How Partial Payments Work in PatronManager

Updated on Jan 16, 2024

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How Partial Payments Work in PatronManager: https://help.pm.leapevent.tech/a/1143649

Partial payments allow you to use multiple credit cards, STS gift cards, or other payments types to pay for one ticket order. Super helpful!

While that sounds pretty simple (and most of the time, it is), there's some important information to keep in mind when using partial payments:

What partial payments are intended for (and that they're not intended for Group Sales)
Partial payments "lock" the order
Your local laws

Finally, we'll go over how to process partial payments, for those situations when you need to.

What partial payments are intended for

Specifically, partial payments are intended to accommodate for situations in which one of your patrons needs to pay for a ticket order with one or more payment methods, such as:

Multiple credit cards
Some cash and a credit card
An STS gift card and a credit card
Any combination of the above

Generally, partial payments should all be paid as in rapid succession as possible - ideally all within the same day. We know subscription payments may get a bit delayed, but be aware of order "locking" and your local laws.

Partial payments are not intended as a substitute for Group Sales

If you're using our Group Sales feature, you might be asking, "Can't I just use partial payments instead of Group Sales? Then I could complete the whole order right on the Ticket Order!"

Here's the issue: when using Group Sales, you'll usually collect a deposit, and then collect payments in installments over days, weeks, or months. Because making any partial payment - including a small deposit - "locks" the order, you'll be unable to make changes to the Group Sale Ticket Order before payment is complete. That's not ideal if your Group Sale patron wants to add seats, needs a discount, or wants their tickets in advance.

Additionally, our Group Sales solution is just a better solution overall than working from the Ticket Order; invoices, payments by multiple patrons, and reporting are all easier with Group Sales.

Partial payments "lock" the order

Once a partial payment is paid, no matter the amount, the Ticket Order becomes "locked". You won't be able to do any of the following until full payment has been received:

Change the order total (via discounts, waived fees, or added donations)
Add or remove seats
Print tickets

Taking partial payments for subscriptions?

Don't worry - you can print tickets while they're in reserved status. If you accept a deposit for subscriptions and then full payment in the next installment, be sure to print your patron's tickets before you enter their first partial payment!

Fees are applied based on the first payment method used

Only the first payment method is used to calculate any fees that should apply, since after the first payment, the order is "locked."

This means that if the first payment method is not set to trigger a fee, based on the Fee rule configuration in the Fee Setup Tab, that fee cannot be recalculated and added if a later payment method should trigger a fee.

If you know the combination of payment methods ahead of time, you can make sure to process the payment method that should trigger the fee first, to ensure that relevant fees are calculated before the order is locked!

For this reason, the first partial payment will always need to be enough to cover the amount of all donations, fees, and taxes on the order.

Be sure you're versed in your local laws surrounding partial payments

Some states/municipalities have specific laws regarding partial payments, when they can be processed, when they can be refunded, and how all of that weaves into fees and/or sales tax.

Get familiar with your local laws before using partial payments!