Every online payment in Nettla is reserved on the player's card at purchase, then charged later — like a hotel holding an amount and charging only what was used.
What gets reserved
For a court booking with pay your part, Nettla reserves the lead booker's own share plus three shares priced at the highest rate a single share can cost at your club.
Example: their share is £9 and your highest share price is £12 → £45 reserved.
This covers the worst case, so your club's full income is secured from the moment of booking.
When it's charged
Visa and Mastercard allow a reservation to be held for a maximum of 7 days. Nettla uses 6 days to leave a safety margin.
Session within 6 days of the purchase: charged once, 4 hours after the session's end time, at the final split amount.
Session more than 6 days after the purchase: charged in full on day 6, then partially refunded 4 hours after the session's end time.
Two things admins most often get wrong
The reserved amount does not shrink as players join. It's adjusted once, 4 hours after the session's end time — never progressively.
The 4-hour window exists so players can add anyone who joined spontaneously at the club that day. Uncommon, but the split has to wait for it.
Your income is always covered
If nobody joins, the lead booker pays the whole reserved amount. You never chase players, raise manual invoices, or absorb no-shows.
Why not just save the card and charge afterwards?
That removes the guarantee. There's no way to confirm the funds are still available at charge time, and charging a saved card later can trigger an extra bank verification step that fails or goes unanswered. Your club would carry that risk.
Also worth knowing:
If a payment is still reserved when a player cancels, there's no Stripe fee for your club. Fees apply only once charged.