Adminished

Let people reserve a place with a card

An interest list is great for testing demand before you commit — but a list of names doesn't tell you who will actually pay. With a commit amount set, people can do more than leave their name: they can save a card to reserve their place. No money moves yet. You only charge them if the class or event goes ahead — and you decide when that is.

Why use it

  • Separate the "yes I'm keen" crowd from the "yes and here's my card" crowd before you book a venue or pay a deposit.
  • Lock in the income for a new class while you're still gauging whether it has legs.
  • Give a waitlist real weight — a saved card is a much stronger signal than an email address.

Before you start

Reserving with a card needs your club connected for online payments under Settings → Payments. Until that's done, the option is switched off and your interest list works exactly as a names-only list.

Setting a commit amount

  1. Create or edit an interest list.
  2. In Ask people to commit a payment, enter the amount each person agrees to — for example the deposit, or the full price.
  3. Save. The public page now offers "Reserve my place — save a card" alongside the plain "register interest" option.

Leave the amount blank for an ordinary names-only interest list.

What the person sees

They can still just register their interest with no card. If they choose to reserve, they go through a secure card checkout that saves their card — it does not charge it. They're told clearly that they'll only be charged the amount shown if it goes ahead, and that you'll email them first. The amount they agreed to is locked in at that moment, so editing the list later never changes what someone already committed to.

Charging when it goes ahead

  1. Open the interest list. Everyone who saved a card appears under Committed reservations, with their card and the amount, and a running total.
  2. Once you've decided it's happening, click Charge committed reservations.
  3. Each saved card is charged the amount that person agreed to. Anything that's charged shows as paid; a card that declines is flagged so you can retry or follow up — nobody is charged twice.

Charging is always a deliberate action you take — it never happens automatically. If a class never runs, you simply never charge, and no one is out of pocket.

Turning interest into the real thing

Reserving with a card sits alongside the usual promote-to-class or promote-to-event flow. Use the commitments to decide with confidence, then build the class or event and charge the people who reserved.

Plan: Interest lists are available on Essential and Pro plans. Saved-card reservations use your connected Stripe account; a 1% platform fee applies on top of Stripe's own processing fee when you charge.

Related articles

  • Interest lists

    How to publish a public interest list at adminished.com/interest/your-list for waitlists or new-class demand testing — parents sign up without logging in.

  • Require payment in advance

    Turn on "Require payment in advance" so an event place is only confirmed once it is paid for by card — no more holding seats for people who never pay.

  • Taking payments

    Generate monthly charges, record cash or bank-transfer payments, and see who still owes money at a glance.

  • Connecting Stripe

    Step-by-step walkthrough of Stripe Connect onboarding: what you need before you start, the verification flow, fees, payout schedule, and the common gotchas.

Was this helpful?

Need more help? Email [email protected] — we reply within one working day.