> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.range-mate.co.uk/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.range-mate.co.uk/for-club-admins/booking-payments-and-bank-transfers.md).

# Booking Payments & Bank Transfers

How members pay for event bookings, what happens when card payments aren't available, and how to reconcile bank transfers

Every paid event offers one or both payment options, set per event under **Advanced options → Payment options** when you create or edit it:

* **Pay in advance.** The member pays when they book. By card through your club's Stripe account when card payments are available, otherwise by **bank transfer** (see below).
* **Pay on arrival.** The member books now and pays at the range. Their booking shows **Pay on arrival** on the attendance register until you mark it paid.

Free events (£0.00) are confirmed straight away with no payment step.

## Card payments through Stripe

Every way members can pay is a [payment method](/for-club-admins/payment-providers.md) you activate under **Club Settings → Payments**. Each event's **How can people pay?** lists the ones it accepts. With an online method (a provider account your club owns) pay-in-advance bookings are confirmed as soon as the payment succeeds.

{% hint style="info" %}
If a provider stops accepting your key, or you turn an online method off, pay-in-advance events fall back to bank transfer automatically. Nothing changes on your events, and members can keep booking. The Payments page shows which methods are on.
{% endhint %}

## Bank transfer bookings

When card payments aren't available, a member booking a pay-in-advance event sees **Book and pay by bank transfer**. When they book:

1. Their place is held against the event's capacity straight away.
2. They land on a **How to pay** page showing the amount, a **payment reference** to quote, your payment instructions and any payment deadline. The same details are emailed to them, and they can come back to the page from the event or **My Bookings**.
3. The booking appears on your attendance register and the event's **Attendees** tab as **Bank transfer not received**, with the amount owed and the reference.
4. When the money arrives, you **mark the booking as paid**. The member is emailed to confirm.

The payment reference looks like `BK-1234-SMITH`: the booking number and the payer's surname. One reference covers everyone in the same booking (a member plus their juniors, for example), so a single transfer settles the whole party.

### What you need to set up

Open **Club Settings → Payments** and set up (or edit) **Bank transfer**:

* **Payment instructions.** Your bank account name, sort code and account number, or a link to a payment page. Shown on the How to pay page and in the payment email. Until you add this, members are told the club will let them know where to pay.
* **Bank transfer bookings.** How an unpaid bank transfer booking is described to the member:
  * **Confirmed when booked.** The member is told they're booked. You trust them to pay and tick payments off as they arrive. This is the default.
  * **Confirmed when you record the payment.** The member is told their place is held until you receive their payment. In both cases the place is reserved against capacity until the booking is cancelled.
* **Release unpaid bookings after.** A number of days. If a bank transfer booking is still unpaid this long after it was made, it's cancelled automatically and the member is emailed to say their place has been released. Leave it blank to never cancel automatically. A booking for a session sooner than the window is never released automatically; you deal with those on the day.

### Confirming payments

Every payment a member promises to make by hand (bank transfer, cash, cheque or your card machine) waits on one list until someone at the club records it. You can record it from any of these places:

* **Club Admin → Payments → To confirm**, also the **Payments to confirm** card under **Admin → Action items**. One row per payment across bookings, memberships and junior fees, with the member, what it's for, the amount, the reference they quote and when it's due. **Mark as paid** records it; you can say what was actually used if it differs from what they promised (a bank transfer settled in cash on the night, say) and add a note.
* The event's **Attendees** tab, where each unpaid booking shows the amount and reference with a **Mark as paid** link.
* The **attendance register** on the day, where the booking shows as not yet paid with a **Mark as paid** button. A pay-on-the-day booking marked paid there is recorded by the event's first on-the-day method.

Marked something paid by mistake? On the event's Attendees tab the booking shows **Paid by bank transfer** with a **Mark as unpaid** link. Only payments recorded by hand can be undone; a card payment is refunded instead.

{% hint style="info" %}
Bank transfer payments happen outside Range Mate, so refunds are manual too. Cancelling a paid bank transfer booking with a refund due lists it under **Refunds owed to members** and emails the member for their account details. You send the money and mark it refunded. A booking paid through a provider you connected is refunded back through it (see [Payment Methods](/for-club-admins/payment-providers.md)).
{% endhint %}

### Events that need approval

On an approval-gated, pay-in-advance event, a member at a club without card payments **requests to book**. No card is saved and nothing is owed until you approve. On approval their place is confirmed and they're emailed the amount, reference and your payment instructions, with any payment window counted from the approval. Requests show **Bank transfer on approval** in the approvals queue.

## Emails

Three emails support bank transfer bookings, all reworded from **Club Settings → Email templates** in the **Bookings** group:

* **Booking made, pay by bank transfer.** Sent when the booking is made or the request approved. Carries the amount, reference, deadline and your payment instructions.
* **Bank transfer received.** Sent when you mark the booking as paid.
* **Bank transfer not received, place released.** Sent when a booking is cancelled automatically because your payment window passed. Only sent if you've set a window.

## Related pages

* [Creating & Managing Events](/for-club-admins/managing-events.md) for payment options and approvals.
* [Membership Payments](/for-club-admins/membership-payments.md) for how membership fees are collected.
* [Booking onto Events](/for-members/booking-onto-events.md) for what members see.