Payment Statuses
What is a Payment Status?
Payment Statuses are used to track the status of billable items (and even complimentary items) in the following modules:
- Registration
- Functions
- Accommodation
- Travel
- Exhibition
- Sponsorship
- CE Courses
Default Payment Statuses
The default Payment Statuses that are always available for selection are:
- Purchase
The default status, for an item that will be (or has been) paid for. In most cases, this payment status will be added automatically when an online registration or booking is made, and an invoice for the required amount will be generated (note - generated means created in the system, not issued).
- Inclusive
You can use this payment status for items that are part of a package, ore are being supplied at no cost (such as registration for a guest speaker). - Complimentary
An item that is normally billable, but is being given at no charge. For example, complimentary registrations that are included as part of an exhibition stand will be registered with this payment status. - Canceled
Was one of the above, but has now been canceled.
There are two other default Payment Status options you’ll see for a Group Contact or Group Member:
- If the person is a Group Contact (leader), there’ll be a box called “This is Group Inventory” below the payment status box. Whatever payment status you choose, this box should be ticked if these are bulk items to be used by the group.
- If the person is a Group member, the Payment Status of “Group Inventory” or “Canceled – Group Inventory” are also payment status options. The payment status "Group Inventory" means the item should come out of the group’s inventory (or be changed to "Canceled – Group Inventory", i.e. put back into the Group’s inventory).
Additional Payment Statuses
Depending on the module, you can also choose to allow other Payment Statuses as "valid". Some of these are used mainly for reporting purposes:
- No Charge - Recorded but at no cost
- Own Expense [This is a default payment status for Travel items, and a possible option for Function and Accommodation items] Allows these items to be recorded but with no payable amount within EventsAir, because the attendee's going to handle payment themselves, outside the EventsAir system]
- Invited - Recorded but at no cost
- Not Attending - Recorded but at no cost [you could also use this to record 'no shows']
- Not Required - Recorded but at no cost
- Deposit - You can manually designate this payment status if you intend to have a separate item for the remainder (for example, if this is a non-refundable deposit, charged separately).
- Charge to Another Contact - This allows an item to be invoiced to another attendee. The other contact's name will be shown in the audit trail (and the original attendee's name will be shown on the paying person's invoice).
Although there are other ways to designate group payment status, this the default status for items booked in a group portal and charged to the Group Contact. You can also designate it manually where another attendee is going to pay. If this payment status is enabled, and the item’s later canceled after being paid for, you must choose “Canceled – Charge to Another Contact”. (Alternatively, you can choose Purchased if it’s now going to be invoiced directly to the person themselves.) - Split Charge - This can be set manually if some of the item will be paid by someone else (if you choose this, there'll be another field that appears where you can nominate the other person). Even though the total appears on one attendee’s Registration module, the invoiced amounts will be split. You can also add a Note when setting up the split charge so that an explanation appears on the invoice.
- Waitlist Purchase - If this is payment status is enabled and the option is added to your interactive site, when the attendee selects this item, it'll be charged immediately.
- Waitlist No Payment Required - If this payment status is enabled and the option is added to your interactive site, it'll be recorded but not charged immediately.
Guest of - This payment status will be created when you’ve got “record guest names” ticked on a Function fee type. If you need to cancel this, canceling this on the Guest’s record alone won’t help. You also have to cancel the item on the main attendee's record.
To see and enable/disable any of these additional payment statuses, click the Advanced tab for on the item. (Example below, from a Function Fee Type.) This tab will be available wherever payments can be defined for Functions, Registrations, Travel, Exhibition and Accommodation.
Payment and Cancellation Policies
NOTE: The set up is different for the Exhibition and Sponsorship modules – see information at end of this article.
For many modules in EventsAir (Registration, Functions, Accommodation, Membership etc.) you have the option to create module-specific, and item-specific payment and cancellation schedules and terms.
In other words, these may be different to your default settings, or what you have in other modules, or even other items within that module.
You’ll find the settings for these in the Payment and Cancellation Policy section of each module setup (default for the whole module, if you choose to apply it) AND in the Payment Policy and Cancellation Policy tab for each item.
If you leave Payment and Cancellation Policy settings blank for the whole module, you won't see these options for individual items within the module.
The default policy for a module will drop in whenever you enable a policy for an individual function, registration type or other item.
You can also leave them out or adjust/override for each item as needed.
A Membership Payment or Cancellation “policy” has two elements:
- The Payment or Cancellation Schedule
This is not usually seen by your attendees/members. It’s used to calculate payment amounts and due dates and cancellation refunds.
