Summary
At Join It, we recognize the importance of having flexibility in how your organization accepts payments. Our primary online payment partner is Stripe, which enables seamless recurring payments and a reliable checkout experience. However, we also understand that some organizations need alternatives due to board requirements, existing payment relationships, or operational limitations. To support these situations, Join It offers workarounds that allow you to manage membership payments offline when Stripe isn’t an option.
Alternatives to Stripe
Option 1: Allow Members to Join and Pay Through an Alternative Method
For organizations unable to utilize Stripe, we provide easy workarounds to accommodate offline payments:
Create a Membership Type: Designate a membership type as "free," with a clear indication in the description that payment is required before full activation.
Manage Pending Status: Memberships can be set with a "Pending" status, allowing admins to follow up with members for payment via alternative methods, including cash, checks, or PayPal. To do this, when setting up the Membership Type, you'll want to click on the tool that says 'Display advanced options for adding membership types' (See screenshots below)
Activate After Payment: Once payment is received, you can update the membership status to Active.
Screenshot Description: Showing the 'Display advanced options for adding membership types' button
Screenshot Description: Showing where to edit the Pending status, price and description of the Membership type
Option 2: Manual Add Members
Alternatively, admins can manually add members and note received payments:
Select Payment Option: Choose from various payment options, including offline methods like cash or checks, online payments via Stripe, or opt for no payment at all.
Screenshot Description: Displaying the Add Members page
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I Use Another Payment Processor?
Join It exclusively supports Stripe for online membership payments. Stripe’s robust recurring payment capabilities ensure a reliable experience for both organizations and members. While switching processors may feel like an obstacle, Stripe’s setup is straightforward and usually requires minimal administrative overhead.
How Can I Record in an Offline Payment for a Member?
You can find step-by-step instructions on recording an offline payment for a Member here: https://support.joinit.com/en/articles/990137-record-an-offline-payment
How Can I Pass Service Fees onto Members?
There are two methods for passing service fees onto members:
Incorporating Fees into Membership Pricing: Add the fee amount directly to your membership type's pricing so that members pay it along with their membership fee.
Setting Up Taxes: Another option is to add a tax onto memberships, ensuring that the fees are transparently passed along to members during payment.
Setting Up Taxes
Detail the process of setting up taxes for service fees:
Navigate to the Taxes & Settings page under the Finances tab in your dashboard.
Complete the form to create your specific tax rule and click 'Set Tax'.
Important: If you don't want the fees to be included in the membership amount, uncheck the option to do so under 'Include Tax'.
Once configured, the tax will be visible to members when they pay for their membership, ensuring transparency in fee distribution.
You can learn more about passing your service fees to Members here as well.