Payments and receipts

Choose the correct payment path

MembershipPortal records a normalized financial history while Stripe remains responsible for card processing, payment methods, balances, payouts, refunds, and disputes.

• Use Stripe-hosted Checkout for card payments; card details never pass through MembershipPortal.
• Record checks, cash, bank transfers, and external payments with their actual date, amount, method, and reference.
• Use a complimentary or lifetime grant when no money was received instead of creating a zero-value payment.
• Use recurring dues only for plans and accounts that meet the organization's recurring-payment policy.

Record an offline payment

Record the payment and resulting membership term together so the ledger, eligibility, receipt, and audit history agree.

1. Open the correct member record and choose the paid membership action.
2. Select the plan and confirm the term dates.
3. Enter the amount, payment method, received date, check or external reference, and useful notes.
4. Review the full transaction and submit it once.
5. Confirm the payment, term, paid-through date, and receipt history after saving.

Handle refunds and disputes

A refund or dispute is a new financial event. The organization's configured policy determines whether the associated term is retained, shortened, suspended, or revoked.

• Review the original payment and its allocations before taking action.
• Use the dedicated refund, dispute, or adjustment workflow rather than editing the original amount.
• Confirm the resulting membership term and access outcome.
• Keep external provider and MembershipPortal records reconciled when a card event originates in Stripe.

Issue receipts and reconcile

Receipt history follows confirmed normalized payment records. Reconciliation checks that provider events, ledger entries, terms, and downstream access reached the same outcome.

1. Confirm the payer, amount, currency, date, method, and reference.
2. Review the receipt in the member's receipt history before sharing it.
3. Investigate failed or unmatched provider events from the payments operations area.
4. Replay only safe, idempotent work and verify the final payment, term, and access state.