Fee Types are the foundation of Member Splash's billing and accounting system. They categorize your products, trigger important system behaviors, and enable accurate financial reporting. Understanding how to use them correctly is essential for smooth operations.
What Are Fee Types?
Fee Types group your products into logical categories for billing and accounting purposes. Think of them as labels that tell the system how to handle each product, from updating member status to generating financial reports.
Common Fee Types
Most clubs use these standard categories:
Membership Fee - Primary dues that determine paid status
Initiation Fee - One-time joining fees
Equity Fee - Bond or capital improvement fees
Discounts - Reductions applied to other fees
Late Fees - Penalties for overdue payments
House Guest Fee - Seasonal passes for household guests
Guest Fee - Day passes and guest admissions
Balance Due - Outstanding amounts
Account Balance - Current account totals
Special Fee Types with System Functions
Some fee types have built-in functionality that affects how Member Splash operates. Understanding these is critical to avoid configuration issues.
1) Membership Fee
⚠️ IMPORTANT: This is the only fee type that changes a member's payment status from UNPAID to PAID.
When a member pays for any product assigned to Membership Fee, the system automatically marks them as PAID
Even if you rename it (e.g., "Annual Dues" or "Family Fee"), it retains its unique system identifier slug (
membership-fee)No other fee type will trigger this status change—not even one named "Annual Dues"
💡Common Configuration Error: Clubs sometimes create a custom "Annual Dues" fee type instead of using the system's Membership Fee. This prevents the system from recognizing payments and updating member status.
2) House Guest Fee
Ideal for nanny passes, grandparent passes, and other temporary seasonal additions
Automatically adds the name added during purchase and removes anyone assigned this fee type at the end of each season
As of July 2022, you can assign multiple products to this fee type (e.g., both a $75 Nanny Pass and a $125 Grandparent Pass)
Even if you rename it (e.g., "Grandparent Pass" or "Nanny Fee"), it retains its unique system identifier slug (house-guest-fee)
3) Guest Fee
Automatically adds guest pass credits to member accounts for day use or limited visits.
Even if you rename it (e.g., "Guest Passes"), it retains its unique system identifier slug (guest-fee)
Configuration Requirements
Every product must have a Fee Type assigned. If a product isn't billing correctly, the first thing to check is whether you've selected a Fee Type for it. This is the most common cause of billing issues.
Fee Types and Accounting
Your treasurer will appreciate properly configured Fee Types—they're essential for accurate financial reporting.
Fee Types categorize revenue and enable you to:
Track where money is coming from
Generate accurate financial reports
Analyze your revenue composition
See the impact of discounts on your bottom line
Example: Assigning all discount products to the Discounts fee type lets you quickly see how much revenue is being reduced by promotional offers, early bird discounts, or member benefits.
Without proper fee type categorization, your financial reports won't reflect the true picture of your club's revenue streams.