For an overview of how payments for Stitch events and activities work, along with the rules and guidelines for both organizers and attendees, please refer to the help articles in the collection "Payments for Stitch Events & Activities".
The ability to accept attendance fees via the Stitch platform was created to solve many of the challenges facing organizers of ticketed events, while at the same time protecting both organizers and attendees through the use of credit card payments and well-defined refund policies.
We recognize, however, that for some organizers, taking payments via the Stitch platform isn't always going to be the preferred option, particularly for attendees you already know and trust.
That's why we've designed the payment platform to allow organizers to choose not to use the Stitch payment platform for some attendees if they wish.
Typical examples of when an organizer may want to choose not to require payment via the Stitch platform for a particular attendee could include:
You organize a monthly trivia night with a cover charge of $10 per person. One of the regular attendees, who has been coming every month for two years, insists on paying you in cash. You're happy for them to attend as you know they are reliable and will pay you on the night.
You are organizing a fine dining event at a local restaurant. You have developed close friendships with 2 other Stitch members, and you regularly pay each other for expenses using either a bank transfer or a payment platform such as Venmo or BeemIt. You would like your 2 friends to attend and pay you directly, but require any other attendees to pay using the Stitch platform.
It's totally up to you if you want to accept payments from attendees outside the Stitch platform, and which payment methods you are willing to accept. You can take payments via check, bank transfer, or cash; the choice is yours.
Just be aware that if you take payments outside the Stitch platform, Stitch won't be able to track which attendees have paid you, or mediate disputes relating to refunds, payments, or other similar issues.
To add an attendee to your event who is paying you directly, rather than via the Stitch platform:
Send your payment instructions to the attendee via direct messaging
Confirm the attendee has paid
Manually add the attendee to your activity, by selecting the Add new button on the Attendees tab of your activity, as shown below:
