Deposits and paying up front

Open Settings and find the Payment Settings card. With Accept Payments turned on, the Payment Timing menu offers two options (students cannot be charged until your Stripe account is connected, but you can set the timing first):

• Payment Before Class. Full payment is required at registration. A seat is only counted as taken once the payment goes through.
• Payment After Class. Registration is free by default, and students pay after the class. Turn on Require Deposit to collect part of the price at registration to hold the seat, either a fixed dollar amount or a percentage of the class price.

Whatever you set here is the default for every class. The deposit block on each class form shows that default so you always know what a class will do if you leave it alone.

Deposit rules only apply under Payment After Class, and only to classes with a price. Under Payment Before Class the deposit block is greyed out, because everyone pays in full anyway.

1. Open the class (or a template) and scroll to the Deposit block.
2. Pick a Deposit setting:
   • Use business default: whatever Payment Settings says today. If you change the default later, this class follows it.
   • No deposit (free registration, pay after): students register without paying.
   • Fixed amount deposit: a dollar amount, which must be less than the class price.
   • Percentage of price: 1 to 99 percent. The form shows the dollar amount as you type.
   • Full payment due at registration: the whole price up front for this one class, even though your default is pay after.
3. Save the class. Templates carry their deposit rule into every class created from them.

The deposit is disclosed before the student ever enters a card. On the booking page and in the widget, a class with a deposit shows the full price plus a note with the amount due today and the remaining balance due after class.

After filling in their details, the student reaches a checkout summary listing the class price and the deposit being charged now. Cards, Apple Pay, and Google Pay are all accepted, and the money goes straight to your Stripe account.

Once the deposit clears, the student is confirmed and their record shows the deposit paid and the balance still due.

There are two ways the remaining balance gets paid.

• Automatic balance payment link. When a deposit is paid online, the student gets a Deposit Received email with a secure personal link to pay the rest. No login is needed. The page shows the class, what was paid, and what is due, and the payment records against their registration the moment it clears. This email goes out when your Payment Confirmation automation is on; see the automatic emails.
• Record it yourself. If the student pays in person, open Payments and click Record Manual Payment. Choose the student, enter the amount, and pick Cash, Check, Bank Transfer, or Other. You can mark it as a balance payment or let CertClass work it out from the amount owed.

Two kinds of classes skip payment entirely, no matter how Payment Settings is configured:

• A class priced at $0. Registration completes without a payment step, and the deposit block on the class form is greyed out because there is nothing to collect.
• An organization-billed class. Students see “Covered by your organization” instead of a price and are never asked to pay. You invoice the company yourself. See billing an organization.