- The Terms and Conditions
These are the written statements that people see during the online registration process. For example, these may describe any limitations on who can purchase this item (e.g. membership restrictions), the payment due dates and invoice terms; or late fees and cancellation refunds/penalties, and under what circumstances cancellations are allowed.
To make the Terms & Conditions visible wherever payment or cancellation schedules apply, you need to add them at the module level AND to the item level (selecting “Default”).
You also need to add the “Terms & Conditions” checkbox to the Summary Page of your registration site.
Payment and Cancellation Schedules
Payment and Cancellation Schedules are a set of rules, based on percentages or amounts, and the applicable dates.
Changing a payment schedule after payments have been received and recorded will ‘cancel’ and ‘recreate’ the payment items as being due.
In this scenario, you need to reconcile the ‘canceled’ payments with a ‘refund’, and record the new ‘payments’.
To set up a Payment Schedule:
You can set up a “module default” schedule in “Payment and Cancellation Policy” for the module (Registration, Travel, etc.)
Tick the box that says “Use Payment Schedule”.
(Example below is from the Functions module.)
Select “Add Schedule Item”.
For Type, you can choose either:
Amount – the cumulative (TOTAL) amount due by the specified time.
Incremental % of Total Amount – the cumulative percentage due at the specified time.
OR
Balance Due - any outstanding amount due.
In the Accommodation module, the dropdown options also include Number of Nights.
Note that in the Accommodation module, you also have the option (under each room type's Advanced tab) to set a deposit amount, so be sure these settings don't conflict with each other.
Next, add a Value – unless you’re using “Balance Due”, you need to specify a percentage or amount in the Value field. (Or a Number of Nights if using this.)
About Payment Schedule calculations
For these modules, you need to enter cumulative percentages and amounts for the value.
In other words, the TOTAL amount or percentage due by a certain date, not just the portion due on that date.
Exhibition and Sponsorship schedules are calculated differently - see separate section.
For example, you may want people to pay half the total by a certain date, 75% by a subsequent date, and then the entire amount by a third date.
You would set this up as 50%, 75% and finally 100%. (They won’t add up to 100%.)
If you use dollar amounts, you should enter the TOTAL due by each date, not just the portion being paid on that date.
The last figure should always be 100% or total due, OR you can use the Balance Due feature. See example schedules below.
Invoice Date – when this scheduled payment will be invoiced. ONLY use this if you want to specify a fixed date, rather than having the payment date linked to when the booking/registration is made.
Invoice Terms - the number of days between invoice (or booking) date and payment due date.
- If the Invoice Date field is filled in, the (maximum) due date for payment will be the invoice date plus the number of days in Invoice Terms.
- If the Invoice Date field is left blank, the (maximum) due date for payment is listed in the schedule as “On booking plus” and then the number of days from the Invoice Terms field. On the payment page, this will be calculated based on the booking date. You can make this 0 if you want this payment to be due immediately upon booking/registration. You can only create ONE "on booking plus" item.
When you’re ready, press “Create Schedule item” to add the item to the list.
Add as many items to your schedule as you need to ensure the entire amount due is paid at some point, or use the “Balance Due” field for this purpose.
You’ve now created a default payment schedule for the whole module, which can be applied OR left off each item (function, hotel, registration type, travel type etc.) within the module.
Example Payment Schedules (does not apply to Exhibition or Sponsorship)
If your total fee is $100, you could set up a payment schedule as:
First payment amount (total due by date of first payment): $30
Second payment amount (total due by date of second payment): $50
[i.e. this will only be an additional $20 if they already made the first payment]
Final payment amount (total due by final due date): $100
You can see how this would look to an attendee in the next section showing a registration page.
However, you’d probably only use an amounts-based payment schedule as a default for the module if every payable item in the module cost the same total amount. It’s much more common to use percentage increments:
First payment amount (total percentage by date of first payment): 25%
Second payment amount (total percentage by date of second payment): 75%
Final payment amount (total percentage by final due date): 100%
Or you can create a simple schedule of one deposit plus a final payment:
In the example below:
A 50% payment is due 30 days from the first invoice date of May 31st (i.e. June 30).
The remaining balance is due 30 days from the second invoice date of June 30, (i.e. July 30).
Second example:
- A 10% payment is due at time of booking the function.
- A total of 40% must be paid by the 31st of December.
- The remaining balance is due on April 30.
