📝 Overview

From time to time you may need to add a membership to a customer's account yourself. For example, you might need to adjust details, such as the start date or the payment amount that the customer can't change when purchasing directly.

This guide walks you through adding a membership to a customer's account from your dashboard, along with the other membership actions you can take on a customer's behalf.

You'll learn how to add a membership, change its start date, upgrade or downgrade an existing plan, cancel a membership, and manage the payment method on a recurring membership.

🎥 Video tutorial

You can watch the video tutorial on how you can purchase a membership on behalf of your customers here.

🛠️ How to Add a Membership

You can add a membership directly from a customer's account, which is useful when you need to set details the customer can't adjust themselves.

Click the arrow to see the steps on how you can add a membership to your customers account

Go to Customers ➜ Customer List
Select the customer
Click on their Memberships tab
Click Add Membership
Select the membership you want to add
(Optional) - Adjust the start/expiration dates, the Joining Fee, add a Discount Code, amend the pricing of the membership
Select the payment method
Click Checkout

⚠️ GoCardless does not allow charging on behalf of a customer, as per GoCardless' Terms and Conditions. If your business model is mostly selling over the phone, you may want to consider another processor, for example, Stripe.

If you'd like the customer to add their own payment details to the membership, click 'Defer Payment Method'. This option is only available when adding recurring memberships.

When a payment is deferred and checkout is complete, the customer will receive a payment link by email, and a banner will appear in their account prompting them to add a payment method to the recurring membership.

♻️ Renewing a Pack on Behalf of a Customer

If you renew a Pack membership on behalf of a customer (rather than purchasing a new Pack), a new Pack will be added to the customer's account. However, the renewed Pack will only become active the day after the existing Pack expires.

🧠 Example: If today is August 7th, and a customer's Pack expires on August 22nd, renewing the Pack today will add a new one to their account.

The new Pack will activate on August 23rd, meaning the customer won't be able to use it for classes or events before that date.

Because of how Pack renewals work, in some cases it may be more practical to purchase a new Pack instead of renewing an existing one, especially if the customer wants to register for upcoming classes before their current Pack expires.

🧰 Other Actions You Can Perform on Behalf of Your Customers

Beyond adding a membership, there are several other membership actions you can take from a customer's account. Expand each section below to learn how.

🟠 Add a Membership & Change the Start Date

When adding a membership, you can change its start date. Doing so automatically updates the first payment total if the membership is set to bill on a set day of the month or week, and prorates any initial partial period.

Click the arrow to learn how to change the start date

Navigate to the customer's Memberships tab and click to add a membership.

Click the membership you'd like to add to the customer's account.

The start date defaults to the current day. Click 'Change' and set the start date for the membership.

⛔️ It's currently not possible to delay a payment on single-payment memberships such as Packs or Prepaid Plans.

The payment is always taken straight away, and the membership becomes active immediately for booking sessions that occur between the start and expiry dates.

If there are any memberships you'd like to pre-sell, please contact the support team with the desired memberships. They can help set these up so customers can purchase now but only be billed on the membership's start date.

Once you've clicked update, the start date will change and the prorated total for the first payment will be updated.

Adjust the first payment that will be taken on the membership start date.

💡 Editing the first payment for a membership purchase is only possible on the dashboard when the membership is being added to the customer's account by a staff member. Customers are not able to edit their first payment amount when purchasing a membership.

🟢 Upgrade or Downgrade a Membership

Your customers are able to upgrade and downgrade their own memberships, but you can also change a customer's recurring membership plan on their behalf from their account.

💡 Upgrades and downgrades do not currently remove any future bookings made with the previous membership. Future bookings should be removed manually if required.

Click the arrow to learn how to upgrade or downgrade a membership

🔸 How to upgrade a customer's membership

Head to your customer's Memberships tab (Customers ➜ Customer List ➜ search the customer ➜ Memberships) and locate the membership the customer wishes to upgrade or downgrade from.

