Implementing Online Payments in My Sports Club

Take payment online at the moment a player or member books, joins a game, enrols or registers, let each person pay their own share, and write your refund rule down before you switch anything on. That cuts no-shows, frees the desk and makes the month-end check quick. Keep a till for the bar and for walk-ins. The software no longer has to cost you a subscription: PLAI is 100% free to run your venue.

Ask a club manager where the week goes and payments come up quickly: collecting court fees at the desk, chasing the player or member who said "I'll pay next time", counting the cash drawer, matching transfers to names on a spreadsheet. Online payments do not remove the desk, but they move most of that work to the moment a player or member books, when they are happy to pay.

Map the money moments in your club

List every situation in which someone pays you. In most racket and five-a-side clubs:

• Court booking: the booker or each person, several times a week. Best paid online, at booking.
• Open game: each person who joins. Best paid online, when joining.
• Membership: monthly or yearly. Paid online, upfront.
• Packs and credit: regular players and members, every few weeks. Bought online, then spent at booking.
• Lessons and academy terms: players, members or parents, once a term. Paid at enrolment.
• Tournament entry: each team or player. Paid at registration.
• Bar, shop and balls: every visit. Paid at the till, by card or cash.

Almost everything except the bar can be paid before the player or member arrives.

Why it is worth the effort

• No-shows drop. A player or member who has paid turns up, or passes the slot on.
• The desk is freed to welcome players and members, sell at the bar and run events.
• Cash flow improves. Memberships and packs are paid upfront.
• Players and members expect it. They book restaurants and trains from their phone.
• The numbers are clean. Every payment is tied to a booking and a person.

Decide your rules before you switch anything on

Payment rules are where most disputes start. Write them down, show them at booking and apply them the same way for everyone:

• When to charge: at booking for courts and events, when joining for open games, at enrolment for lessons.
• Who pays: the booker pays the whole court, or each person pays a share. Shares are fairer and spread the risk.
• Cancellations: for example, a full refund up to 24 hours before, half up to 6 hours before, nothing after.
• Closures: when the club closes a court, for weather or works, players and members get a full refund.
• Member benefits: reduced prices, included sessions or priority.

Simple rules applied by the system mean the desk never has to negotiate.

Mind fees and security

Every way of taking money has a cost: the card processing fee, and often a platform fee or a subscription on top.

Many booking tools take card payments through Stripe Connect, which links your club to the software's own Stripe platform. How that link is set up decides who sets your card rate. Stripe now calls these Standard, Express and Custom accounts its legacy account types (source: Stripe Connect account types, read 4 November 2026).

Ask your software which account you get, and the card rate in writing. Work out what you will really process in a year, because many small court payments behave differently from a few large memberships. Packs and credit help: one larger purchase, then many bookings spent from it (see subscriptions, credits and packs).

On security, never store card details yourself. Use a platform that works with a regulated payment provider, so card data stays with the provider and the extra confirmation step banks ask for is built in. Give each staff member their own access, with refunds limited to the people who should make them.

Roll it out in four weeks

1. Week 1: prepare. Set your rules, prices and refund policy. Connect your payment account. Book, pay and refund yourself.
2. Week 2: try it with a friendly group. Ask your regulars or a league to book and pay online for a week, and fix what confuses them.
3. Week 3: announce it. Tell every member what changes and when, why it helps them (no more chasing friends for their share), and where to get help. Put a QR code at the desk.
4. Week 4: switch. Make online payment the default for bookings, and keep the desk ready to help in the first days.

Expect a few objections

• "I don't want to give my card details." You never see them: the payment provider holds them.
• "I always paid at the desk." Allow a short transition, then move bookings online for everyone.
• "My friends never pay me back." The best argument for split payments: each person pays their own share.

Measure the result

After three months, look at the share of bookings paid online, the no-show rate, staff time spent on payments, unpaid amounts at month end, and refund complaints. If no-shows have not dropped, check that payment is really taken at booking.

Take payments with PLAI

Pay nothing. Get everything. PLAI is 100% free to run your venue: no subscription, no contract, no limits.

• Online payments at booking, when a player or member joins a game, for packs and memberships, and for tournament entries, paid by card and paid out to your business.
• Split payments: each person pays their own share, or one person pays for the group.
• Refunds follow the refund rule you set, and staff with the right to do so can refund a booking.
• The till records desk sales in cash or by card and closes the day with a cash count.
• Every payment is listed with its booking and its person, so the month-end check takes minutes.

There is no subscription, setup fee or contract, and card fees on online payments are about three times lower than Stripe's standard rate in France of 1.5% + €0.25 per standard European card (source: Stripe pricing for France, read 4 November 2026). See what venues get on PLAI Business.

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