Third example - accommodation deposit:
- One night's room fee is due 30 days from the time of booking. [If you wanted to make it due immediately upon booking, you’d make it 0 days from booking.]
How a Payment Schedule looks on a registration site
Add a Payment Page to your interactive (registration) site.
If you enable “Future Payments”, people can also make extra (early) payments, even for amounts that aren’t due yet. (You can change the label name and text if you wish.)
On the site, it will look something like the below. The attendee/registrant will be prompted to pay any items currently or previously due, and, if allowed, the option is there to pay for items due in the future.
To set up a Cancellation Schedule:
In Payment and Cancellation Policy, select the “Cancellation Policy” tab.
Tick the “Use Cancellation Schedule” box then select “Add Schedule Item”.
The following items can be defined in a cancellation schedule:
- Type – choose Percentage or Amount
- Value – the actual amount or percentage
Creating a cancellation schedule means that technically EVERYONE who cancels is subject to a fee, determined by the date they cancel.
Generally, the earlier the cancellation, the smaller the cancellation fee. (And the later someone cancels, the higher the fee.)
If you want to allow early cancellations with no penalty, set a 0% cancellation fee for very early cancellations (i.e. give a full refund).
Canceled From Date – to qualify for this cancellation fee (and therefore some refund), the item can be canceled on or after this date, but before the next item's From Date.
Example Cancellation Schedule
- There is no fee for cancellations before January 5.
- A 50% cancellation fee (and therefore 50% refund, if the total amount has been paid) will apply if cancellation is made on or after January 5, but before Feb 1.
An 80% cancellation fee (i.e. 20% refund, if the total amount has been paid) applies if cancellation is on or after Feb 1.
Adjusting for individual items
Once you’ve created a default Payment/Cancellation Policy for a module, the option to add this will appear as a tab on the individual items (examples below from Travel and Functions):
If you haven’t created any module defaults, you won’t see the tab(s) on individual items.
The rest of the process works much the same way, but if you tick “Use Payment [Cancellation] Schedule”, the module default will appear, then you can edit it.
Creating Terms & Conditions (for Payment or Cancellation)
Under “Payment and Cancellation Policy”, choose either the Payment Policy tab or the Cancellation Policy tab, as needed.
Tick the “Use Payment [or Cancellation] Terms and Conditions” box.
(Example below is from the Functions module.)
Open the HTML Editor and add the necessary information describing your policies/schedules.
The amounts and terms you set up in your payment and cancellation schedules should be described in your Terms and Conditions.
For example: “10% of your fee is payable immediately, and the rest within 60 days” or “Cancellations will incur a fee of 20% or 100% if you cancel later than 2 weeks before the event”.
To make the Terms & Conditions visible wherever payment or cancellation schedules apply, add them at the module level AND to the item level (selecting “Default” when prompted).
Then add the “Terms & Conditions” checkbox to the Summary Page of your registration site.
You may want to create specific Payment Terms and Conditions depending on the module, for example:
- Only people with a certain qualification can apply for Membership
- All attendees are required to book rooms on Tuesday and Wednesday of the event
- There are no refunds extended for accommodation bookings, unless in case of medical emergency
- All attendees are required to book travel in coach only
- There are no refunds extended for travel bookings under any circumstances
- All attendees are required to register for CE Courses by a specific date
- Attendance at CE Courses is required in order to receive credit
- No cancellations are offered for CE Course fees
How Terms & Conditions look on your registration site
On the Summary Page, add the Terms and Conditions element and enable all relevant features.
If you’ve enabled Terms & Conditions at the item level (not just at the module level) they’ll appear on the page.
Because an attendee can’t submit without accepting these, their acceptance is ‘recorded’ when they submit their interactive form on the registration site.
Payment Schedules in Exhibition/Sponsorship modules
Many of the same principles apply when setting up these features in Exhibition or Sponsorship.
But there are some important differences:
Payment Schedules are enabled in the Preferences section, by ticking the “Payment Schedule” box.
Ticking this box will open the Payment Schedule options.
Payment schedules are based on percentage progress payments that add up to a total of 100%.
In other words, you would normally create a schedule such as:
25% payable upon booking (on booking + 0 days)
25% payable by a certain date
50% (the remainder) paid by a final date.
Because exhibitions and sponsorships are business-to-business arrangements rather than bookings by individuals, the cancellation process is different and therefore there is no cancellation schedule option in these modules. You should also ensure your Terms & Conditions (for both bookings and cancellations) are visible on your event website and link to this from your other portals.