October 22, 2026 | 12 min read
Short answers to the questions organizers ask most often about payments, refunds, and changes in Eventact registration. Each answer links to the guide that covers the topic in full. For the complete payment setup, start with Payments, Invoices, and Financial Documents.
In two steps. First, set up the methods once for the account: in Studio, go to Settings > Payments > Payment Methods, turn on each method, choose the Gateway on the Credit Card card, enter its credentials, and click Test to check the connection. Then add the methods to each form: open the form and click + Add Common > Add payment page, or add a payment field to an existing page, and choose the methods and card brands it accepts. See Offer Multiple Payment Methods.
Yes. Turn on Bank transfer in the account's payment methods, open its ⋮ menu and choose Add instructions to show your bank details (with a translation for each form language), and select it in the form's payment field. Cash, Cheque, Purchase order, Pay later, Invoice, and Payroll deduction work the same way. Registrants who choose an offline method are set to Pending until you record the payment. See Offer Multiple Payment Methods.
You need a PayPal Business account - a personal account may not be supported. Get your Live API credentials from PayPal (Sandbox credentials don't work), enter them in the PayPal settings under Payment Methods, and save. Then enable PayPal in the payment field of each form and run a test registration. Registrants can pay with their PayPal account or a credit card. See Payment Gateway Options.
Only when registrants enter their card details in the Eventact form. Stripe offers two modes: registrants are redirected to Stripe's page, which is simpler to set up, or they enter their card in the Eventact form, which also lets you charge cards from the back office. The second mode requires you to enable passing raw card information to the Stripe APIs in your Stripe account and to send Stripe compliance documentation. See Payment Gateway Options.
Yes, if your gateway supports it. Turn on Installments in the payment field settings and set how many payments to offer. Stripe charges the full amount even when a registrant selects installments, so don't offer installments on forms that pay through Stripe. See Offer Multiple Payment Methods.
For registrants who pay offline, turn on Require credit card details for guarantee in the payment field - it collects card details from attendees who choose an offline method. When a registration total is zero, the form doesn't ask for a card at all. In that case, add a priced item such as a cancellation fee, shown only to that group, and set its category to Do not charge under By services ordered, so the card is collected but not charged. Test the setup before you open registration. See Choose When Payment Is Due.
Use the credit card security options at company level, under Payments > Payment Methods > Credit Cards. Eventact can compare the registrant's country, the card's country, the IP country, and the cardholder's name, and on a mismatch either set the registration to Pending without charging or decline it. You can also block foreign cards, and watchlist or blocklist countries. See Eventact's Solutions.
Timing is set per form and can differ by product category. See Choose When Payment Is Due.
Yes. Open the form, expand Payment Settings, and under Amount to charge choose First night, Percent of total, or A fixed amount. With By services ordered you set the amount per category - for example the full ticket price and only the first hotel night. The balance stays open; explain the terms in the form text, and collect it later with a charge from the back office. See Choose When Payment Is Due.
For one registrant, go to Event > Registrants, open the registrant, and click Approve Deferred Payment on the Registration tab - the button appears only when there is an open balance. For several, select them and use Bulk Actions > Status Set > Payment Deferred. Payment Deferred registrants can check in with an open balance. Pay-later registrants with status Submitted can too, unless you clear Submitted under Pre-registered Attendees in Event > Settings > Arrival kiosk. See Choose When Payment Is Due.
In Event > Registrants, select the rows, then click Bulk Actions > Payment > Charge... (or Generate Invoice...). Choose the amount, whether to charge the saved card, the document type, and whether to email the documents. See Manage Payments per Registration.
Invoices, receipts, invoice-receipts, credit invoices, and bank deposits, under your legal entity and billing details. Documents are PDFs. To email them automatically after an online payment, turn on Send financial document to registrant by email in the form's Payment Settings; you can also use Send by Mail on the registrant's Payments tab, and attendees can download them from their account. See Manage Invoices, Receipts, and Other Financial Documents.
Yes. The invoice title follows your business's tax status: Tax Invoice, Bill, Donation, or Invoice No Tax. Set it in Studio under Settings > Payments > Invoices and Receipts > Default Details > Invoice document title. Choose Bill when your own accounting system issues the tax invoices while Eventact processes the payments. See Alternative Document Types.
Yes. A form priced and charged in the same currency involves no conversion for the registrant, but every document also records amounts in your business's accounting currency, which needs a rate. Add rates in Studio under Settings > Payments > Exchange Rates, and before registration opens make sure one exists for every currency pair the event uses. Also check that your gateway can charge in each currency, and test a real charge. See Price and Collect in Multiple Currencies.
On the registrant's Payments tab: go to Event > Registrants, click the registrant's row, and select Payments. It shows the total, VAT, amount invoiced, amount paid, and balance due, each ordered item, and every document issued. From there you issue documents, use Charge Registrant, and Refund or Cancel a document. See Manage Payments per Registration.
