The Restrict Start Date feature allows venues to sell memberships in advance while setting a specific future date when the membership becomes active. This is useful when, for example, you want to pre-sell seasonal memberships that should only become active on a particular date.

Selling memberships online (Self-sign up)

If memberships are sold online through the booking page, the member must pay when signing up. The membership will then become active on the configured start date.

Example

Restrict Start Date: 29th of August
Billing frequency: Monthly
Purchase date: 15th of August August

• The member purchases the membership online on 15th August and pays immediately. The payment covers the first billing cycle.
• The membership becomes active on 29th of August. The member is not charged again on 29th of August, because the first billing cycle has already been paid for.
• The next payment will be taken on 29th of September, when the next billing cycle begins.

Manually assigning memberships (Venue sign up)

You can also assign a membership manually to a member. Keep in mind that the customer must accept the new membership in their Player Portal after it has been added to their profile manually by the admin.

When you assign a membership with Restrict Start Date enabled, the membership's Start Date will automatically be set to the configured restricted start date. 

You then have two options for charging the member.

'Charge now' enabled

If Charge now is enabled, the member is charged immediately when the membership is assigned.

The payment covers the first billing cycle, so:

• The member is charged when the membership is assigned.
• The membership becomes active on the configured start date.
• The member is not charged again on the start date because the first billing cycle has already been paid.
• The next payment is taken at the beginning of the following billing cycle.

Charge now disabled

If Charge now is disabled, the member is not charged when the membership is assigned.

Instead, the member is charged on the date the membership starts, according to the configured billing schedule.

When using Restrict Start Date:

• Restricting the start date does not necessarily delay payment. A member may be charged before the membership becomes active.
• For online self-sign-up, the member must complete payment during the sign-up process.
• The first payment covers the first billing cycle, so the member is not charged again when the membership becomes active.
• Members cannot use the membership to make bookings before its start date.

Changing the Restrict Start Date

Be careful when changing the Restrict Start Date after a membership has already been created or sold.

For example, if you initially set the Restrict Start Date to 1 July and later change it to 1 August, members who signed up for or were assigned the membership before the change will continue to follow the original rules. Only members who sign up after the change will follow the new Restrict Start Date.

We recommend not changing the Restrict Start Date

When setting up the membership, make sure that the Restrict Start Date is the date on which you want the membership to begin.

Changing the date after memberships have already been assigned requires manual adjustments and will not automatically update existing memberships.

If you need to change the date

If you need to change the Restrict Start Date after customers have already been assigned the membership, some manual work may be required.

The recommended approach is:

• Refund any charges that have already been taken for the membership, where applicable.
• End the existing membership for the affected customers.
• Change the Restrict Start Date on the membership type.
• Re-add the membership to the customers' profiles from scratch.

This ensures that the customers receive the correct membership start date and follow the new membership rules.

Important: Changing the Restrict Start Date does not automatically update existing memberships. Existing memberships will continue to follow the rules that were in place when they were originally assigned or purchased.