The Payment Plan feature allows you to offer registrants the option to split their order total into multiple scheduled payments, making higher-priced events more accessible and easier to commit to.

RedPodium automatically creates a dynamic payment plan based on the registrant's purchase date, total order amount, and your selected final due date. Payments are evenly distributed between the purchase date and the due date.

When using this feature, registrants complete a single order and can choose to enroll in a payment plan without a credit check. This creates a simple, frictionless experience for your registrants while giving you more flexibility in how you price and sell your event. Please note that as the event organizer, you assume the risk for any missed or failed payments when offering this feature. This article covers how to enable payment plans, how to manage orders with payment plans, and how registrants experience this feature.

Pro Tip: Payment plans are not supported with certain RedPodium features. Review the limitations below before enabling it

Pre-Registration: Payment plans are not compatible with pre-registration. If you offer payments plans, pre-registration cannot be added to the page
Offline Payments: Payment plans are not compatible with offline payments. If you offer payments plans, offline payments cannot be added to the page
Waitlists: Payment plans are not compatible with waitlists. If you offer payments plans, waitlists cannot be added to the page

Payment Plan Pricing

This feature is currently in beta and featured locked, and available to a select group of customers for no additional fee.

Once this feature is released to all customers, standard RedPodium pricing applies to the initial order. Each future scheduled payment that processes successfully will incur a $0.99 fee per payment, plus standard credit card processing fees.

Payment Plan Schedule and Installment Calculation

RedPodium automatically generates a custom payment plan based on the registrant's total order amount and signup date. Payment Plans include most paid items, such as registration options and merchandise. Payment plan schedules are determined by the purchase date and final due date, so the number of payments varies depending on when the customer purchases their registration.

Pro Tip: When someone signs up multiple people in one order using the Group Registration feature, the payment plan applies to the entire order, not each individual registrant. All registrations are included in a single payment plan, with payments based on the total cost of all combined registrations.

To set up payment plans, you set a final due date for when all payments must be completed
You set the total amount due at the time of purchase
- First Scheduled Payment will be the Deposit Amount (Even Split): This option divides the total order amount evenly across all scheduled payments, including the initial payment at purchase. The amount due at purchase is one of these equal installments
- Custom Deposit Amount: This option allows you to set a custom percentage of the total order that must be paid at the time of purchase
RedPodium automatically creates a payment schedule based on the purchase date, the amount due at purchase, the final due date, and the selected payment plan frequency

Note: Payment Plans do not include Donations or Purchase Protection fees. These fields are excluded from the payment plan and must be paid at the time of purchase.

Pro Tip: If you are using the Purchase Protection feature, registrants who opt in for Purchase Protection will pay for all Purchase Protection fees at the time of purchase. These fees must be paid up front.

Calculating a Payment Plan - First Scheduled Payment Will Be the Deposit Amount (Even Split)

With the even split option, RedPodium uses the order total and the number of payments to determine the total due at the time of purchase and each future installment. Here is how RedPodium calculate a payment plan when the even split option is chosen.

RedPodium automatically calculates the order total
RedPodium then determines the number of payments. Using the selected payment frequency, RedPodium calculates how many payments will occur between the purchase date and the final due date. This includes the initial deposit and all scheduled future payments
The order total is evenly divided between all payments, including the initial deposit and future payments

Note: If the registrant's order total breaks out evenly between the scheduled payments, the payments are divided evenly.

If the total does not split exactly evenly between the number of payments, RedPodium will add the difference to the initial deposit total, so each of the future scheduled payments are even. The overage is applied to the first deposit payment.

Example Calculation

The event organizer chooses to have the first scheduled payment as the deposit amount.

Example Order Details

Order Total: $775
Purchase Date: April 14
Final Due Date: October 12
Payment Frequency: Monthly
Deposit Type: Even Split

Payment Plan Calculation

The system determines that there are 6 total payments before the final due date on October 12
- 1 deposit (paid at purchase)
- 5 future monthly payments before the final due date
The total is divided evenly across all payments, with any remainder added to the deposit
- There is $129.16 per payment, with a $0.04 remainder
- The $0.04 remainder is added to the deposit, for a total deposit payment of $129.20

Payment Schedule

April 14: $129.20 (deposit payment)
May 14: $129.16
June 14: $129.16
July 14: $129.16
August 14: $129.16
September 14: $129.16 (final payment)

After the final payment on September 14, the order is fully paid, and the registrant(s) receive their QR code(s) for check-in.

