1. What are Joining Fees?
A Joining Fee is a one-time payment gated at the attendee level. Once a parent pays the fee for a specific child, that child is 'unlocked' and can be booked into any of your other Joining-Fee-gated activities without paying the fee again.
2. Enable the Global Setting
Before you can apply fees to individual classes, you must activate the feature within your account
Head to Settings > Joining fee setup.
Toggle 'Turn on Joining Fee functionality' to ON.
Configure your fee details:
Set the fee: Enter the amount to be charged at checkout (e.g. £20.00).
Joining fee title: Create a custom name, like '2026 Joining Fee' (Optional).
Joining fee overview: Explain what the fee covers for your customers.
Small print: Add any specific terms or conditions (Optional).
Then click 'Save'
When you click Save:
A Joining fee section will appear in the side navigation
A Joining fee toggle will show against all subscription activities
2. Gating Your Activities
Once enabled globally, you can choose which specific activities require the fee.
Navigate to the Activities tab.
Open the Details section of your chosen subscription activity.
Switch the Joining Fee toggle to ON.
Note:
• At this time Joining Fees cannot be switched on for Trial subscription activities
3. The Parent Experience
Pebble automates the logic so you don't have to manually check who has paid.
At Selection: If a parent selects an attendee who hasn't paid, a Joining Fee modal appears automatically, showing your logo and fee details.
At Checkout: The fee is clearly listed as a separate line item in the 'Total to pay now' section.
Guardian Profile: Parents can view their payment history and 'Joined' status anytime under 'My Joining fees' in their profile.
Note:
• Joining Fees are tracked per attendee, not per guardian. If a parent books for two children, they will be prompted to pay the fee for each child individually.
4. Managing your Members
Use the Joining Fees page in your side navigation to manage your Joining Fees.
Default View: Shows a list of all attendees regardless of their Joined or Payment status.
Status Filters: Quickly filter by Joining Status (Joined, Not Joined, Cancelled) or Payment Status (Paid, Marked as Paid, Refunded).
Joining Fee management: Depending on the Payment and Joining Status combination there are a range of actions you can take. See more detail below.
Joining Status
Joined = Attendee has paid Joining Fee via the checkout journey, or you have manually added a Joined date
Cancelled = You have cancelled the previously Joined attendee
Not Joined = If attendee has booked an activity that was not gated by Joining Fee
Payment status filter
Paid = Attendee has paid Joining Fee via the checkout journey
Marked as paid = You marked the payment status as PAID
Refunded = You refunded the Joining Fee
Hyphen = No Payment Status associated to the Joining Fee
Joining Fee Management
Depending on the Payment and Joining Status combination - the following actions may be available:
Refund = This allows you to refund the entire Joining Fee. As soon as an attendee has been refunded the status updates from 'Paid' to 'Refunded'
Invoice customer = Takes you to the customer invoice page where you can invoice for any payments related to Joining Fee
Add Joining date = Opens Joining date calendar. As soon as an attendee has a Joining date added the status updates from 'Not Joined' to 'Joined'. This attendee will now be able to book any Joining Fee gated activities.
Cancel = Launches cancellation flow. As soon as an attendee has been cancelled the status updates from 'Joined' to 'Cancelled'. Cancelling an attendee's Joining Fee means they will be required to pay the Joining Fee if they attempt to booked another gated activity.
Mark as paid = Marks the attendee as Paid
We value your input and are always looking for ways to improve our communication and services.
If you have any questions or feedback about this feature, please reach out to us on the chat icon or at support@bookpebble.co.uk.