📝 Overview

You may notice that a customer is able to register for events even though their payment did not go through successfully. This can be confusing, but it is expected behaviour in certain scenarios due to the way payment processing works.

When a customer purchases a membership or completes a registration, the payment is not processed at the exact same moment as the booking. Depending on the payment method, the payment may be initiated and then confirmed (or declined) shortly after. During this retry period, the customer's membership remains active and they may register for events before the payment outcome is known.

The system is designed this way to ensure a smooth customer experience during checkout. However, it also means that if a payment ultimately fails, the customer may already have active registrations.

💡 The system automatically removes class registrations when a customer’s first recurring membership payment fails. For more details on how the system handles failed payments step-by-step, see the guide here.

🔄 How Payment Processing Works

Understanding why this happens starts with how payments are processed. The behaviour differs depending on the payment method your customer uses.

Click the arrow to learn more about how each payment processor works

Click on any of the drop-down options below to find out more about each payment processor.

Click the arrow to learn more about Stripe

When a customer makes a purchase using Stripe, the payment is processed at the time of checkout. If the payment is successful, the membership is added to the customer's profile, any class registrations are confirmed, and everything proceeds as normal.

If the payment fails, the system will automatically retry the payment every 24 hours. During this retry period, the customer's membership remains active.

Once the number of retries reaches the limit you have set in your Customer Settings, the membership becomes unusable and the customer can no longer register for new events using that membership.

🔔 If a customer's first payment on a recurring membership fails, the system will automatically remove them from any classes they registered for.

This applies only to the first payment.

If any following payments fail past that point, existing registrations will not be automatically cancelled and the customer can still attend those pre-booked events.

Click the arrow to learn more about GoCardless

When a customer makes a purchase using GoCardless, the payment is initiated but may take several business days to confirm. The membership is added to the customer's profile and any class registrations are recorded while the payment is being processed.

If the payment is successful, everything proceeds as normal. If the payment fails, it will appear in your Failed Payments section. GoCardless payments are not automatically retried, you will need to manually retry them from your dashboard.

🔔 If a customer's first payment on a recurring membership fails, the system will automatically remove them from any classes they registered for.

This applies only to the first payment.

If any following payments fail past that point, existing registrations will not be automatically cancelled and the customer can still attend those pre-booked events.

Click the arrow to learn more about Offline, Cash & No Payment Method

When a customer’s membership is set up with an offline payment method (such as cash), their payments are categorised as Pending Offline Payments rather than failed payments, since these require manual confirmation by the business.

Because these payments are not technically failing, the membership will not be automatically blocked. You would need to manually block registrations on the membership if the payment is overdue. You can find pending offline payments under To-Dos ➜ Offline Payments.

If a customer’s membership has no payment method at all, the system will email the customer reminders. Before the first billing date, reminders are sent weekly. On and after the billing date, reminders are sent daily. Each day without a payment method counts toward the failed payment limit you have configured.

💡 You can customise this reminder email by going to Communication ➜ Notifications ➜ Customer Membership: Missing Payment Method.

🛠️ How To Recover Failed Payments

When a payment fails and reaches the point where it is no longer being retried, it will appear under To-Dos ➜ Failed Payments (also accessible via Billing/Revenue ➜ Failed). From here, you can take action to resolve the payment.

Click the arrow to learn more about resolving failed payments

When you click Actions next to a failed payment, you will see the following options:

Void	Closes the invoice so it won't be collected. A voided invoice can no longer be paid, and voiding can't be undone
Retry	Manually re-attempts the payment. For Stripe, this processes promptly. For GoCardless, confirmation may take 3–5 business days
Change the membership's payment method	Switches the payment method on the customer’s membership and processes the failed payment via the new method
Cancel membership	Cancels the customer’s membership entirely. You will also have the option to cancel any remaining pending payments

You can also resolve a failed payment directly from the customer’s profile by going to Customers ➜ Customer List ➜ selecting the customer ➜ Memberships tab ➜ clicking the membership name. Failed payments display a red max retries label with a Resolve button next to them, which gives you Change Payment Method, Skip/Edit Payment or Retry Payment.

💡 For recurring memberships, you can also skip the failed payment and add it as a new “ad-hoc” payment if you need to adjust the amount.

For more details, see the guide on how to add a payment to a recurring membership here.

For a full breakdown of what happens when a payment fails, including the retry process and how it affects the customer’s membership, see here.

✅ How To Reduce Failed Payments

While failed payments can happen for a variety of reasons, there are several steps you can take to minimise the impact and stay on top of any issues.

Click the arrow to view tips for reducing failed payments

🟢 Configure Your Failed Payment Settings

Review and adjust the payment failure settings in your account. You can find these by going to Settings ➜ Registrations ➜ Customers and clicking Edit.

Number of failed payment attempts before a membership is unusable – This setting controls how many times a payment can fail before the customer’s membership is automatically blocked. For Stripe this counts automatic retries, and for GoCardless it counts manual retries. Setting this to a lower value means the membership will be blocked sooner if payments continue to fail.

Number of days before an offline pending membership payment is considered overdue – This setting applies to offline and pending payments. Once a payment is classified as overdue, you can manually block the customer’s membership from being used.

🟢 Monitor the To-Dos Section Regularly

Your Dashboard displays a To-Dos widget that shows the number of items needing your attention, including failed payments, open invoices, and pending offline payments. You can also access the full To-Dos section from the left-hand navigation menu. Checking this section regularly helps you catch failed payments early.

🟢 Use the Upcoming Billing Page

The Billing/Revenue ➜ Upcoming Billing page shows all scheduled future payments. Use the Retrying filter to see payments currently in the retry process, and look for the No Method indicator to identify customers who are missing payment details before their next billing date.

🟢 Block Memberships With Overdue Offline Payments

For offline or cash payments that are overdue, you can manually block a membership from being used. For step-by-step instructions on how to do this, see the guide on blocking memberships with pending offline payments here.

🟢 Customise Payment Reminder Notifications

For customers who are missing a payment method, the system sends automatic email reminders. You can customise these notifications by going to Communication ➜ Notifications ➜ Customer Membership: Missing Payment Method.

You can include a link that redirects the customer to their account where they can add a payment method.

💡 Customers receive automatic emails about payment retries and failed payments. Owners, Admins and Instructors with the Revenue permission can also receive an email the first time a customer's payment fails, but not for later retries. You can turn this email on or off under My Account ➜ Notifications.

📊 Helpful Reports & Tools

Several areas of the Business Dashboard can help you track and manage payment health. Here is a summary of where to find key payment information.

Click the arrow to view available reports and tools

To-Dos ➜ Failed Payments – View and resolve payments that have failed and are no longer being retried.

To-Dos ➜ Offline Payments – View pending offline payments that are awaiting manual confirmation.

To-Dos ➜ Open Invoices – View invoices that are open, including Stripe payments currently being retried.

Billing/Revenue ➜ Upcoming Billing – View scheduled future payments. Use the Retrying filter and the No Method indicator to stay ahead of potential issues.

Billing/Revenue ➜ Pending – View payments that have been initiated but not yet confirmed by the payment processor.

Reports ➜ Invoices – View all invoices with their current status (Paid, Pending, Pending Offline, Failed, or Open).

💡 For a full overview of payments, billing, and revenue tools, see the guide here.

❓ Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Find answers to common questions or additional details that may not be covered in the main instructions.