Calculating a Payment Plan - Custom Deposit Amount

With the custom deposit amount, RedPodium uses the custom deposit you set and the number of future installments to determine the total due at each future payment.

To create the payment schedule, RedPodium automatically calculates the deposit payment due at the time of purchase. This deposit payment is based on the order total and the percentage you set
RedPodium calculates the remaining balance after the deposit
RedPodium then determines the number of payments. Using the selected payment frequency, RedPodium calculates how many future payments will occur between the purchase date and the final due date. Only future scheduled payments are included. The initial deposit is not counted in the number of payments
The remaining balance (after the deposit) is evenly divided across those future payments

Note: If the registrant's total breaks out evenly between the scheduled payments, the payments are divided evenly.

Example Calculation

Your event organizer chooses to have a 20% deposit for payment plans.

Example Order Details

Order Total: $950
Purchase Date: April 14
Final Due Date: August 8
Payment Frequency: Monthly
Deposit Type: 20% deposit

Payment Plan Calculation

RedPodium initially calculates a $190 deposit ($950 * 20%)
The final balance for the order is $760
RedPodium calculates 3 future payments that will occur monthly on May 14, June 14, and July 14
The remaining balance is divided equally across all payments, with any remainder added to the deposit
- There is $253.33 due at each future payment, with a $0.01 remainder
- The $0.01 remainder is added to the deposit, for a total deposit payment of $190.01

Payment Schedule

April 14: $190.01 (deposit payment)
May 14: $253.33
June 14: $253.33
July 14: $253.33 (final payment)

After the final payment on July 14, the order is fully paid, and the registrant(s) receive their QR code(s) for check-in.

Enable Payment Plans

From the Pages screen, click the pencil icon on the page you want to edit
Scroll down to the Billing Information section
Hover your mouse over the Payment Method field, and click the pencil icon

Toggle Allow Payment Plan to On
Set the amount of the order that is due at the time of purchase
- The First Scheduled Payment will be the Deposit Amount option divides the total order amount evenly across all scheduled payments, including the initial payment at purchase. RedPodium calculates the number of payment dates between the purchase date (including the initial purchase payment) and the final balance due date, then splits the total evenly across those payments. The amount due at purchase is one of these equal installments
- The Custom Deposit Amount option allows you to set a custom percentage of the total order that must be paid at the time of purchase. When this option is selected, RedPodium charges the registrant the percentage you set when initially purchasing registrations. The system then calculates the number of future payments that will take place between the purchase date and balance due date, and evenly distributes the remaining balance between these dates

Example: Assume that a registrant wants to purchase a $625 order. They are purchasing registrations on March 4, and the order due date is July 15.

When First Scheduled Payment Will Be the Deposit Amount is selected, the deposit amount due at purchase is calculated by evenly splitting the order total amount across all payments, including the initial payment at purchase. RedPodium calculates that there are 5 payments (including today's payment) between the purchase date and July 15 (March 4, April 4, May 4, June 4, and July 4). RedPodium evenly splits the $625 order total between these 5 payments, leading to a deposit payment of $125
When Custom Deposit Amount is selected, you enter a custom percentage of the order total that the registrant pays at the time of purchase. For example, assume you have set a custom deposit amount of 40%. In this case, the registrant pays $250 at the time of purchase. The order's remaining balance of $375 is split evenly between the four future payments that will occur after the purchase date and July 15 (April 4, May 4, June 4, and July 4). This leads to future payments of $93.75 payment on each of these dates.

Choose the payment plan frequency the registrant can choose from. Right now, monthly payment plans are the only option, but we are looking to add weekly and bi-weekly payment plan frequencies soon!
Set the Balance Due Date to specify when all payment plans must be paid in full. RedPodium uses this date, along with the purchase date, to calculate how many payments occur between purchase and the final due date
Click Done
Click Save Now in the upper-right corner of your page to save your changes. Click Publish to publish these changes to your live page

Add a Follow-Up Payment or Credit

RedPodium automatically processes payment plan installments on the set schedule, but you can also record additional payments or apply credits at any time between those dates. This is helpful if a registrant wants to add an additional payment or if you need to make an adjustment.

