Editing a membership
Change a membership expiry date or switch it to a different package from the admin, without taking a payment or issuing a refund.
Sometimes a membership needs adjusting after it has been bought: a member has paid you by bank transfer and needs another year, a family has moved onto a different package, or a renewal date needs correcting. Admins can make those changes directly, without taking a payment or issuing a refund.
Editing a membership requires the Manage Membership permission.
Opening the editor
The Edit Membership option is available from two places:
- A member's own record, at Admin > Members, then open the member
- The package detail page, at Admin > Membership > Packages, then open the package to see the memberships on it
Both open the same Edit Membership window.
What you can change
| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| Package | Moves the membership onto a different package. |
| Expiry Date | Sets the date the membership runs to. Required, and cannot be in the past. |
| Note | An optional reason for the change, recorded against the membership's history. |
Click Save Changes to apply them.
No payment is taken and no refund is issued. If moving to a dearer package leaves a balance owing, or a cheaper one leaves the member in credit, settle that with the member separately.
Which memberships can be edited
A membership can be edited while its status is Active, Trial, Lapsed or Pending Approval. In any other status the fields are shown but cannot be changed.
Extending a Lapsed membership past today's date reinstates it as Active, so a member who lapsed and has since paid you directly does not need to buy again.
See Membership status for what each status means.
Switching package
Switching package keeps the existing expiry date. A straight swap between packages does not move the member's renewal date, so if the new package should run to a different date, change Expiry Date yourself at the same time.
A package switch is rejected when:
- The target package is archived
- The target package allows fewer members than the membership already has, for example moving a family of four onto a package with a limit of two
Two other things follow the switch automatically:
- Member groups: groups assigned by the old package are removed only if that package is set to remove them on expiry. The new package's groups are added. See Member groups.
- Auto-renewal: if the new package does not allow renewals, auto-renewal is switched off for the membership.
What gets recorded
Every change is written to the membership's notes, along with the optional Note you typed. That gives you a history of who changed what and why, which matters when a member queries their renewal date months later.
Frequently asked questions
Q: Does the member get an email when I edit their membership? A: No. The change is silent, so tell the member yourself if they need to know.
Q: Can I shorten a membership? A: Yes, as long as the new expiry date is not in the past.
Q: Can I edit a cancelled or expired membership? A: No. Only Active, Trial, Lapsed and Pending Approval memberships can be edited.
Q: Does editing a membership change what the member paid? A: No. Payments and refunds are handled separately, through Payments.