> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.riservahq.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Payment policies and money states Two separate things decide what happens with a reservation's money: * The **payment policy** on the experience — *when* the guest is meant to pay. * The **payment state** on each reservation — where that particular reservation actually stands. *** ## Payment policies The payment policy sets when a guest pays for a priced experience. Set it in the experience editor's **Pricing** card. Choosing **Yes** reveals **"When is it charged?"** right beneath the price. Free-to-book experiences have nothing to collect, so the question doesn't appear. "Free" is the **No — free to book** answer, not an option in this list, so the two can't contradict each other. | Option | What it means | Best for | | - | - | - | | **At booking — paid at checkout** | The guest pays in full at checkout | Anything priced — the recommended default | | **Before the visit — charged automatically** | The card is saved at checkout and charged the number of hours before the visit you set | A card on file without holding the guest's money for weeks | | **At check-in — charged automatically** | The card is saved at checkout and charged when you check the party in | A card on file without holding the guest's money for weeks | | **At the visit — charged when closing out, or settled at the register** | The card is saved at checkout. Nothing is charged at check-in. When you close the visit out, the card is charged — unless the fee was added to the party's register sale first, or waived | A tasting room where the fee usually ends up on the same bill as the bottles | The three "charged automatically" / "charged when closing out" options appear only where charge-later payments are switched on for your shop. **Our recommendation.** Use **At booking** for anything priced. Use **No — free to book** for restaurant-style reservations where guests pay for what they order. The charged-later options are for when you want a card on file but don't want to hold the guest's money for weeks. With **At the visit**, the card is the safety net and the register is the normal way to settle. *** ## Charging later: what to know before you choose it The charge-later options save the guest's card at checkout, and Riserva takes the money at the moment you chose. They change a few things about how guests book and pay, so read this before switching an experience over. **Charge-later applies when you save.** Change the policy in the Pricing card and press **Save**. Riserva sets the pay-later option up on your Shopify product right then. You don't have to un-publish and re-publish. Switching back to **At booking** removes it again, just as quickly. **Charge-later works for online reservations only.** Cards can only be saved through your storefront's own checkout. Reservations your team takes by phone, in the admin or at the register can't save a card. On a priced experience they sit as **Payment due**. You collect with a payment link, at the register, or by marking them paid on-site. **Guests get fewer ways to pay.** Shopify narrows the payment methods on a cart that saves a card. **Shop Pay, Apple Pay and local payment methods don't appear**, so the guest pays by card. That is Shopify's rule for every saved-card checkout, not Riserva's. It applies to the whole cart, so weigh it against how your guests actually check out. **The guest is told twice when the card will be charged.** The booking window spells it out. The charge date also rides the cart as the option's name. It reads "Billed 48 hours before your visit", "Billed when you check in", or "Billed at the end of your visit". The wording follows the hours you set. Change the lead time and the next guest sees the new sentence. **Add-ons are charged on the same date as the reservation.** Every add-on on the experience joins the same pay-later option. So one checkout has one charge date. A cheese plate is never charged today for a visit you're collecting for next month. See [What guests see](/guest-experience/what-guests-see). **A charge can fail.** A saved card is not a hold. It can expire, be revoked or be declined when the time comes. When that happens the reservation turns into **Payment due**, with the reason on the Payment card. You collect it the usual three ways. **Collection runs hourly, so Riserva promises an hour, not a minute.** Riserva checks for due balances once an hour. A charge due at 2:00 lands somewhere in the following hour, and every screen says it that way. **Reservations made inside the charge window have their own setting.** Under the charge lead, open **Advanced**. Its choice is titled "Bookings made inside the 48-hour window", with your own lead in place of 48. It decides what happens when a guest books *less than* that many hours before the visit. * **Charge at checkout** (default) — nothing is "later" about a visit already inside the window. The guest simply pays now, with every payment method your checkout offers, and the reservation is confirmed on the spot. * **Charge on the usual schedule** — the guest's card is saved at checkout and charged at the next collection, like every other reservation. Pick this if you want one billing flow for everything. Either way, the booking window's fine print tells the guest which one applies. Every screen names the hour the charge starts, not a minute: *"Charges \$150.00 from Sun, Sep 20, 2026, 2:00 PM · collected within the hour"*. Once that moment has passed, the line reads *"at the next collection run — queued"*. It never shows you a time in the past. Each line ends with the saved card, such as *"Visa •••• 4242 (exp 04/28)"*. A saved-card order shows as **Payment pending** in Shopify and says nothing about the card. So Riserva adds two notes to the order. * **Riserva billing** — *"Saved card is charged from Sun, Sep 20, 2026 at 9:00 AM EDT (within the hour)"*, *"Saved card is charged when the party checks in"*, or, under **At the visit**, *"Saved card is charged when the visit is closed out (or it is settled at the register)"*. * **Riserva reservation** — a link straight to the reservation in Riserva. Anything else already on the order is left alone. If the guest reschedules, the billing note is rewritten to the new date. The order never shows a promise that has moved. Saved-card orders close when the party