Pro Tip: When someone signs up multiple people in one order using the Group Registration feature, the payment plan applies to the entire order, not individual registrants.

All registrations are paid off together, and any follow-up payments or credits are applied to the order as a whole. You can’t apply a payment or credit to a specific registrant or pay off one registration separately. Any additional payment is distributed across all registrations in the order and reduces the total remaining balance.

Note: Currently, only event organizers can manage payment plans and make additional payments on behalf of a registrant. Registrants cannot currently make extra payments themselves, but we are looking to add this feature soon.

Add a Follow-Up Payment

When you add a follow-up payment, RedPodium adds an additional payment, which reduces the order's remaining balance. You can choose to charge the card on file, use a different card, or record an offline payment for the order.

Pro Tip: When you add a payment, RedPodium automatically recalculates the payment plan. After the payment is made, the remaining balance is evenly redistributed across the remaining scheduled payments.

If the total does not split exactly evenly between the number of payments, RedPodium adds the difference to the final payment.

Click the Orders tab
Select the Pending Payment tab to see all pending payments at a glance, or search for a registrant's name, order number, or email in the search box
Select the eye icon next to the order where you want to add a payment

Pro Tip: When searching for your orders, you can select the Pending Payment tab to see all orders with a pending payment. This tab includes payment plans that have not been completed and pending offline orders.

On this tab, you can quickly see the name of the registrant, the amount they have already paid, the amount due, and the number of payments made. You can also see their final due date.

Click Add a Payment
Add the new payment you want to apply
Select the payment method for this payment. You can charge the card on file, charge a different credit card, or record an offline payment
Click Add Payment

Apply a Credit

When you apply a credit, RedPodium offsets the final balance due by adding a credit to the final balance due. This credit manually decreases the amount owed on the order. Often, an individual may use the option to apply a credit if a registrant has a scholarship, prize, or late discount on their order.

Pro Tip: When you add a credit, RedPodium automatically recalculates the payment plan. After the credit is made, the new remaining balance is evenly redistributed across the remaining scheduled payments.

If the total does not split exactly evenly between the number of payments, RedPodium adds the difference to the final payment.

Click the Orders tab
Select the Pending Payment tab to see all pending payments at a glance, or search for a registrant's name, order number, or email in the search box
Select the eye icon next to the order where you want to add a credit

On this tab, you can quickly see the name of the registrant, the amount they have already paid, the amount due, and the number of payments made. You can also see their final due date.

Click Give a Credit
Add the credit amount you want to give
Click Apply Credit

View, Edit, or Cancel a Payment Plan

In RedPodium, you can easily manage your payment plans. View the full payment schedule, update the card on file for future payments, make changes to the order, or cancel the payment plan when needed.

View a Registrant's Payment Plan Details

You can view payment plan details at any time, including the remaining payments, the card on file, and the full payment schedule.

Pro Tip: If someone registers multiple people in a single order using the Group Registration feature, the payment plan is applied to the full order rather than to each individual registrant. When viewing a payment plan for an order with multiple participants, the scheduled payments reflect the combined total for all registrants in the order.

From the top menu bar, select the Registrations tab
Select the Pending Payment tab to see all pending payments at a glance, or search for a registrant's name, order number, or email in the search box
Select the eye icon next to the registrant you want to view
Click View Scheduled Payments
View the payment plan information

Edit the Card Details for a Payment Plan

In RedPodium, you can update the credit card used for future payments. This is helpful if a customer’s card has expired or if the customer wants to use a different card than the one used for the original order.

Pro Tip: Currently, only your RedPodium users can update the credit card for a payment plan. Registrants can’t currently update the card on their own, but we are looking to add this option soon.

Note: Right now, you cannot update the payment frequency or due date, and you cannot disable or re-enable a payment plan once it's created.

If you need to make these changes, we recommend canceling the order and creating a new one. We're working on adding the ability to update the payment frequency and due date soon.

