Payment Processing

How Payments Work

ClearGym takes your members' payments through Stripe Connect. The money goes to your own Stripe account, not through ClearGym.

The Payment Flow

1. Member subscribes: they choose a membership plan and enter their bank details at checkout, or a card if the plan also accepts card
2. Stripe takes the payment: Stripe charges its own fees to your gym directly
3. The money reaches you: it lands in your connected Stripe account
4. Payouts: Stripe pays out to your bank account on the schedule set in your Stripe account

Payment Processing Fees

Stripe's standard fees apply, as published at stripe.com/gb/pricing (opens in a new tab). ClearGym takes no share of them and adds nothing on top. Stripe bills your gym directly for two things: a payment processing fee on every payment (Direct Debit or card), and, for recurring memberships, a Stripe Billing fee on each recurring payment. Stripe sets these rates and can change them, so the link above always has the current figures.

ClearGym's £49/month subscription covers unlimited members, class scheduling and booking, membership management and 5,000 broadcast emails a month. One price for every gym. We never take a cut of your payments, and no VAT is charged on the subscription. The Takings page and the Payouts page show the Stripe fees on your own payments.

Connecting Your Stripe Account

Only the owner can connect Stripe, and it needs an active ClearGym subscription or free trial. You cannot create membership plans until Stripe is connected.

1. Open Settings in the main menu, then the Payouts card
2. Select Connect Payment Processor
3. Fill in Set up payment processing: your business structure (Sole trader / Self-employed, Limited company (Ltd) or Partnership / Other), phone number and address, and your Companies House number if you are a limited company
4. Select Continue to Stripe and finish Stripe's own form. It asks for the UK bank account your payouts go to and details of the person who runs the gym

The Payouts page then shows the state of your account:

• Payment processing is active: members can pay by Direct Debit, and by card where a plan accepts it
• Stripe is verifying your details: members cannot pay online yet. This usually takes a few minutes, though it can take a couple of days
• Action needed: payments are switched off: Stripe needs more information. Select Complete verification. Until then, a member who tries to join a plan is asked to contact the gym
• Stripe has restricted your account: members cannot pay online. Select Open your Stripe dashboard to see why, or contact Stripe support

Payment Methods

ClearGym uses a different payment method for each flow:

• Membership subscriptions: Bacs Direct Debit by default. Members enter their UK bank details at checkout, and Stripe saves the Direct Debit mandate to collect each recurring payment. The owner can tick Also accept card on a plan, and the member then chooses Direct Debit or a debit or credit card when they join. A card payment is taken at once; if a card payment fails or the bank asks the member to confirm it, they are sent to a Stripe page to pay.
• Paid class bookings: Card only. Members pay for one-off class bookings by credit or debit card through Stripe Checkout. Direct Debit is not available for class bookings.
• Class passes and block courses: card through Stripe Checkout. Staff can also take payment for a course at the desk.

Saving Payment Methods

When a member subscribes, Stripe saves their Direct Debit mandate, or their card, so future membership payments are collected automatically. A member can change it themselves: Membership, then Manage Payment Method.

Members Who Pay You Directly

For a member who pays by cash, standing order or at the desk, open their page and use Pays the gym directly. They get member prices on classes, on a plan if you choose one. ClearGym does not collect their payments: record each one on the member page, and it appears under Cash and desk payments on the Takings page.

Managing Subscriptions

Viewing Subscriptions

1. Open Members in the main menu
2. Select a member's name
3. Read their Subscription Status, plan and next billing date

Subscription Statuses

• Active: paid up and current
• Trial: in a free trial
• Pending payment: the first Direct Debit is still being set up
• Past due and Unpaid: a payment failed. See Failed Payments below
• First payment failed: the membership never started
• Paused: a planned pause is running
• Cancelled: the subscription ended. The member keeps access until the end of the period they paid for
• No subscription: no plan on record

Cancelling a Subscription

Members cancel for themselves:

1. The member opens Membership
2. They select Cancel Subscription and confirm
3. Access continues until the end of the current billing period, and no further payments are taken

Staff do not cancel a subscription from the member page. Deactivating a member cancels their subscription and their future bookings, so use it only when the person is leaving.

