Most bookings are paid online at checkout through Stripe, so the money and the record line up automatically. But when you add a booking yourself for a walk-in or a customer paying at the door, you take the payment on your own equipment - your card machine, cash, or a bank transfer. Recording that payment against the booking keeps your booking list honest and feeds the right figure into reports, instead of showing the booking as free.
When to use it
Offline payments are for money that never goes through Session. You take it on your own terminal or in person, and Session simply records that it happened.
- Walk-ins who pay on your card machine when they arrive.
- Cash taken at the door.
- Bank transfer arranged directly with the customer.
If you want the customer to pay through Session instead, you don't need this - share the booking link and let them pay online at checkout, or read about accepted payment methods.
Offline payments are only recorded when an admin or staff member creates the booking from the Add booking sheet. There's no separate "record payment later" step - you capture the payment at the moment you create the booking.
Record a payment
You record an offline payment in the same sheet you use to add a booking for a customer.
- 1Open the Sessions calendar or the bookings page and start adding a booking for the session.
- 2Choose the customer and the number of spaces as usual.
- 3In the Payment section, switch from Not taken to Paid.
- 4Enter the Amount you took. It shows in your venue's currency.
- 5Pick the Method: Card machine, Cash, Bank transfer, or Other.
- 6Finish creating the booking. It's saved as paid for the amount you entered.
Leave the toggle on Not taken to create a free or comp booking exactly as before - nothing is recorded as paid.
The booking sheet remembers your last chosen method per venue, so if you always take payment the same way, you can usually just confirm the amount and move on.
Payment methods
The method is a record-keeping label, so your booking history and exports show how each walk-in paid.
- Card machine - paid on your own card terminal.
- Cash - paid in cash at the venue.
- Bank transfer - paid by a direct transfer to your account.
- Other - anything that doesn't fit the above.
How it affects your records
A recorded offline payment is treated as real revenue, the same as an online one - it just never passes through Stripe.
- The booking shows the amount you took instead of "Free", with the method beside it.
- The amount counts as gross revenue in your reports and appears in CSV exports.
- Because there's no Stripe payment behind it, the figure is yours to keep - card processing fees on your own terminal are between you and your terminal provider.
Offline payments are never charged through Session, and Session never refunds them for you. If you need to refund a walk-in, you action the refund on your own card machine or in person, then record it against the booking. See refunds for how offline refunds are recorded.
Common questions
- 1Does recording an offline payment charge the customer's card? No. Session only records that you took the money elsewhere. The actual payment happens on your terminal, in cash, or by transfer.
- 2Will this show up in payment reconciliation as a problem? No. Reconciliation only checks bookings that went through Stripe. An offline-paid booking has no Stripe payment, so it's never flagged.
- 3Can I record a payment after the booking is already created? No - the payment is captured at the moment you create the booking from the Add booking sheet. If you took too much, record an offline refund against the booking. See refunds.
- 4Can staff record offline payments? Yes. Anyone with permission to add bookings can record an offline payment, since they're usually the ones running the door. See admin and staff roles.
- 5How do I refund an offline payment? Refund the customer the way you took it - on your card machine or in person - then record the refund against the booking. Session won't move the money for you. See refunds.