Researched: The best value membership payment solutions for your club

Researched: The best value membership payment solutions for your club

• May 23rd, 2018
• Jaime Bracewell

• Team Management, Memberships, Payments, Match Fees, Direct Debit, Credit Card, Subscriptions

Here at Sportplan we're often asked if we can recommend other products to help out our users in their daily lives as coaches. Since the end of the winter season in the Northern Hemisphere and as preparations get under way for the new season we've been asked countless times by club coaches and managers for advice in choosing the best solution for accepting membership payments and match fees from club members. So we've done the research for you - here's our guide to the best value solutions out there.

The problem?

In this day and age collecting payments by cash and cheque doesn't really cut it. Payments can get lost, players 'forget' to bring cash for match fees, managers/captains spend all their time chasing payments and the role of club treasurer turns into a second full time job for many. All of this is harmful to the club and distracts from what's important - getting out there and giving it your all on the field.

So what are the solutions?

There are a multitude of apps and systems out there that allow you to collect memberships and match fees from your players with the click of a button by Credit/Debit card or by Direct Debit. Whilst the focus of this article is on club payment systems, it's worth mentioning that they all offer a varying degree of additional features to help you run your club with everything from team selection to fixture management and messaging/comms. Here's a quick run down of functionality for the major membership solution providers:

So what does it cost?

Unfortunately, collecting payments online will always come with some unavoidable costs - all these systems use a payment provider which will often charge a percentage fee on each transaction - and then the system provider will want their own cut too. However, from our experience if you choose the right solution you're likely to save yourself money over the course of a season. Automated payment solutions like these usually result in fewer missed payments and therefore increased revenue for your club - not to mention the life saving reduction in admin for your treasurer! That said, this is harder to achieve with an expensive solution - if you're cost conscious we recommend looking for a solution that provides payments via Direct Debit over Credit/Debit cards as they are usually considerably cheaper. Here's what they charge:

To help with comparison let's take an example club:

• 100 members
• Club turnover: £50,000
• Annual membership/subscription fee: £300
• Match fee: £10
• Fixtures in season: 20

We've also created a fees calculator. Get in touch with teamo and let them know your club size and membership fees to find out exactly how much you can save!

*All pricing correct at time of publishing. Approximate annual cost is based on the example given above

The winner?

From our research there is a clear winner. teamo is a new entrant into the market and have recently only offered credit/debit card payments but come July (just in time for the new N. hem season!) they are launching Direct Debits which will make teamo the cheapest solution by far (ask them if you're unsure). They're also offering a further discount for earlybird customers so we recommend you get in there fast! On top of that they also came out as the most comprehensive system in terms of functionality so we definitely recommend you check it out:
teamo: teamo.chat, teamo pricing packages

Disclaimer: teamo is a product of Sportplan Ltd.