On the detail page for this membership, click either the 'Upgrade' or 'Downgrade' button, depending on the action the customer wishes to take.

💡 Upgrades start immediately, unless you decide to change the start date. The system will also calculate an upgrade payment.

🔸How much does the customer pay when they're upgraded?

Since an upgrade starts on the day of purchase (the date you perform the upgrade) unless the start date is changed manually, the cost depends on where the customer is in their billing cycle.

If an upgrade is actioned mid-way through a customer's billing cycle, that customer is likely to be entitled to credit towards their first payment.

🧠 Example: In the screenshot above, the customer pays £100 each month for the original membership, and the billing cycle runs from the 16th to the 15th each month.

They paid on the 16th of the month, and the upgrade is actioned on the 20th. The customer has overpaid their previous membership by 26 days, so this is returned to them: they're credited £78.39, which is taken off their first payment for the upgrade.

£100 (original payment) − £78.39 (credit) = £21.61 first payment total towards the difference and upgrade. They'll then pay their next full £100 payment the following month on their billing date.

Note that upgrades take immediate effect and, unless set otherwise, the new billing date will be the same day the upgrade was actioned — so in this example, the new billing date would be the 20th of the month.

Lastly, you'll need to choose one of the following payment options:

If the customer has an existing card or Direct Debit, you'll be able to use that for the new membership.
Or you can defer adding a payment if you don't know the customer's card details. This will prompt the customer to add a payment method from their account.
Or you can add a new payment method the customer would like to use for this upgraded or downgraded membership.

🔸How to downgrade a customer's membership

Downgrades start at the end of the billing cycle unless the start date is changed.

💡 There are no prorated calculations on first payments for downgrades, so if you change the start date of the downgrade, you should also review the first payment amount total and adjust accordingly.

You'll also have the option to add an expiry date to the downgraded membership if you wish, plus options to apply a discount code and view the total of recurring membership payments as well as any prorated first payment.

💡 You're able to override both the Recurring Payment and the First Payment amounts.

💡 Keep in mind that discount codes don't carry over when a membership is changed. If you upgrade or downgrade, any existing discount won't automatically apply to the new plan.

🔸Why can't I see the 'Upgrade' and 'Downgrade' buttons in a customer's membership?

If these buttons aren't visible in a customer's membership, it's usually due to one of the following reasons. Click on each option to see more information:

The customer has too many recurring reservations

Let's say a customer's current membership allows 3 classes per week, and they have a recurring reservation for each class (3 recurring reservations). They want to downgrade to a membership that allows 2 classes per week, but the 'Downgrade' button isn't showing, this is because they have more recurring reservations than the new membership would allow.

To downgrade, you'd need to cancel at least one of their reservations (from their profile ➜ Registrations tab ➜ click the reservation you want to cancel ➜ click 'Delete'). Once done, head back to the membership and the 'Downgrade' option will be visible. Please note the reservation has to have completely ended, if needed, change the reservation to end today.

💡 For more information on making changes to a recurring reservation, see the guide here.

The customer doesn't have a recurring membership

Downgrades and upgrades are only available for recurring memberships, so if a customer has a pack or a prepaid plan, these options won't show in their membership.

Instead, you'll need to manually cancel their pack or prepaid plan and then add the new recurring membership to their account (you can adjust the price on the new membership if needed).

You're trying to change from a recurring membership to a pack or prepaid plan

Upgrades and downgrades can only be actioned between recurring memberships. It's not possible to upgrade or downgrade a recurring membership to a pack or a prepaid plan. Instead, you'll need to manually cancel their recurring membership and then add the new pack or prepaid plan to their account.

🟣 Cancel a Membership

You can cancel a recurring membership on a customer's account from your dashboard. When cancelling, you'll choose an expiry date and decide whether any outstanding payment should be voided — these choices determine when the customer loses access and whether any further billing occurs.

💡 If you'd like to update the cancellation policy on a membership, for example, to control whether customers can cancel themselves or require a notice period, see the guide here.