On the registrant's Payments tab, click New Receipt (or New Invoice-Receipt if no invoice was issued yet). Choose the method and fill in its details - bank, branch, account, and reference for a transfer. The amount defaults to the open balance; lower it for a partial payment. Then produce the document, and update the registration status if it still shows Pending. See Reconciling Offline Payments.
Add it to the registration as a new item - for example an extra hotel night or a workshop - and invoice and charge it separately. Each new document covers only what is still open. If registrants should add extras themselves, an add-ons form that creates an additional order is safer than reopening a paid registration. See Manage Payments per Registration.
Yes. A single payer document can cover open items for multiple linked registrants, and you can update the payer's organization, name, and address on each document to invoice the employer instead of the attendee. To move funds between registrations, use Credit/Debit in the Payments tab's ⋮ menu. See Manage Payments per Registration.
The surcharge is calculated at payment time, and only when the payment method is a credit card. It isn't updated when you change or recalculate an order; it is recalculated when you charge the registrant by credit card, and removed for other methods. With a deposit, it is calculated on the amount paid now. The surcharge is an item in the order, so VAT applies to it like any other item - registrants who pay VAT see a higher surcharge.
In two steps on the registrant's Payments tab. First, click Refund on the receipt and choose Refund credit card to return the money through the gateway, or Record offline refund for a transfer or cash. Then click New Invoice and mark it as a credit invoice to reverse or reduce the earlier invoice. If a cancellation fee applies, refund and credit only part of the amount. Don't issue a negative receipt. Cancel on a document is a separate action that voids it, and is blocked once the payment is in a bank deposit. Refunds are not available for payments taken on an on-site terminal. See Refunds and Cancellations.
Once an invoice or receipt has been issued for an item, its order can't be deleted - only canceled. A canceled order isn't counted in the total to pay. The same applies to registrants: those with payments or financial documents can't be deleted, but you can cancel them. See Registration Status Flags.
No. Tell them their registration moves to the new date, and handle refunds only for those who can't attend; new registrants register as usual. Card fees usually apply to both the charge and the refund. To refund several documents at once, select them in the event's Accounting list and use Bulk Actions. See Manage Payments per Registration.
In the back office, cancel the item in the registrant's order and add the new one. Charging or refunding is a separate action and isn't done automatically, so a same-price swap needs no payment action. If the price differs, charge or refund the difference from the Payments tab, and issue any credit against the active order that was charged. See Manage Payments per Registration.
Usually not. Simple fields such as text and menus update without problems, but changes to orders - tickets, rooms, flights - can fail on availability, can't delete items that were already invoiced, and are hard for staff to notice. Either allow changes only until payment, or let registrants cancel and register again. Keep in mind that if updates are allowed, a registrant with a free ticket can switch to a paid one without paying.
No. Name editing is for corrections only: a contact's details are shared across events, so renaming changes the person everywhere, including older events and abstracts. Cancel the original registration and create a new one for the new person. To move someone to another event, do the same - cancel in the first event and register them in the second, which also sends that event's confirmation. See Forms and Field Levels.
In the form's login options, turn on Prevent duplicate registration of the same person with the same login details. Whether registrants can sign in again and change their registration is a separate option. A registrant who registers again with a new registration gets a second record, which can split orders and payments - direct them to edit the existing registration instead.
The registrant was sent to an external payment page, such as PayPal or the gateway's page, and hasn't returned. Usually they chose not to pay. If the registrant says they paid, check the transaction in your gateway before you change the status. See Registration Status Flags.
The card details were sent to your processor but no response came back, so Eventact can't tell whether the charge went through. Check the transaction with your processor, using the Registration ID in the email, and update the registration status accordingly.
The gateway credentials in the account are usually wrong or out of date. Re-enter them under Settings > Payments > Payment Methods and click Test to check the connection, rather than making a test registration. See Offer Multiple Payment Methods.
Stripe requires a minimum charge equivalent to 0.50 USD, so a very small test amount is declined. Test with at least $0.50, preferably in your account's usual currency. See Payment Gateway Options.
The form charges the card after submission but has no payment field. Accept the offer to add a payment page, or use + Add Common > Add payment page, and set the page registrants go to when a payment fails. See After Setting the Gateway.
The balance is the total minus receipts and invoice-receipts - invoices don't reduce it. Compare the receipts with the total, and check whether the same item was ordered twice, for example because it is defined in two pricelist groups. If nothing explains it, use Recalculate in the Payments tab's ⋮ menu. See Manage Payments per Registration.
The payment field shows the amount the registrant approved when entering the card, not the total due, and it changes only when a new card is entered. The balance on the Payments tab is the current amount, and you can still charge it.
One invoice can't hold both kinds of items, and Eventact doesn't split the order for you. For forms that sell both, produce a receipt instead of an invoice-receipt after the charge, and issue separate invoices. If VAT is missing where you expect it, check the item's VAT setting - it may apply only to payers from a certain country. See Manage Invoices, Receipts, and Other Financial Documents.
Check the error the gateway returned. The card company may require a manual approval for the refund - get the approval number from them and enter it. The cause is usually on the gateway or card side.
Still stuck? Contact Eventact Support. Read more about Eventact Event Registration