Online Registration

Pay Later for Registrations¶

TouchPoint now offers a Pay Later option for online registrations. This feature allows registrants to complete their registration and defer payment to a later time. Churches can control Pay Later at both the system level and the individual involvement level, and can also grant Pay Later permission through special discount codes.

This article covers all of the settings and features related to Pay Later, along with several other registration improvements that were introduced alongside it.

Enabling Pay Later ¶

There are two levels of settings that control whether Pay Later is available: a system-wide setting and a per-involvement setting.

Enable Pay Later (System Setting)¶

This is a church-wide setting that acts as the master switch for all Pay Later functionality.

Navigate to Admin > Advanced > Settings and look for Enable Pay Later (documented in the Registrations section of Administrative Settings).
When this setting is off, Pay Later is not available for any registrations. Additionally, Pay Later discount code types will be hidden in the Discount Codes administration area, so staff cannot create them.
When this setting is on, individual involvements may use the Allow Pay Later option, and Pay Later discount code types will be available when creating codes.

Important

If your church never wants to offer deferred payment, simply leave this setting off. You will not need to configure anything on individual involvements.

Allow Pay Later (Involvement Setting)¶

Once the system-wide setting is enabled, each involvement can individually opt in to Pay Later.

Navigate to the involvement’s Registration settings and check Allow Pay Later.
When this is checked, registrants who meet your existing checkout rules will see a Pay Later option alongside the deposit or pay-in-full choices during checkout.
The Pay Later option appears in the same payment choice area where registrants currently choose between paying a deposit or paying in full.

Note

The involvement must also be configured with a deposit model (i.e., a non-zero Deposit Amount on the Fees tab) for the Pay Later button to appear. If there is no deposit configuration, the Pay Later button may not display even when Pay Later is otherwise allowed.

Pay Later Discount Codes ¶

In addition to the involvement-level setting, you can grant individual registrants permission to use Pay Later through special discount codes.

What They Are ¶

Pay Later discount codes are a new type of discount code. Unlike regular discount codes, they do not reduce the registration fee. Instead, they grant the registrant permission to choose the Pay Later payment option at checkout.

There are two types:

Single Use – Pay Later: Can be used by one registrant, one time.
Multi Use – Pay Later: Can be used by multiple registrants.

Creating a Pay Later Discount Code ¶

Step 1: Go to Involvements > Discount Codes and click the green Create Code button.
Step 2: Select Single Use – Pay Later or Multi Use – Pay Later from the Code Type drop down list.
Step 3: Select the Involvement or Division this code applies to.
Step 4: Click the blue Create Discount Code button. TouchPoint will generate the code.

Note

You do not enter a dollar amount when creating a Pay Later discount code because the code is granting permission to pay later, not applying a monetary discount.

How Pay Later Discount Codes Work ¶

After a registrant successfully applies a Pay Later discount code, the Pay Later payment option is automatically selected for them when it is available.
The registration total does not change when a Pay Later code is applied. The code is a permission, not a fee reduction.
A valid Pay Later discount code can unlock the Pay Later option even if the involvement’s Allow Pay Later checkbox is not checked, as long as the system-wide Enable Pay Later setting is on and the involvement allows discount codes.

Business Rules Summary ¶

Area	Rule
System Setting	Pay Later code types only appear if Enable Pay Later is on.
Involvement	Allow Discount Codes must be enabled on the involvement to apply any code.
Allow Pay Later on Involvement	Not required for the discount code path. A valid Pay Later code can still unlock Pay Later when system and discount rules are met, even if the involvement’s Allow Pay Later is off.
Registrant Progress	Pay Later codes are intended to work while the registrant is still in progress on the registration.

Staff View ¶

When viewing discount codes in the Involvements > Discount Codes list, Pay Later codes display with a clear Pay Later type label so that finance and support staff can easily distinguish them from dollar-amount or ticket discount codes.

Allow Only One Registrant ¶

A per-involvement setting called Allow only one is available in the registration setup.

When this box is checked:

Once there is a registrant in pending or completed status on the registration, the system prevents adding another person through the normal registration flow.
An informational message explains that only one registrant is allowed.
The registrant already in progress can still complete their registration, including saving answers.
The option to add additional people or search for someone new is hidden when this restriction applies.

This is useful for involvements that are strictly individual, such as a single-seat event, an individual application, or a personal liability form.

Note

Allow only one is set automatically when the registration is flagged as Mission Trip on the Settings > General tab. It is also automatically applied when using the Tickets question in a registration.

Closed Registrations and Completed Records ¶

The way the system handles closed registrations and already-completed records has been updated for greater consistency.

Multiple Submissions Within a Family ¶

For involvements configured for Multiple submission behavior, the system no longer reuses a registration that is already marked as complete when looking up an existing registration for a household or person. This means:

Registrants will not be silently dropped back into a finished registration as if it were still in progress.
Families starting a new registration will get a fresh form rather than reopening a previously completed one.

This reduces confusion where a family might think they are continuing a registration but are actually editing a completed record. It also better aligns closure rules with pay-balance scenarios that support staff expect.

Note

Access codes can still override some “closed” checks where the product already allows that. The exact message shown to the registrant may still read “registration is closed” when they do not meet an exception.

Processing Transactions for Registration Fees ¶

When staff use the organization members workflow to post transactions (payments or adjustments) for people on an involvement that uses registration forms, the system now updates registration line items in bulk for those individuals where appropriate.

For completed registrants on that involvement, the per-person fee and total on the registration are aligned with the transaction being posted. This means:

Fewer cases where what you see on the member or transaction side does not match the registration fee totals.
Less manual cleanup when recording payments or adjustments for event or class registrations.

This applies to staff who post transactions from the member update or post transaction screens for involvements configured as a registration form type.

Quick Reference ¶

Use this table to find where to configure each feature.

Goal	Where to Configure
Allow Pay Later for all registrations	Admin > Advanced > Settings: Enable Pay Later
Allow Pay Later for a specific event (without a code)	Involvement Registration Settings: Allow Pay Later (also requires a deposit model)
Allow discount codes on an event	Involvement Registration Settings: Allow Discount Codes
Restrict registration to one person	Involvement Registration Settings: Allow only one
Create “invite to pay later” codes for specific people	Involvements > Discount Codes (Pay Later types are visible only when the system Enable Pay Later setting is on)

Other Things to Know ¶

Pay Later Button Visibility: Pay Later appears in the payment choice area when the involvement is set up with a non-zero registration deposit. If there is no deposit configuration, the Pay Later button may not appear even when Pay Later is otherwise allowed.
Staff and Assisted Registration: Registration assistant behavior still follows existing rules. Some lookups, such as whether a registration is completed versus still open, may behave differently when staff act on behalf of someone.
Translations: New text strings (Pay Later labels, Related Registrations, Allow only one messages, Complete and Pay Later, etc.) are included with the update. Non-English churches should verify the wording with their localization process.

New article for Pay Later and related registration changes.