Click the arrow to learn how to cancel a membership

Navigate to the customer's profile and select the Memberships tab. You'll see their current active memberships and past memberships. Select the membership you wish to cancel, then on the membership detail page select the cancel option. You'll be prompted to choose an expiry date and confirm the cancellation.

When choosing the date you'd like the membership to stop being active, you'll see three available options:

Today
End of term
Specific date

Each one affects when the customer's access ends and whether any further payments are collected. Choose the option that best fits the situation.

1️⃣ Today

Setting the expiry to today ends the membership immediately. The customer loses access straight away and no further billing occurs after today's date.

⚠️ If a payment was due today, Stripe may have already processed it before the cancellation was actioned. If this is the case, you can refund the payment manually from the customer's profile. See the outstanding payment note below.

2️⃣ End of Billing Period

Setting the expiry to the end of the billing period allows the customer to continue using their membership until their current billing period closes — that is, the day before their next billing date. No further payment is collected after that point.

🧠 Example: A customer bills on the 1st of each month. You cancel their membership on the 10th of November and select End of Billing Period. The membership remains active and usable until the 30th of November. No payment is taken on the 1st of December.

💡 This is often the most straightforward option when a customer has already paid for a period they're entitled to use. It avoids triggering any additional billing while still giving the customer access they've paid for.

3️⃣ Specific Date

Setting a specific date gives you full control over when the membership expires. The customer's access continues until the date you select. Any billing dates that fall before the expiry date will still be charged in full — there is no proration on cancellations.

⚠️ Important! Avoid setting the expiry on a billing date. If the date you choose falls on the customer's billing date, Stripe may already have processed that payment before the cancellation is actioned. To avoid this, set the expiry date to the day before the next billing date rather than on the billing date itself.

🧠 Example: A customer bills on the 1st of each month. You set the expiry to the 5th of December. A full payment will be collected on the 1st of December, as that billing date falls before the expiry. The membership then ends on the 5th of December.

Outstanding payments (void option)

When cancelling a membership, you'll also see an option to void any outstanding payment associated with the membership. Ticking this box will remove the pending payment rather than collecting it.

⚠️ Only tick this option if you intentionally want to waive the outstanding payment. Voiding a payment cannot be undone. If the payment has already been collected, this option won't apply — you'd need to issue a refund separately instead.

🟡 Add a Payment Method to a Monthly Membership

If a customer has a monthly membership with no payment information saved, or they'd like you to change how they're billed, you can add a new payment method to their membership on their behalf.

Click the arrow to learn how to add a payment method

Go to the customer's membership detail page (Customers ➜ Customer List ➜ choose the customer ➜ Memberships tab ➜ choose the active membership), click Payment Method, and you'll see an option to add or change the payment method.

You'll then be taken to a page where you can add new payment information and choose from the available payment methods.

These steps apply to child and family member memberships too. Each family member has their own unique customer profile, and payment details need to be added to their membership individually at this time.

🧠 If you need to copy payment details from a parent/guardian to a dependent/child account, please reach out to our Support team, who will be able to get this done for you.

🔴 Change or Remove a Payment Method

You can change the payment method on a customer's recurring membership, or remove it entirely so the customer can provide new payment details themselves.

Click the arrow to learn how to change or remove a payment method

Head to the customer's profile and click the Memberships tab.
On the membership list, click the one you need to make changes to.
Next to "Payment Method:", click the payment method's name in blue.
Then select either "Change Payment Method" or "Remove Payment Method".

If changing the payment method, you'll need to choose a new one and click "Purchase".

If removing the payment method, a pop-up will let you know that an email will be sent to the customer asking them to provide new payment details for the membership.

🧠 You cannot delete a customer's saved payment details, but customers can do this from their side if the payment method isn't in use on an active membership. This option is for cards only, not direct debits. You can share the guide here with your customers if they need to do this.

❓ Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

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