Who can do this: Owners and Managers. Staff can see what's owed but can't record a payment.
Two different money numbers#
PBHQ keeps these separate on purpose:
- What checkout quoted and charged. The historical record of what the customer was told — what's in their confirmation email, and what reconciles against Stripe or Square. Never edited after the fact.
- "Amount Collected" — money that actually changed hands, including anything you took by phone or at the desk. This is the one you update.
"Amount Due" = total, minus what you've collected.
Recording a payment#
On the booking edit screen:
- Open the booking.
- In the "Payments" card, set "Amount Collected" to the total you've now taken.
- "Save Changes".
While confirming a pending booking:
Change "Status" to Confirmed and the "Notify the customer?" modal appears with "How much did you collect?", prefilled with the full amount due — "Prefilled with the full amount due. Set it to 0 if you haven't taken payment yet." Fill it in there and it's recorded when you save.
Record the running total, not the increment. If they paid a $50 deposit online and just handed
you $120, put 170 — not 120.
You can record more than the booking price, because pay-on-site customers pay sales tax at the counter too. PBHQ allows up to the total plus tax.
Bookings that never paid#
When a customer starts checkout and closes the tab, the booking is stuck in "Pending" — and it still holds their gear. Nothing expires on its own.
What PBHQ does automatically#
Emails the customer about ten minutes later, subject "Action needed: payment not received" — telling them to call you, and including their waiver links so they can still sign while you sort the money out.
Flags it for you on the dashboard home: "{N} bookings awaiting payment" — "Checkout never completed. Call the customer to take payment, or cancel to release the gear."
That card looks back 30 days and ignores whatever date range you've selected, so nothing quietly falls off the list.
What you do#
- Click "Review them →", or filter the bookings list by "Any Payment" → "Awaiting Payment".
- Open each one and decide:
| Situation | Do this |
|---|---|
| You reach them and take payment | Record it in "Amount Collected", set "Status" to Confirmed, send the notifications |
| You reach them and they're coming, paying on arrival | Set "Status" to Confirmed, leave "Amount Collected" at 0 |
| You can't reach them, or they've gone quiet | Set "Status" to Cancelled — this frees the gear for someone else |
Recording a payment takes the booking off the awaiting-payment list immediately, and stops PBHQ chasing the customer about it.
"Awaiting Payment" vs. "Pending"#
Not the same thing, and the difference matters:
- Pending also includes pay-on-site bookings, which are Pending on purpose and owe you nothing until the customer arrives.
- Awaiting Payment means checkout never completed and nobody has recorded a payment.
Filter on "Awaiting Payment", not status, when you're chasing money.
Pay-on-site bookings#
When staff take a booking over the phone and choose "Pay on Site", the customer is reserved and pays at your counter.
- No card is processed, so no fees are charged.
- Sales tax is still quoted — on the full amount, since the whole booking settles at once.
- The booking sits in "Pending" until you take the money.
- The customer gets a "Booking Reserved" email showing "Amount Due: $X (pay when you arrive)".
When they arrive and pay, record it in "Amount Collected" and set the status to Confirmed.
Balances due on game day#
Party bookings, and walk-ons on tiers with a gear deposit, arrive owing a balance. The booking edit screen shows it as "Amount Due", and the customer has seen it on their confirmation and in both reminder emails.
Take it at the counter, then update "Amount Collected" to the new running total. Remember to add sales tax if you collect it.
Refunds#
PBHQ never refunds a card. Cancel the booking in PBHQ, refund through your Stripe or Square
dashboard, then set "Amount Collected" back to 0.
See Getting paid.