Module · Memberships

Where to find it in the app

Use it: Finance → Memberships

Turn it on/off: your business name (top-left) → Settings → Modules → Finance → Memberships

Plan: Business · Module group: Getting paid · Navigation: Finance → Memberships

1. Overview

Purpose. Sell recurring memberships, gym/studio dues, clubs, season passes, that bill a customer's card automatically each week, month or year, straight into your own Stripe account. You set the tiers, prices and perks; the app handles sign-up, billing and letting members manage themselves.

How it's different:

A membership is an ongoing subscription on the customer's card.
A class pass is a prepaid bundle of sessions, paid once up front (see Bookings).
Your HappierBiz plan is your subscription to this app, nothing to do with what you charge your members.

2. When to use it

A gym or studio charging monthly/annual membership dues.
A club or venue with recurring members or season-ticket holders.
Any recurring "subscribe and get perks" offer to your customers.

3. Required permissions

View members & plans (memberships.view).
Create plans, cancel members (memberships.manage).

4. Navigation path

Finance → Memberships

5. What you'll see

Your membership tiers (name, price, billing period, perks).
Your members and their status (active, past-due, cancelled).
A public join link to share so customers can subscribe themselves.

6. Turning it on

Settings → Modules → Getting paid → Memberships.
Connect your Stripe first (Finance → Money owed), memberships bill to your own Stripe account, so payouts land in your bank.

Note: Memberships are on the Business plan.

7. Step-by-step tasks

7a. Create a membership tier

Open Finance → Memberships.
Add a tier: name it, set the price and billing period (weekly / monthly / yearly), and list the perks.
(Optional) Set a yearly price to offer a monthly/annual toggle on the join page; the saving against paying monthly is worked out and shown for you.
(Optional) Mark one tier Most popular to feature it as the recommended choice on the join page.
(Optional) Add an Intro offer for new members in the tier editor: either the first N period(s) free (a trial) or X% off for N months (a discount). It's applied automatically at the new member's first checkout.
Save, it becomes available on your public join page.

7b. Get customers to join

Share your public join link. The customer enters their card and subscribes through Stripe Checkout; billing then recurs automatically.

7c. Members manage themselves

Members open the "manage membership" page and request a secure link, which takes them to Stripe's billing portal to update their card, see invoices or cancel, with no account or password needed.
Each member also gets a scannable QR membership card you can check at the door, showing whether they're a current member (active, or active but owing).

7d. Manage members

See who's active or past-due, and cancel a member when needed (needs Create plans, cancel members).

8. Examples

Beginner (studio): one "Monthly unlimited" tier at a set monthly price; share the join link on social.
Real-world (gym): Weekly and Annual tiers with different perks; members update their own card via the billing portal when it expires.
Advanced (club): a season pass billed yearly plus a casual monthly tier, with cancellations handled from the members list.

9. Reports & exports

Member status and recurring revenue are visible in Memberships; the actual charges, payouts and invoices live in your Stripe dashboard.
Into your accounting software. Membership dues appear in Finance → Accounting export → Money received, one line per charge, named by plan, dated the day it cleared, ready to import into Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks or hand to your bookkeeper. Refunds appear as negative lines on the day you refunded them. There is nothing to switch on: as soon as a member is charged, the line is there.
Membership income is also its own figure in the accounting screen's Income detail, kept separate from booking income so you can see each stream.
GST-free dues. If you are registered for GST and dues on a plan legally carry none (a clinic membership, for instance), tick Dues on this plan are GST-free when you edit the plan. It does not change the price: it stops GST being worked out on those charges, keeps them out of 1A on your BAS worksheet, and exports them with your GST-free tax code so Xero, MYOB or QuickBooks do not add tax on import. It applies to charges from then on, so a BAS you have already lodged does not move.

10. Common mistakes

No Stripe connected, memberships can't bill until you connect your own Stripe in Finance → Money owed.
Confusing a membership with a class pass, use a pass for a prepaid bundle of sessions, a membership for an ongoing subscription.
Cancelling in the wrong place, cancel a member here or via the billing portal, not by deleting the tier (which would affect everyone on it).

11. Troubleshooting

Problem	Fix
The join page won't take payment	Connect your Stripe in Finance → Money owed.
A member's card was declined	They're shown as past-due; they can update their card from the manage membership portal.
I can't create a tier or cancel a member	You need Create plans, cancel members (`memberships.manage`).
Memberships isn't in the nav	Turn it on in Settings → Modules → Getting paid → Memberships.

12. Error messages

Plan and member changes confirm inline. Payment failures are reported by Stripe and reflected as the member's status (e.g. past-due).

Free memberships

A plan priced at $0 is a real membership, not a broken one: a loyalty tier, a mailing-list membership, a "friends of" card.

It takes no money, so it never touches Stripe. No Checkout, no subscription, and you do not need online payments connected to offer one.
The member joins in one step. No card is asked for, and they land straight on their membership card.
They get everything a paying member gets: the scannable card, the welcome email, a place in your customer list, and you get the "new member" email.
They can leave from their own card whenever they like (a paying member cancels through the billing portal instead, because that stops real charges).
Cancelling a free membership from the members list just works; there is no Stripe subscription to end.

If a plan is free monthly but has a yearly price, the yearly option still goes through Stripe as normal, so that plan does need payments connected.

Related: Payments · Customers · Invoicing