arrives. A reservation is "delivered" on the day of the visit rather than shipped. Without Riserva, Shopify would hold the order's lines with an *"Unknown delivery date"* label for ever. Riserva lifts that hold as soon as the order is created, so the order reads **Unfulfilled**, like any ordinary order. It marks the order **Fulfilled** when you check the party in, from the admin or the register alike. Under **At the visit**, the order is not fulfilled while the fee is still waiting on the card. The guest is not emailed about fulfilment; their reservation emails are the record. Reservations that were paid at checkout are untouched by all of this. Check-in is the latest the card is charged, except under **At the visit**, where the charge waits for close-out on purpose. For every other charge-later policy, a checked-in party is being served. So a balance still waiting for its scheduled date is collected at check-in, from the admin or the register alike. That covers the guest who booked tomorrow by mistake and turned up today. Seat them if you can, check them in, and the charge follows. Check-in does not move their reservation to today. If the seat matters, move it from the reservation's edit page first. If you want the money before the visit for any other reason, the reservation page's **Charge now** button collects the balance on the spot. Most wineries never need to change it. The **Advanced** section opens by itself whenever you've set it to anything other than the default. That way a choice that changes billing never goes quiet on you. *** ## At the visit: the register settles it, the card is the safety net **At the visit** is for when the entry fee normally ends up on the same bill as the wine. Its full name is **At the visit — charged when closing out, or settled at the register**. Here is the whole life of such a reservation: 1. **At checkout**, the guest's card is saved and nothing is charged. The widget says so: *"Nothing is charged today. Your card is saved and charged \$X at the end of your visit. The entry fee can be settled at the counter instead."* The confirmation email repeats it. The reservation's Payment card reads **Card on file**. 2. **At check-in**, nothing happens to the money. Seat the party. 3. **At the register**, the party buys something with the guest on the sale. The **Bill credits** tile lights up with the party's open entry fee under **Entry fees today**. It offers two choices. * **Add \$X fee to sale** — the fee becomes a line on the register sale. When the sale completes, the reservation reads **Paid**, and the saved card is never charged. * **Waive fee** — the fee is forgiven and recorded on the reservation's timeline. The card is never charged. 4. **At close-out**, a fee still on the card is scheduled to be charged **15 minutes later**, by the hourly collection. Close-out is the host's **Complete** button, POS's Complete, or the visit ending by itself. The Payment card reads **Charge scheduled** with the time. The register can still settle or waive the fee during those minutes. **Charge now** on the reservation page takes it sooner when you know the till did not. **At the visit never charges twice.** The 15-minute wait covers the delay between a register sale and Riserva hearing about it from Shopify. **At the visit has no bill credit.** "Credit the fee toward the guest's bill" does not appear under this option. The fee meets the bill at the register itself, and the waive rule below is how "fee waived with a purchase" works. **A waive rule can suggest waiving the fee.** In **Settings → Policies → Entry fees at the register**, set an amount. When the rest of the register sale is over it, the Bill credits tile puts **Waive fee** first. An experience can set its own amount under the same Pricing option (**Waive the fee when the rest of the sale is over**). Staff still choose on every sale; the rule only picks the default. The timeline says whether a waive followed the rule. **The reservation page can waive the fee too.** While the fee is on the card, the Payment card's charge notice offers **Charge now** and **Waive fee**. **At the visit does not put the party's wine on the reservation's order.** The register sale is its own Shopify order. The reservation's order holds the entry fee and nothing else. A register sale reaches Riserva from Shopify a little after the tender. A fee settled at the register or waived during the 15-minute wait is taken off the card before the collection runs. The timeline reads "Saved card will not be charged". The Shopify order the checkout created is then cancelled — straight away, or by the next hourly collection. A register sale for the fee can arrive *after* the card was charged, say half an hour after close-out. Then the timeline says so with the amount: "Register sale … paid \$X AFTER the saved card was charged — refund one of them". Refund one of the two in Shopify. Add-ons ride the saved card too. A cheese plate or bottle added online is charged with the fee at close-out. If the register settles the fee, or you waive it, Riserva takes just the fee line off the guest's checkout order. At close-out the card is charged for the add-ons alone. The order's **Riserva billing** note says so. If Shopify ever refuses to take the fee line off, the card is not charged. The reservation shows Payment due for the add-ons. The register doesn't offer them as a fee, so collect them with a payment link or **Mark paid on-site**. Riserva then closes the guest's checkout order, so nothing can be collected on it twice. If Riserva later manages to take the fee line off, the add-ons go back to the saved card automatically. A fee discounted at checkout (a member or automatic discount) is owed at the discounted amount. The register cannot ring that as whole tasting units. So the Bill credits tile shows it as "Collected on the saved card", with **Waive fee** as the only button. The card collects it at close-out. Attaching the pay-later option to a product doesn't put anything on your storefront. Themes don't display purchase options on their own. Two things can surface it anyway. * another app that shows purchase options, such as a subscriptions or pre-order app with its own widget; * adding those products to the **Shop** sales channel, which renders purchase options itself. If a "Billed before your visit" choice appears somewhere you didn't put it, that's where it's coming