When a player books a court and enables pay your part, the situation at the moment of booking is uncertain. Nobody knows yet how many players will join, or whether all of them will pay their share. A traditional system that only charged the lead booker their individual share would leave the club potentially short of income if other players failed to show up or pay.
Nettla always reserves the full court cost on the lead booker's card at the moment of booking. This means that from the very first second a court is booked, your club's full income for that court is secured. It does not matter how many players end up joining or paying — the lead booker's card guarantees the full amount.
When other players join the court booking and pay their share, the system updates the amounts accordingly. The lead booker's original reservation is then partially refunded to reflect only their own share of the cost. This partial refund is processed automatically 4 hours after the session end time. The 4-hour window exists to allow any last-minute players to be added to the booking before the final split is calculated.
Example: A court costs £40 in total. The lead booker is initially charged £40. Three other players each pay £10. Four hours after the session ends, the lead booker receives a £30 refund — leaving them with a net charge of £10. Your club receives its full £40.
The 6-day rule and what it means for your Stripe dashboard
VISA, Mastercard, and AmEx rules require that reserved amounts must be either captured (charged) or cancelled within 6 days. Nettla automatically handles this: if a session is booked more than 6 days in advance, the lead booker's reserved amount will be captured on day 6.
In your Stripe Dashboard, this means you may see a payment for a court booking showing a 'Succeeded' status several days before the session takes place. This is expected. After the session ends, the system will automatically issue a partial refund to the lead booker for any amounts paid by joining players. The Stripe status will then show as 'Partially refunded'. Both of these statuses are completely normal and reflect the system working correctly.
Why you never need to chase players for court money
Because Nettla always reserves the full court cost from the lead booker's card at the time of booking, your club is guaranteed to receive its full income in every scenario. If all players pay their parts, the lead booker receives a refund and everyone pays their fair share. If some players don't join or pay, the lead booker's initial payment covers the full court cost — and your club still receives 100% of the court revenue.
This system was designed with your club's financial security as the top priority. You never need to follow up with players for unpaid court amounts, issue manual invoices, or absorb the cost of no-shows.
What to tell a player who is confused about a charge or refund
When a player contacts you about a charge or refund related to a court booking, you can reassure them with the following:
If they see a charge on a day they didn't play: This is the reserved amount being captured on day 6, as required by card network rules. It is not an error. Any applicable refund (if they cancelled or other players paid their share) will follow automatically within 2-3 business days.
If they were charged the full court amount but expected to pay less: The system reserved the full amount to secure the club's income. Once other players paid their shares, or 4 hours after the session ended, the lead booker's payment was or will be adjusted automatically.
If a refund is taking time to appear: Refunds on true captures take 2-3 business days to appear, depending on the player's bank and card type. This is outside Nettla and Stripe's control. You do not need to take any action.