Deposits

Let members hold a facility booking by paying part of the price up front, with the balance taken automatically from their saved card before the booking.

Deposits let a member secure a booking without paying the whole price on the day they book. They pay part of it now, their card is saved, and ClubPal takes the rest automatically a set number of days before the booking. Nobody has to chase anyone, and a large hire no longer has to be paid for months in advance.

Where	What happens there
Admin > Facility Hire > Facilities	You choose the smallest deposit and when the balance is due, per facility.
The booking page	The member chooses between paying in full and paying a deposit.
My Profile > Payments	The member sees what they still owe, and can pay it early.
Admin > Payments > Outstanding Payments	You follow every balance, charge one early, or record one paid another way.

Before you start

You need the Manage Facility Hire permission to set up deposits, and Manage Payments to look after the balances. See Permissions.
The member needs a ClubPal account, as they do for any booking.

Balances are collected through ClubPal Payments

The balance is taken automatically only when your club takes card payments through ClubPal Payments. On any other payment provider members can still be offered a deposit, but the balance cannot be charged, and it will end up overdue unless the member pays it themselves. Leave deposits switched off until your club is on ClubPal Payments.

Setting up deposits on a facility

Go to Admin > Facility Hire > Facilities and click Edit on the facility.
In the Booking Rules card, fill in both deposit settings:
- Minimum Deposit (%): the smallest share of the price a member can pay to hold the booking, for example 25.
- Balance Due (days before): how many days before the booking the rest is taken from the member's saved card, for example 14.
Click Save Changes.

The Booking Rules card on the facility editor, with Minimum Deposit set to 25 percent and Balance Due set to 14 days before, beneath the notice, advance, buffer, cancellation and refund settings — Both deposit settings sit at the bottom of Booking Rules. A facility only offers deposits when both are filled in.

With those settings, a booking priced at £200.00 can be held with £50.00, and the remaining £150.00 is taken 14 days before the booking.

Clear either setting to go back to full payment. Setting the deposit to 100 has the same effect, because nothing would be left to collect.

Club-wide defaults

To offer deposits on most of your facilities, set Default Minimum Deposit (%) and Default Balance Due (days before) under Default Booking Rules at Admin > Facility Hire > Settings. A facility with its own values uses those instead.

Note

A new facility takes a copy of the defaults when you create it. Changing the defaults later does not change facilities you have already set up, so edit those individually.

When a member is offered a deposit

The deposit option only appears when all of these are true:

The facility has both deposit settings filled in.
The booking is far enough ahead that its balance due date has not already arrived. With a 14 day setting, a booking for next week is paid in full.
Both the deposit and what would be left over are at least the smallest card payment in your currency (30p for a club billing in pounds).
The booking costs something.

If the member applies a discount code, the deposit is worked out on the discounted price. Deposits are always rounded up to the penny.

What the member sees

When a deposit is available, the booking summary offers Pay in full (chosen to start with) or Pay a deposit. Choosing Pay a deposit shows:

Amount to pay now, filled in with the minimum. The member can pay more, up to the full price. Paying the full amount simply counts as paying in full.
The minimum, the balance still to pay, and the date it will be charged.
A notice that their card will be saved so the balance can be collected, and that this is required when paying a deposit.

The booking summary for Main Pitch, with Pay a deposit selected, 50 pounds entered as the amount to pay now, a line saying the remaining 150 pounds will be charged automatically on a date, and a notice that the card will be securely saved — The date shown is when the balance will be taken, worked out from the facility's Balance Due setting.

They then click Confirm & Proceed to Payment and pay the deposit only. The booking is confirmed straight away, exactly as a fully paid one would be.

Their booking page shows how much is still to come:

A member's facility booking page showing the booking as confirmed, with a line reading Deposit paid, 150 pounds balance to come — The balance line disappears once the booking is paid in full.

The balance is also listed under Upcoming Payments at My Profile > Payments, with the date it is due and a Pay now button:

The Upcoming Payments card on a member's account, listing Balance for Main Pitch with its due date, the amount of 150 pounds and a Pay now button — Upcoming Payments only appears when a member owes something.

How the balance is collected

Seven days before the due date, the member is emailed "Your balance is due soon", saying it will be taken automatically with nothing for them to do. If the card they saved expires before the due date, they are asked to pay now or add a new card instead. A booking made within that week gets no reminder.
On or just after the due date, the balance is charged to the saved card overnight, and the member is emailed a receipt. The booking is then paid in full.
If the charge fails, it is tried again a day later, then three days after that, then a week after that: four attempts in all.
If every attempt fails, the balance is marked overdue and the member is emailed "Payment could not be taken", with a link to pay it themselves.

The booking is never cancelled for an unpaid balance

However many attempts fail, the booking stays confirmed. It is up to you what to do about a balance that stays overdue: pay by link, take it offline, or cancel the booking.

A member can pay the balance early at any time, using Pay now under Upcoming Payments or the link in their reminder email.

Following balances as an admin

A booking with a deposit shows what has been paid so far, for example "Paid £50.00 of £200.00", on its page at Admin > Facility Hire > Bookings. While a balance is outstanding, a Balance panel shows the amount and due date, the reason the last charge failed if one has, and a link to Manage in Outstanding Payments.

The admin view of a facility booking, showing Paid 50 pounds of 200 pounds and a Balance panel with 150 pounds due on a date and a Manage in Outstanding Payments button — A failed charge shows its reason and how many attempts have been made.

Every balance is listed at Admin > Payments > Outstanding Payments, alongside the payment requests you raise yourself. Choose Automatic to see only balances, and Needs Attention to see those that are overdue or have had a charge fail.

Outstanding Payments, filtered to Outstanding, listing a Balance for Main Pitch row for Test Member with its amount, due date and Outstanding status

A balance is marked Not Emailed because nothing is sent when it is first raised: the member already agreed to it when they paid their deposit. Their first email about it is the reminder a week before it is due.

Each outstanding balance has an Actions menu:

Charge Now tries the saved card straight away instead of waiting for the due date.
Mark as Paid Offline records the balance as paid another way, for example by bank transfer. A receipt is written for your records and the booking becomes paid in full. The member is not emailed.
Send Reminder emails the member about it again, once a day at most.
Cancel Request withdraws the balance, with a reason the member is told.

The Actions menu open on a balance row, listing View Member, Send Reminder, Charge Now, Mark as Paid Offline and Cancel Request

Charging early starts the retries early

If Charge Now is declined, the retries count from that day, not from the due date. A card that keeps declining can leave the balance overdue, and the member sent a final notice, weeks before the date they were told. Use it when a member asks, or once a balance is already due.

See Payment requests for more on the Outstanding Payments page.

Cancellations and refunds

When a booking with a deposit is cancelled and a refund is due, the member gets back what they have actually paid: the deposit, plus the balance if it has already been taken. It goes back to the card they paid with, in the same way as any other facility refund.

A balance you marked as paid offline cannot be refunded to a card, because it was never taken through ClubPal. Refund that part the same way the member paid it.

Tip

Cancelling a booking does not withdraw its outstanding balance straight away. When you cancel a booking that still has a balance to come, also choose Cancel Request on its balance in Outstanding Payments, so the member is not asked to pay for a booking they no longer have.

Tips

Pick a Balance Due that leaves you time to act. The four attempts can take up to two weeks, so a longer setting means a failed balance is clearly overdue well before the booking, not on the day.
Keep an eye on Needs Attention in the fortnight before busy dates. That is where a failed card shows up first.
If a member says they paid you in cash, use Mark as Paid Offline rather than cancelling the balance, so the booking shows as paid in full.