from. Tell us and we'll help you sort it out. **What we've actually seen:** a theme with a built-in plan picker showed a lone **"One-time Purchase"** radio under the price on a reservation product. The picker appears whenever a product has any purchase option. It didn't recognise ours, so it listed nothing else. It's harmless (the booking button ignores it) but confusing. The no-code fix: theme editor → the **Product information** section → **Custom CSS** → paste `product-subscriptions { display: none; }`. Adjust the selector to whatever element the picker renders; inspect the page to find it. If the section has no Custom CSS field, the same rule goes in the theme's `base.css`. Riserva labels its purchase options as its own. A subscription widget that checks can tell them apart from its own. *** ## Payment states you'll see on a reservation A reservation's payment state says where its money stands right now. The two you'll live with are **Paid** and **Payment due**. | State | What it means | | - | - | | **Paid** | Money was collected — at checkout, by a payment link, or marked paid on-site | | **Payment due** | Money is owed and hasn't been collected | | **Partially paid** | Some money was collected and more is still owed — typically guests added after payment. It's the Payment due state, worded for a party that has already paid something | | **Not required** | Genuinely free — nothing to collect | | **Awaiting payment** | A payment link has been created and not yet paid in full — or an order arrived whose payment hasn't been captured yet (a bank transfer or other manual method) | | **Refunded** / **Partially refunded** | Shown on the Payment card once all, or some, of what was paid has gone back to the guest | Charge-later experiences add four more: | State | What it means | | - | - | | **Charge scheduled** | The card is saved and the balance is collected on a date — the reservation is confirmed, there's nothing for you or the guest to do | | **Card on file** | The card is saved and collected when you check the party in — or, under **At the visit**, when you close the visit out unless the register settled it first | | **Charging** | Shopify has taken the charge and hasn't finished it yet. Not a payment. Don't collect again while it says this | | **Charge failed** | The saved card didn't work. This is a **Payment due** state with the reason attached, and all three ways of collecting still work | *** ## "Payment due" — the state that matters most **Payment due** means money is owed and you need to collect it. Every reservation your team takes by phone or for a walk-in on a **priced** experience starts there. Riserva doesn't pretend a phone reservation was paid, and it doesn't ask you to take a card over the phone. You have three ways to resolve Payment due, all on the reservation's Payment card: 1. **Create a payment link.** Riserva mints a Shopify invoice for the right amount. You can **Copy payment link** and text it, **Open** it, or **Email invoice** to the guest if you have their address. When they pay, the order attaches to the reservation and the state flips to **Paid**. 2. **Mark paid on-site.** Use this when they paid at the counter, on your POS, or in cash. The reservation records that it's settled. 3. **Waive payment.** Use this for a comp, goodwill or a mistake. The **whole** outstanding balance is forgiven; there is no partial waive. To charge a reduced amount, collect through the register (discounts settle at what you actually charged), or shrink the party before collecting. Any open payment link is voided automatically before a mark-paid or a waive. A guest can't pay an invoice for a reservation you already settled. **You can collect money after the visit too.** A completed or no-showed reservation can still take a payment link. That's how post-service collection and no-show follow-ups work. *** ## Balances from adding guests When a paid party grows, the added guests create a balance at the experience's list price. The reservation reads **Partially paid** (the Payment due state, since part was already paid). A line reads "\$150 due for guests added after payment". You collect that balance the same three ways. The Payment card offers **Create payment link for the balance**. See [Edit a reservation](/daily-operations/edit-a-reservation). *** ## The Pricing card: charged or free The **Pricing** card decides whether an experience is charged or free. It asks one question: **"Are you charging for entry?"** * **Yes — guests pay a fee to reserve.** Set the price per guest, or one price for the whole venue on a buyout. Optionally, credit that fee toward the guest's bill. * **No — free to book.** Nothing else to set. Guests pay for what they buy during the visit. Choosing "No" clears the price. A free experience never carries a hidden fee that staff tools could accidentally collect. ## The fee toward the bill The fee credit takes the tasting fee off what the guest spends on wine. Under "Yes" in the Pricing card, tick **Credit the fee toward the guest's bill**. This is the classic winery mechanic: the \$50 tasting fee comes off what they spend on wine. Riserva tracks the credit on the reservation ("Fee credit toward bill: \$50.00") and reports on outstanding credits. At the register, staff see the credit on the party's row. A **Credit \$X** badge shows on the POS tile and in the host view. Staff apply it with one tap. **Apply \$X credit to sale** on the POS detail page, or on the Bill credits tile, adds a matching discount to the register cart. The credit is spent when the register sale completes, not at the tap. The timeline records both steps. A cleared cart or an abandoned sale leaves the credit on the reservation. A credit is spent once. The reservation page shows the remaining credit either way. *** ## Where money lives Shopify holds the money; Riserva holds the reservation. Every reservation that took money lists its Shopify order on the Payment card, with a link straight into Shopify admin. An added-guests balance creates a second order, and both are listed. Riserva never becomes a second ledger. *** **What things mean on this screen:** [What things mean: Experiences](/reference/experiences) ## Related * [Cancellations and refunds](/daily-operations/cancellations-and-refunds) * [A reservation's page](/daily-operations/reservation-page) This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.