Introduction To Participants

Learn how Auctria tracks the guests at your event and how to use guest numbering.

What are Participants?

Participants represent the people attending your event and/or engaging online. In most cases, "participants" and "guests" mean the same thing.

If you're selling Tickets, we recommend setting up one participant per guest. This ensures an accurate headcount and is required if you want to track details like meal choices or tables and seating.

A participant record tracks individual guest details (name, email, meal preference, etc.) and is required for registering credit cards if you're using payment processing. All payments and purchases processed through the Event Website require a Participant Record — if one does not exist, the checkout process will create one automatically.

There are no hard limits on the number of participants you can have registered for an event.

Adding Participants

There are a few ways participants can be added to your event:

• Online registration: Allow guests to register themselves when they purchase Tickets through your event website (Registration/Checkout).
• Manually: Add participants individually from the dashboard using Add New Participant.
• Import: Bring in participant lists from an Excel (.xls) file with import.

Add During Check-In

You can also create or update participant records right from the Check-In By Organizer page — handy for last-minute arrivals. Assign a new Paddle# or add a brand-new participant on the spot.

Adding a participant during Check-In.

Add by Text Message

If Text Messages are enabled, guests can register via text. See Enable Registration By Text for setup instructions.

Managing Participants

Once created, a participant's details can be updated at any time through their Participant Details page.

Example of a Participant Details page.

More About Participants:

• Tables And Seating
• Participant Statements
• Linking Versus Merging?

Linked Participants

When multiple participants share the same Paddle#, they are considered linked. This allows family members, couples, or groups to bid together.

More About Linked Participants:

• Sharing Participant Numbers
• How To Link Participants

Primary Participant

A linked group can have a designated Primary Participant — the "main" account for that paddle number. The primary record will:

• Be listed first on reports and statements
• Act as the default contact for receipts and communications
• Serve as the base record for linked transactions

Set the Primary Participant by opening their record and clicking Make Primary in the left sidebar.

Where you'll see it

• A star icon marks the primary at check-in, on the participant record, and in searches.
• The primary is listed first in the group and is automatically used in quick entry forms, checkout, and chooser lists.

Additional Participants

Each participant record includes an Additional Participants field. This is an informational only field — use it to note the names of extra guests bidding under the same Paddle#.

These names will display on Participant Statements, but unlike linked participants, they won't have full participant records.

Participants Dashboard

To access the Participants Dashboard, click Participants from the main event dashboard.

An example Participants Dashboard from a demonstration event.

You can add a new participant from the main banner by clicking the + icon, or use the Choose Participant selector to search by name or paddle number. The ? icon in the top-right corner opens the User Guide.

Main Content

An example from a demonstration event.

Paddle Number Options

An example from a demonstration event.

Options for automatically assigning Paddle#'s.

Sidebar Actions

The sidebar provides quick access to common participant functions.

Communication

See Introduction To Communication for more information.

Import/Export

See Import/Export for more information.

Last Reviewed: March 2026