the edit icon to change the credit card to a different one.
NOTE: Your credit card is being save by Stripe, the payment processor, not CausePilot or the fundraiser.
If you have a question for the Fundraiser, close this page and return to the fundraiser’s website. From the fundraiser’s website, choose Contact Us in the main menu.
Enter your question in the box provided and submit. This will send your question directly to the administrator of the fundraiser.
If you have a software related question contact CausePilot. Choose Contact Us in the main menu of this page. CausePilot will not be able to answer questions related to a specific event or fundraising campaign.
If you have included your mobile number when creating your account, certain notifications like “You were outbid” or “You won!” will be sent by text. This is the fastest way to receive updates. If you opt out of text messages then these notifications will be sent by email.
The fundraiser may send certain updates regarding the event by text message.
All other messages such as receipts and confirmations will be sent by email.
If you are not receiving your notifications please check your Account profile to make sure you have not opted out of text messages or email. Also verify your information is correct.
Lastly, make sure you’ve added noreply@causepilot.com as an approved sender. Check your spam or junk folder for missing messages.
Some email clients take longer to process email.
If your credit card is declined you can do the following.
- Make sure you are entering the credit card number and expiration date correctly.
- Make sure you are entering the correct CVC code. American Express cards list the code on the front of the card. All other types of cards list this code on the back.
- If you try your cards a few times and it is declined, your credit card company may mark the charge potentially fraudulent and, even if entered correctly may be declined.
- If your payment continues to be declined, contact your credit card company or try another credit card or another form of payment.
Payment failed but shows a $1 credit card charge
The following explanation is available on the Stripe (the credit card processor) website:
When someone attempts to store their card to be charged later, we send over a request to their issuing bank for either a $0 or a $1 authorization (different banks permit different amounts) to verify that the card is issued and the bank will allow it to be authorized. Regardless of whether or not the authorization is declined, we reverse our authorization request immediately. However, even if the bank declines the authorization, some people may still see an authorization for $1 on their credit card statement. The important thing to remember is that this is not a charge, and it will disappear from their statement; depending on the bank, it will be removed from their statement in anywhere from a few minutes to a few weeks.
It’s also important to note that just because the bank approved a $1 authorization, it doesn’t guarantee approval when you actually charge the card. The authorization helps weed out a lot of the cards that would definitely be problematic, but it’s not able to guarantee that your next payment will be successful.
CausePilot is a software platform that provides a service to fundraisers allowing them to present a better fundraising experience for supporters. There are fees associated with this enhanced fundraising program which include the software itself and credit card processing. To help offset these costs, fundraisers may ask supporters to help through a contribution fee.
If you’ve tried to login but are unable, there are a couple of reasons why this might happen.
1. Need to register?
If you don’t have an account, click “Register or Create a New Account”. Fill out the form. You will automatically be logged in after you submit.
2. Was an account created for you?
If an account has been created for you by the fundraiser, or you’ve participated in another event that utilized CausePilot, you may already have an account.
If the fundraiser created an account for you, you may not have a password yet. Try to login, click “Send Login Link” for help logging in. You will receive an email with instructions.
Once logged in, create your password.
3. Forgotten your password?
If you participated in a previous event using CausePilot, you may have forgotten your password. Following the instructions to “Send Login Link” or click Reset your Password. This will send you an email to reset your password.
4. No email received after requesting a password reset.
If you do not receive an email within a few minutes, please check your junk or spam folder. If you still have not received an email, you likely do not have a CausePilot account using that particular email address. Please try and create a new account.
