A Stripe account is only required for the organization to receive the funds directly into their bank account. Stripe is completely hidden from bidders, and there's nothing extra for them to do!
Bidders are only required to have a card on file when they place a bid. Once a bidder enters a card, it's saved for future bids, so they never have to input it again.
We require a card for two reasons:
to ensure that all bids are real (no fake $50,000 bids messing things up)
to streamline the end of Auction payment process for the nonprofit (click a button to charge all cards, rather than a lengthy invoicing process).
That said, at the end of the Auction, the organization does have the option to not charge a user’s credit card. (For example, if an individual reaches out to say that they would prefer to pay by check). We leave this up to you, though we generally recommend against it, as it introduces new complexities to collecting payments.