Balance Block is a site-wide setting that stops families from checking out new orders on your site while their account owes a balance: the cart shows a message and its Proceed to Checkout button is turned off until the balance is paid. Amounts still to be paid on an active payment plan don't count.
Applies to: Admins, and the families who check out on your site · All plans · Orders placed through your site's cart
Where: Programs > Configurations > General > Checkout > Balance Block (the same setting is on Facility Reservation > Configurations > General)
Turn Balance Block on or off
- Go to Programs > Configurations > General.
- In the Checkout section, set Balance Block ("Block new orders when an Account owes an existing balance") to Yes. Choose No to turn it off.
- If you turn it on, set Enable Pay Balance ("Enable customers to easily pay any balance owed via credit card") to Yes as well, so families can pay what they owe online.
- Click Save.
What you'll see: "Registration Configurations updated." The change applies to your whole site right away. It's one setting, so changing it on Facility Reservation > Configurations > General changes it here too.
How the check works
- When a signed-in family opens the cart, TeamSideline adds up their account's balance.
- It takes off the payment-plan installments that are still to be paid, or whose charge failed, on plans that haven't been canceled. A family that owes only what's on their payment plan can keep registering.
- If anything is left over, checkout is blocked. A balance of zero, or a credit on the account, never blocks.
What the family sees
The cart shows: "Your account owes an existing balance of $40.00 that has not been paid. You need to pay this balance before you can place more orders. For more information, see the Order History page, or Contact your organization's name if you have any questions." The Proceed to Checkout button is turned off, and the "I would like to" options for adding a program enrollment, a roster spot or a membership are hidden.
The amount in the message is the account's whole balance, so it can include payment-plan installments that aren't due yet, even though those aren't what's blocking the cart.
How a family clears the block
- They pay online. With Enable Pay Balance on, the family's Order History page shows their Account Balance and a Pay Balance button. Paying takes them straight to checkout, which Balance Block doesn't stop. See How can I pay my account balance? below.
- You take the payment. To charge their card, open their account and use Place Order > Add Balance Payment. To record cash or a check, open their account and click Add Transaction.
- You correct a balance that's wrong with a credit transaction (Add Transaction). Once the account no longer owes anything outside a payment plan, the cart works again.
The cart checks the balance each time it opens, so the family can register as soon as the balance is cleared.
What Balance Block doesn't stop
- Orders you place for a family from their account with Place Order. Your cart warns you ("This account owes an existing balance of $40.00 that has not been paid.") and offers Add Balance Payment, but you can still check out.
- Paying the balance itself, with Pay Balance or Add Balance Payment.
- Payment-plan installments that are still to be paid on an active plan.
Not the same as a membership's Enrollment Required
A membership's Enrollment Required box ("Enable payment only with a Program Enrollment; not available as a standalone purchase in the Cart") decides whether the membership can be bought on its own. It has nothing to do with balances: Balance Block is the setting that blocks checkout because of money owed.
If it doesn't work
- "Credit Card processing must be enabled for Balance Payments." You set Enable Pay Balance to Yes while Enable Credit Cards? is No. Families can only pay a balance online by card, so turn on credit cards first.
- A blocked family has no Pay Balance button. Enable Pay Balance is No. Turn it on, or take the payment yourself.
- A family on a payment plan is still blocked. They owe something outside the plan, such as another order's balance or a charge, or their plan has been canceled. Check the transactions on their account.
- You want one family to register before they pay. Place the order for them from their account with Place Order.
Good to know
- Balance Block covers your whole site. It can't be turned on for only some programs.
- Balances usually come from Partial Pay, a payment plan, or a charge added to the account.