Pausing a Membership

Owners and managers can pause a member's monthly membership for 1 to 3 months, for example for an injury or a long holiday. A membership can be paused once in 12 months.

1. Open the member's page and find Pause membership
2. Select Pause membership, then choose the length: Pause for 1 month, 2 months or 3 months

• The pause starts at the member's next billing date. Until then nothing changes, and nothing is refunded
• No payments are taken during the pause, and they restart when it ends
• During a pause the member does not get member or plan prices on new class bookings. Classes already booked keep the price paid
• ClearGym emails the member when you set the pause, 7 days before it ends and when it ends
• To stop early, use End the pause early (or Cancel the planned pause). Prices and payments return from the next billing date

A membership that is in a free trial, still waiting for its first payment, or already set to end cannot be paused.

Changing a Plan's Price

Edit the plan from Plans in the main menu (the page is called Membership Plans). Only the owner can change a price.

Price Rises

• Press Update Plan and ClearGym shows how many members the rise affects and the date they start paying it. Nothing is saved until you confirm
• Members already on the plan get at least 14 days' notice by email. They keep their current price until their first payment on or after the date shown, and their payment dates do not change
• New members pay the new price straight away
• A member who started checkout before the rise and finishes it afterwards keeps the price they paid until their next renewal, then moves to the current price. They are told by email when they join

Typed the Wrong Price?

While a rise is scheduled, the owner can Review correction to set a corrected price, or cancel the rise with Cancel the rise and keep the old price. Members are emailed. What anyone paid above the corrected price is refunded automatically to the payment method they used. A correction cannot be higher than the mistaken price.

Price Cuts

A lower price applies to everyone from their next renewal. Nobody is charged anything when you save.

Joining Fees and Intro Offers

Both are optional, set on the plan, and can be changed only by the owner.

Joining Fee

• The Joining fee is taken once from each new member with their first payment, and never again
• It is not taken from members you move over from another system, and staff can waive it from the member's page
• It is shown to the member before they pay. It is refunded if they ask to cancel within 14 days of paying and the membership then ends; after that it is not refundable
• While a refund is still owed, the member cannot rejoin a plan with a joining fee online unless staff waive the fee

Intro Offer

• An Intro offer is a reduced monthly price for a new member's first 1, 2 or 3 monthly payments, then the plan price applies. It works on monthly plans only
• It is only for new members. It is not offered to members you move over from another system, or who have had a membership at your gym before. Staff can waive it from the member's page
• The months count from the day the member joins, including any months they are paused
• A change to the plan price does not change an intro price

Households

One person, the payer, can book classes for another adult and pay for their membership. Each person keeps their own login, and health forms stay private to each person.

• On the payer's page, use Add a dependant with the other adult's email address. The other adult must already be a member of your gym with a date of birth on record, and must say yes before they are linked. Adults only: every dependant needs their own email and login
• The payer can pay for a dependant's membership plan from their own Direct Debit or card, and the dependant's class emails are copied to the payer
• A payer can choose Stop paying for a dependant and stay linked. The plan stops at the end of the period already paid for, the dependant is asked to set up their own payment, and the gym is told. Booking for them carries on
• A dependant who moves to their own payment keeps any intro months they have left
• End this link on the member page unlinks the two people and changes nothing else about either membership

Block Courses

A class can be sold as a block course: one flat price for a fixed set of sessions. Owners and managers switch this on with Sell this class as a block course on the class form, and set a Course price and an optional price for subscribers.

• A purchase books every remaining session or none. Sessions are never booked or cancelled one at a time
• Someone joining after the course has started pays the price multiplied by the sessions left, divided by the total, to the nearest penny
• If you cancel a session, each booked member is refunded their share of the price, once
• A member who leaves part-way gets nothing back automatically. Staff can refund by hand
• Staff can add a member from Add a member on the course page. A course sold at the desk is paid on the spot

Viewing Payouts and Takings

Both are for the owner.

