Payment requests

Ask a member, or a whole group, for a specific amount and track who has not paid.

Ad hoc payments let a member pay you when they choose to. Payment requests work the other way round: you ask a named member for a specific amount, they are told about it, and you can see at a glance who still owes you.

Use them for anything you would otherwise chase by message: away kit, a trip deposit, a tournament entry fee, a replacement membership card.

The same page also lists the balances left to pay on facility bookings made with a deposit. Those are raised, reminded and charged automatically; see Deposits.

Raising a request

Go to Admin > Payments > Outstanding Payments and choose Request Payment. You need the Manage Payments permission.

Fill in:

• Recipients: one member, several members, or a group. Everyone you select gets their own separate request for the same amount.
• What is this for: a short description the member sees, for example "Away kit".
• Amount: what each member is being asked for. Every recipient is asked for this amount, it is not split between them.
• Note (optional): extra context shown to the member on the payment page and in their email.
• Due by (optional): the date you want the money by.

Choosing a group sends to whoever is in that group at the moment you press send. Changing the group afterwards does not change who was asked.

What the member sees

Each member gets:

• An email headed "Payment Requested", showing the amount, what it is for, your note and the due date, with a Pay Now button.
• A notification in ClubPal, on the bell and as a push notification if they have those switched on.

Both lead to a page showing the amount, what it is for and when it is due, with a button to pay by card. Members can only ever open their own request.

Payment requests are important enough that members cannot switch these notifications off. They will always be told when you ask them for money, and when you cancel a request.

Tracking what is outstanding

Admin > Payments > Outstanding Payments lists every request, with the total Outstanding, the number of Requests Outstanding and how many are Overdue across the top.

Filter by status:

• Needs Attention: overdue, or an automatic charge has failed.
• Outstanding: asked for, not yet paid.
• Overdue: outstanding and past the due date.
• Paid: settled.
• Cancelled: withdrawn by an admin.

And by where it came from:

• Requested: raised by an admin.
• Automatic: a balance on a facility booking made with a deposit.

A request sent to a member with no email address is marked Not Emailed. They will still have been told in ClubPal, but it is worth a word in person. Members who have switched email off still receive payment requests, so they are not marked.

You can also see a single member's requests on their own record, under Admin > Members, on the Payments tab.

Chasing and cancelling

Each outstanding row has an Actions menu:

• Send Reminder emails and notifies the member again. You can send one reminder per request per day, and the list shows how many have been sent.
• Charge Now takes an automatic balance from the member's saved card straight away. It only appears on balances ClubPal collects automatically, and a decline starts that balance's retries from today, so it can go overdue early.
• Mark as Paid Offline records the request as paid another way, such as cash or bank transfer. A receipt is written for your records and anything the request was for, such as a facility booking, is settled. The member is not emailed.
• Cancel Request withdraws it. You are asked for a reason, and the member is told the request no longer stands along with the reason you gave. Cancelling cannot be undone, so raise a new request if you change your mind.

Once a request is paid

The member gets a receipt in the usual way, and the request moves to Paid on your list. Opening the original link again shows them that it has been paid rather than asking a second time.

Refunding a payment does not change the request. The request records that you asked and that the member paid, which stays true. Handle the money side through Refunds in the usual way.

Things to know

• Requests are paid by card through ClubPal. If a member pays you another way, use Mark as Paid Offline so the request shows as paid.
• A request is paid in full or not at all. Part payments are not supported.
• Reminders for requests you raise are sent by you, not automatically. Facility balances are the exception: they are reminded and charged automatically.
• Requests go to members, so the person you are asking needs a ClubPal account.
• Each request is one amount for one thing. For several items, either add them up into one request or raise one request each.