Custom Payment Methods
Define offline and custom tender types, attach them to members, and confirm pending payments.
Overview
A custom payment method is how you accept cash, cheque, bank transfer, or your own payment processor payments from Stripe, PayPal, GoCardless, and other integrations.
You can define different tender types for the organization, including staff-only payment methods.
Custom vs processor payment methods
| Custom | Processor-provided | |
|---|---|---|
| Examples | Cash, cheque, bank transfer, club finance system | Card ending in 4242, Bacs Direct Debit, PayPal wallet |
| Where it comes from | Catalog of custom payment methods you define | Payment methods enabled on Stripe, PayPal, GoCardless, or another connected processor |
| Payment behaviour | Creates a pending payment; staff or your integration confirm when money is received | Charged automatically by the paymnet processor |
| Member experience | Optional instructions (account details, reference format); methods can be hidden from members | Processor checkout form and authentication (for example 3DS) as required |
Create and manage methods
When you create a custom payment method, set:
| Setting | What it controls |
|---|---|
| Name | Label staff and members see (for example "Bank transfer") |
| Instructions | Optional text shown when paying this way (account details, reference format, and so on) |
| Enabled | Whether the method can be used for new payments. |
| Member accessible | Whether members can choose it in the member website and app. Some methods, like cash, may be necessary to keep a proper record of payments, but can be hidden from members to prevent them selecting it as a method to pay for subscriptions or bookings. |
You can update or disable a method later without deleting payment history. Custom payment methods cannot be deleted permanently, but are disabled to prevent them being used in the future.
Attach to a member
Just like with processor-provided payment methods, you can vault a custom payment method on a member. The member can see the method on their profile, select it in checkout, and pay for subscriptions or bookings with it.
What happens at invoice time
Custom payment methods are not charged automatically by card or Direct Debit processors.
When an invoice becomes due and the subscription uses an offline method:
- A pending payment is created on the invoice. It will appear in the admin dashboard 'Invoices needing attention' list.
- Staff confirm that payment was received: open the invoice and click Confirm Payment.
- Until confirmation, the subscription may remain past due and benefits stay unavailable. Once confirmed, the subscription will be marked as active and benefits will become available again.
For standard collection behaviour, see Payments and How subscription billing works.
Custom processors and webhooks
API users can easily integrate their own custom payment processor with Members. We suggest contacting our support team to discuss your specific requirements and access trial features like custom payment redirect links.
- Define a custom payment method type for your organization.
- Add the method to a member's profile.
- Listen for the
payments.createdwebhook when an invoice is due and a pending payment appears. Check the payment method type to determine if it is the custom payment method. - Run your processor's collection flow. If necessary, use the Payments API to update the payment status to processing.
- Once complete, mark the payment as captured through the API when processing completes.
This keep Members as the source of truth for invoice and subscription standing while your system moves the money.