Payments Lifecycle
How a registration payment moves from unpaid to paid to refunded — and how that controls whether a team holds a spot in its division.
There are two separate ideas here that are easy to confuse:
- Payment state — how much a team (or player) has actually paid.
- Capacity state — whether that team holds a spot in its division.
Capacity state is derived from payment state, not stored separately. Understanding both makes refunds, waitlists, and “why isn’t this team showing up?” questions obvious.
Payment state
What a team owes vs. what it has paid.
| State | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Unpaid | No money received yet. |
| Partially paid | Some money received, but less than the full fee (e.g. one player paid in a per-player registration, or a manual partial payment). |
| Paid | The full registration fee has been received. |
| Refunded | Money was returned — fully (back to $0) or partially (some returned, a balance still paid). |
A few things that shape the amount owed:
- Per team vs. per player — a per-team fee is one payment; a per-player fee can arrive as several payments (one per player, or a lump sum from the team owner). See Setup Payments → billing types.
- Early-bird / late / multi-team pricing can change the amount due at checkout. See advanced pricing.
- Donations are tracked separately and never count toward the registration balance or capacity.
Capacity state (secured / waitlisted / pending)
In a paid division, a team’s spot is derived from payment — it is not a status an admin sets by hand. The key rule:
A team occupies a division spot only once it has at least a partial payment (free divisions place teams immediately).
| State | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Secured | Paid (at least partially) and within the division’s capacity — counted first-come, first-served by registration/promotion order. |
| Waitlisted | Paid (at least partially) but over capacity — holding a place in line for the next open seat. |
| Pending | Registered but not yet paid in a paid division — holds neither a secured nor a waitlist spot. The team must make at least a partial payment to claim one. |
Unpaid teams are Pending, not “temporarily reserved.” There is no grace-period seating — a team joins the line (and can be promoted) only after it has at least partially paid.
How payments and refunds move a team
- A pending team pays → it becomes Secured (if there’s room) or Waitlisted (if the division is full).
- A seat opens (capacity increased, or a team ahead is removed/refunded) → the next paid Waitlisted team is automatically promoted to Secured, and that team is emailed a “you’re in” notification.
- A team is refunded to $0 → it drops to Pending and releases its spot, which can trigger the promotion above for someone else.
Promotion and seating happen automatically — an admin never moves a team between secured and waitlisted by hand. To change who’s in, adjust the division’s capacity or add/remove/refund a team.
Related
- Issue Refunds — full/partial refunds and what the registrant receives
- Accept Registration Payments — Stripe setup, pricing, and Test Mode
- Manage Registrations — review submissions, capacity, and open/close dates