Payment Forms

Available now: Payment forms are live. You can add a card-payment field, a priced "quantity" field, or priced choices to a form, and TimelyChurch charges the registrant's card through your church's connected Stripe account when they submit. You can also let them pay offline, for example with cash, check, or CashApp. This article covers setting one up, what the registrant sees, and how to review and refund payments.

What This Feature Does

The Payment field lets you collect a one-time card charge as part of a form submission. Typical use cases:

• Event registration with a fee. A $25 retreat sign-up that captures the registrant's info and charges their card in one flow.
• Conference / trip deposits. A partial payment to hold a spot, with the balance collected later.
• Designated giving tied to a sign-up. Collect a set amount alongside the registrant's details.
• Merchandise / book pre-orders. A paid "quantity" field charges per item (quantity x price), so "T-shirts x 3" is calculated automatically.

Payments run through the same Stripe account your church already uses for Donations (via Stripe Connect), so you do not need a separate processor. The church bears the Stripe processing fee, and the income is recorded to your Fundraising account in Accounting, with a linked donation record so it shows up in your financials.

Before You Start: Connect Stripe

Card payments require your church's Stripe account to be connected. If Stripe is not connected (and the form has no offline payment methods), the form still publishes, but registrants see "Online payment isn't available for this form yet — the church hasn't finished connecting Stripe." and no payment can be taken. Connect Stripe first: in Church Settings, open the Integrations tab and use the Stripe - Online Giving card. See Setting Up Online Giving.

Note: Payment is not available on custom-domain form pages. If your form is reached through your church's custom domain, payers see "Payments aren't available on custom-domain pages yet — use the main site link", with a link to the standard form page. Share the standard TimelyChurch form link (see Sharing the Form below) for paid forms.

Setting Up a Paid Form

Open the form builder from Forms in the admin portal, then edit the form you want to take payment on.

There are three ways to add a charge, and you can combine them on one form:

Option 1: A fixed Payment field

1. From the field palette, add the Payment (Card) field (it appears under the Special field group, with a credit-card icon).
2. Click the field to open its editor and set the Amount (USD), e.g., 45.00.
3. That fixed amount is what the form charges by card.

The amount you set posts to your Fundraising income in Accounting when the payment succeeds.

Option 2: A priced "quantity" field

1. Add a Number field (for example, "Number of T-shirts").
2. In the field editor, set Price per unit (USD), e.g., 15.00.
3. The form then charges quantity x unit price for that field, and the running total updates as the registrant changes the number.

Leave Price per unit blank to keep it a plain number field. A priced quantity field automatically pairs with the card-payment total, so you do not need a separate Payment field unless you also want a flat fee.

Per-person minimum surcharge (optional): On the same Number field, set Minimum people and Surcharge each below (USD). If fewer than the minimum are entered, the form charges the surcharge for each missing person. For example, a minimum of 4 at $25 each adds $50 when only 2 people are entered. Leave blank to skip.

Option 3: Priced choices

1. Add a Dropdown, Radio Buttons, Checkbox, or Multi-Select field (for example, "Cabin").
2. In the field editor, give any option a Price, e.g., Ladies $140, Guys $160.
3. Picking a priced option adds its price to the form total. Leave the price blank for a normal choice.

One payment, one submission: a card payment is tied to exactly one submission; if the same payment reaches TimelyChurch twice (a double tap, a retried page), only one submission is kept.

The total is always recalculated by TimelyChurch. Whatever pricing you configure, TimelyChurch works out the amount again from the form's own settings when the person submits. The registrant's browser can never dictate the price.

Offline Payment Methods

To let people register now and pay another way, open the form's Settings tab and find Offline Payment Methods ("For paid forms, let people register and pay outside of card — e.g. CashApp, cash, or check."):

1. Click Add Offline Method.
2. Enter the Method name (e.g., CashApp) and the payment instructions shown to the submitter (e.g., "Send $140 to our church's CashApp").
3. Add more methods if you like, then click Save Settings.

When a form has offline methods, registrants see How would you like to pay? and can choose Pay online by card or one of your methods. Choosing an offline method shows your instructions and the note "Your registration will be recorded as awaiting payment. No card will be charged." The submission is saved with the amount owed and the payment status Awaiting payment, along with the method they chose. Offline methods work even if Stripe isn't connected.

Save your changes and Publish the form when you're ready.

What the Registrant Sees

On a published paid form, below the questions the registrant sees:

• A running total that updates as they fill in priced fields.
• How would you like to pay?: shown when the form offers offline methods as well as (or instead of) card.
• A Card details box (Stripe's secure card input) with a "Secure card payment, processed by Stripe." note.

When they submit:

1. The form's field validation runs first.
2. The card is charged for the recalculated total via your church's Stripe account.
3. On success, the submission is saved with the payment attached.
4. On failure, the registrant sees the Stripe error and can correct the card without losing their answers.

Stripe's minimum charge is $0.50, so a paid form needs at least one selected item totaling fifty cents or more before it will accept payment.

Reviewing Payments

Open a submission from the form's Submissions list to see its detail page. For paid submissions, a Payment panel shows:

• A status badge: Paid, Refunded, Partially refunded, Awaiting payment, or Failed.
• The line-item breakdown and the Total paid (with currency).
• A Stripe charge reference number, for card payments.

The payment is also recorded as a donation in your Accounting records, so paid-form income flows into your financials automatically.

Issuing a Refund

On a paid submission's detail page, if the payment is eligible (a card payment with status Paid that hasn't been refunded), a Refund to card button appears. Issuing a refund requires the Delete action on the Forms module.

When you open the Refund payment window, it shows what the registrant paid, the Stripe fee (non-refundable), and the amount Available to refund:

• Leave Refund amount blank to refund the full amount the church received, or enter a smaller number for a partial refund.
• Optionally pick a Reason: Requested by registrant, Duplicate, or Fraudulent.
• Click Issue refund.

The refund goes back to the same card the registrant paid with, and the income and fee entries are reversed in Accounting. A few things to know:

• The Stripe processing fee is not returned. Stripe keeps its fee on refunds, so the most you can refund is the gross amount minus that fee. The member effectively bears the fee.
• A given payment can be refunded once (a partial refund leaves the submission in the Partially refunded state).

Tips and Limitations

• Income account: Paid-form charges post to your Fundraising income account. There is no per-form fund or account picker in the builder today.
• Amount type: The Payment field charges a fixed amount. There is no "pay what you want" amount. Use a priced quantity field or priced choices if you need the total to vary.
• Offline payments: Registrations paid offline stay Awaiting payment on the submission; keep track of what you receive using the method each person chose.
• Custom domains: As noted above, paid forms must be shared via the standard TimelyChurch link, not a custom-domain page.
• Recurring payments: Forms charge a one-time amount. For recurring giving or pledges, use the Giving and Pledges features instead.

Sharing the Form

Share a paid form the same way as any other form. Open the form and use the Share options (QR code, Copy Link, Email). The public URL has the shape:

https://your-domain.com/c/your-church/forms/form-slug

Send registrants this link (or the QR code) so the card box renders correctly and the payment can be processed.

Related Articles

• See 03-form-field-types.md for the full list of field types, including the Payment field.
• See 02-creating-a-form.md for general form setup.
• See 06-managing-submissions.md for reviewing, approving, and exporting submissions.