From the top menu bar, select the Registrations tab
Select the Pending Payment tab to see all pending payments at a glance, or search for a registrant's name, registration ID, or email in the search box
Select the eye icon next to the registration you want to update

Click View Scheduled Payments
Click Update Payment Card in the top right corner
Update the card details
Click Update Card

Edit the Registrant Details for an Order on a Payment Plan

You can edit a registration with a payment plan at any time. If the order total changes, RedPodium automatically recalculates the remaining payments and adjusts future installments accordingly. No immediate charge or refund is processed. Instead, the changes are applied to the remaining balance.

Note: Registrants cannot currently edit orders with an active payment plan, but we're looking to add this functionality soon.

For now, registrants will need to contact a RedPodium user to make any updates to their order.

From the top menu bar, select the Registrations tab
Search for the registration ID, name, or email in the search box
Click the pencil icon next to the registration you want to edit

Edit the registration
If your edits result in an upcharge or refund, choose how to handle payment
- If your edit(s) result in an upcharge, you can charge the saved card on file or choose not to charge for the changes
- If your edit(s) result in a refund, you can refund the saved sard on file or to skip issuing the refund for these changes
Click Send Updated Confirmation to send an updated confirmation email to the registrant with their new registration details. You can include a custom message at the top of the email, and the registrant's updated information will automatically populate below this message
Save your registration

Pro Tip: When you make changes to a registration that results in a charge or refund, RedPodium updates the payment plan instead of processing the charge or refund right away. The remaining balance is recalculated and split across the remaining scheduled payments.

For example, if a registrant has 4 payments left and upgrades a registration by $100, RedPodium adds $25 to each of the 4 remaining payments. This allows you to handle upgrades or downgrades without immediately charging or refunding the card on file.

Note: For group registrations, the payment plan is applied to the full order rather than to each individual registrant. If you edit an individual registrant in an order paid using Payment Plans and this results in a price change, the payment plan as a whole will be updated to reflect the new totals.

Cancel Registrant(s) in a Payment Plan

In RedPodium, you have the flexibility to cancel individual registrants or all registrants in the order. During the cancellation process, you can also choose how to handle collected funds.

Pro Tip: When canceling some of the registrants within a Group Registration order, any associated payment plan will automatically adjust to reflect the change. If you cancel all registrants in an order, the payment plan will be fully canceled and any remaining scheduled payments will no longer be processed.

From the top menu bar, select the Registrations tab
Search for the registration ID, name, or email in the search box
Click the eye icon next to the registration you want to cancel
Click Cancel Registrant on the right-hand side

Select the registrant(s) you want to cancel
Choose how you'd like to handle the refund. You can cancel the registration without issuing a refund, offer a coupon code for future use, or issue a partial or full refund
Select whether you would like to send a cancellation email to the registrant. If you select to send a cancellation notice, add a custom cancellation message if desired. The cancellation notice will resend the confirmation email with your custom message at the top notifying them that their registration has been cancelled
Select the checkbox indicating that you understanding that canceling a registration cannot be undone
Click Cancel Registrant

Note: Payment plans adjust differently when canceling orders depending on the situation.

You cancel all registrants in the order

When you cancel all registrants in the order, the payment plan is deactivated, and all future scheduled installments are stopped

You only cancel some, but not all, registrants in the order

When canceling a registrant from a group registration order, the system removes that registrant and updates the payment plan to reflect only the remaining participants.

If you choose not to refund for the canceled registrant, the payment plan will stay the same.

If you cancel a registration and refund or issue a coupon code:

If the payment plan still has a remaining balance, RedPodium recalculates the payment plan and redistributes the remaining balance across the remaining scheduled payments
If the payment plan's remaining balance becomes $0, the payment plan is deactivated and the remaining registrant(s) are marked as complete
If the amount already paid exceeds the updated order total, RedPodium refunds or issues a coupon for the difference and marks the remaining registrant(s) as complete

Managing Missed or Declined Payments

When a payment is declined, RedPodium sends an email to the billing email letting them know the payment was unsuccessful. The system will automatically retry the same card two additional times, every other day. If the third attempt also fails, the scheduled payment is deactivated. The missed amount is added to the final scheduled payment, while the other payments stay unchanged.