Payouts

Open Settings, then Payouts (the page is called Payment & Payouts):

• Available Balance and Pending Balance
• Recent Payouts, with their status and arrival date
• Recent Transactions, with the Stripe fee and the net amount of each
• Open Stripe Dashboard, for your payout schedule, bank details, tax information and disputes

Takings

Takings in the main menu shows one month at a time: gross taken through Stripe, refunds, Stripe fees and net, split by kind of payment, plus the payouts on their way to your bank. Below that are the cash and desk payments staff recorded, which are not in the Stripe figures, and Who owes, the members whose latest payment failed.

Failed Payments

When a membership payment fails, ClearGym gives the member a 7-day grace period, counted from when we are told the payment failed:

• Straight away: the member is emailed a link to update their payment details, and the owners and managers are emailed too. Each failure is announced once, however many times Stripe retries. If another member pays for them, the payer is emailed instead
• For 7 days: the member keeps their membership, member prices and free-for-members classes. They see a banner with the date it ends, and you see the same date on their page
• After 7 days: the membership pauses in ClearGym. Classes are charged at the full price until the payment is made. The member sees that their membership has paused
• If the payment is made at any point: the membership carries on as normal, and member prices return straight away

A member whose very first payment fails never had access, so they get no grace period. They are told their membership has not started.

What Stripe Does Next Is Up to You

ClearGym never cancels a member's subscription itself. Retries, and what happens when Stripe gives up, follow the failed-payment settings in your own Stripe account (in the Stripe Dashboard, under Billing settings for subscriptions and emails). ClearGym does not set or change them. Check them once, because the choice decides what a member who never pays turns into:

• Cancel the subscription: the member shows as cancelled and no more payments are tried. This is the tidiest choice for most gyms.
• Mark the subscription as unpaid: no more payments are tried but the subscription stays open. The membership stays paused in ClearGym until you cancel it in Stripe or the member pays.
• Leave it past due: Stripe stops retrying but the subscription stays open. As above, the membership stays paused in ClearGym until you act or the member pays.

The membership pauses 7 days after we are told the payment failed, whichever you choose, even if Stripe is still retrying. Direct Debit failures are reported by the bank several days after the collection date, and the grace period starts when we are told, not at the collection date. It never restarts during a run of failed payments.

Refunds

Refunds ClearGym Makes for You

These go back to the payment method the member used, with no action from you:

• A paid class booking cancelled in time by the member, or by you when you cancel a class or close the gym for a day
• A joining fee, when the member cancels within 14 days of paying it
• What a member paid above a corrected price, after a mistaken price rise
• A course member's share of a session you cancel

To refund part of a class pass, open the member and use Refund part of this sale. ClearGym shows the details before anything changes.

Refunding a Membership Payment

Membership payments are refunded in your Stripe dashboard:

1. Open your Stripe dashboard and find the payment under Payments
2. Select Refund and choose a full or partial amount
3. Confirm the refund

• Refunds typically take 5 to 10 business days to reach the member
• Stripe's processing fees are not refunded when you issue a refund
• Refunding a subscription payment does not cancel the subscription

Disputes and Chargebacks

Occasionally a member disputes a charge with their bank.

What Is a Dispute?

A dispute (or chargeback) happens when a cardholder questions a charge with their bank. Common reasons are a lost or stolen card, a charge the member does not recognise, dissatisfaction with the service, or fraud.

Handling Disputes

1. When a class booking or membership payment is disputed, ClearGym emails the gym's owners with the member, amount and date
2. The member's page shows Disputed beside their subscription status, and the members list shows it too. A disputed booking cannot be refunded while the dispute is open. If it is cancelled meanwhile, the refund is held and issued automatically when the dispute is won or the inquiry closes, and never if it is lost
3. Open your Stripe dashboard to view the dispute and submit evidence, for example proof that the class took place or that the member accepted your terms
4. Stripe and the bank review the evidence
5. A won dispute clears the Disputed mark. A lost one is recorded on the member's page until they next pay

A Direct Debit (Bacs) indemnity claim cannot be contested: the member's bank has already paid the money back.

Security & Compliance

ClearGym and Stripe keep your payments secure:

• PCI DSS: Stripe is certified as a PCI Service Provider Level 1, the highest level
• No card data stored: ClearGym never sees or stores card details
• Encrypted connections: all payment data travels over HTTPS
• 3D Secure: Stripe applies strong customer authentication where the bank requires it