RedPodium will then proceed to the next scheduled payment and repeat the same retry process if necessary.

Note: If a registrant does not update their card and payments continue to decline, RedPodium will keep attempting charges based on the declined payment schedule. On the final payment, it will attempt the last payment up to three times. If those attempts fail, no further charges are made, and the order will remain in a pending final payment state until the order is canceled or the registrant provides updated card information.

When offering payment plans, we recommend monitoring these orders to ensure payments are completed successfully.

Registrant Experience

When registrants go to your page, they will see a banner on each of your registration options sharing "as low as [lowest possible fee]/month with payment plans." This banner will only show up on the Registration Options field, not any other options
They can select the "payment plans" hyperlink to learn more about payment plans. This pop-up will share that they can reserve their spot today and pay over time without any fees.

At the bottom of the page, after selecting their options, registrants can choose to pay in full or enroll in a payment plan
If they select installments, they’ll be able to choose a payment frequency, view the amount due today, and see a breakdown of the scheduled payments and total cost before saving their selection and entering their billing information

Pro Tip: If a registrant adds multiple registrants to one order and chooses to pay in installments, their payment plan will include all registrants in the order. They will have one payment plan with all registrants in the order included in it, with one monthly payment charged to one card on file.

If the registrant wants to separate these payment plans, they should submit a unique order for each registrant separately.

In the confirmation page, they will see that their spot is reserved, but that their QR codes will not be issued until their order is paid in full
The confirmation page and confirmation email will show the amount they paid today, the frequency of their payment plan, their scheduled payments, and a schedule outlining when they will pay their payment plan

Pro Tip: Registrants will not receive their QR codes until their order is paid in full. Once the registrant's balance is paid in full, they will receive a new confirmation email with their QR codes for check-in.

After a payment plan installment is successfully processed or declined, RedPodium automatically sends the billing email an email with their payment details and payment plan schedule. Learn more about these emails here
Once the order is paid in full, the status updates from Pending Final Payment to Completed, and the registrant receives a new confirmation email with their QR codes.

Note: On RedPodium, a payment plan can be completed in several different ways. Here is how a payment plan can be completed:

A user adds payments that together cover the remaining balance before the final payment date
RedPodium automatically charges the registrant's card for the remaining balance on the final payment date

Payment Plans (Beta): Current Features and What's Coming Soon

Core Payment Plan features are available in Beta, with additional enhancements coming soon.

FAQs

Does RedPodium send email notifications when a payment plan charge is successful or declined?

Yes, RedPodium sends email notifications when a payment plan charge is successful or declined. Here are the list of emails we send out for payment plans.

Payment Plan Payment Received Email

After processing a scheduled installment payments, RedPodium sends an automatic email to the billing email stating that their payment plan payment has been received. This email includes the payment details, remaining payments, and the balance due, and gives registrants a link to review their scheduled payments.

Note: The Payment Plan Payment Received email is standard and cannot be customized right now, but we are looking to add the ability to customize this email soon.

Pro Tip: If registrants reply to the payment plan payment received email, RedPodium sends the email to the "reply to" email set on your confirmation email. If this email is not set, the system sends the email to the organization email for the account.

Payment Plan Payment Declined Email

After a payment plan payment is declined, RedPodium sends an automatic email to the billing email stating that their payment plan payment has been declined. This email tells registrants to contact your organization to update their payment information.

Note: The Payment Plan Payment Declined email is standard and cannot be customized right now, but we are looking to add the ability to customize this email soon.

Pro Tip: If attendees reply to the payment plan payment declined email, RedPodium sends the email to the "reply to" email set on your confirmation email. If this email is not set, the system sends the email to the organization email for the account.

Payment is Manually Added

When a user manually add a payment, RedPodium automatically sends an email to the billing email thanking the registrant for their payment. This email includes the billing information and the payment details. These emails cannot be customized at this time.

Automatically Pass on All RedPodium Platform and Credit Card Fees to Buyers

Accept cash, check and non-credit card payments

Enable the Registrant Account Center

Accept Pre-Registrations with card on file

Automatically Send Winback Emails to Customers Who Abandon Their Registrations

Offer Payment Plans for Your Registration Pages (Installment Payments) (Beta Feature)