Do I really need deposits for no-shows?

At a pitch the hour is a consumed product: 9 pm was blocked, it was not offered to anyone else, and if the team doesn't turn up that hour can never be sold. A deposit stops cancelling from being free; even a quarter of the slot price is usually enough.

Isn't a cash deposit good enough?

A cash deposit means the team has to come to the venue. Most never do, the venue says "pay on the night", and the deposit quietly disappears. Sent as a link or QR code, the captain pays from their phone in thirty seconds.

Can the same match be charged a deposit twice?

It shouldn't be. On a busy evening two staff members can charge the same team twice, and refunding costs both time and standing. By the same logic a deposit must never exceed the match total.

What happens at check-out if a deposit was paid?

The check-out should subtract the deposit by itself and add whatever went on the tab at the canteen. Every place where staff do mental arithmetic is a mistake waiting to happen at 11 pm.

Does the money come straight to us?

In a properly built setup, yes: the venue connects its own merchant account and the money lands there. In pooled models, someone else is holding the weekend's takings on Monday.

The customer paid but the match didn't close — why?

The most common cause is a test-mode mismatch: if the merchant account is in test mode at the provider while the app is set to live (or the other way round), the payment is not treated as real and never reaches the till. A well-built system says so plainly on screen.

Should canteen sales be payable by card too?

Yes. Water, cola and shirts are small amounts, but they add up over an evening and they are what really fills the cash box. A receipt must also stay out of the till until payment lands, or a sale with no money behind it looks collected.

Does collection stop if the internet drops?

Card collection needs a connection — that is unavoidable. But opening bookings, closing matches and taking cash must keep working offline. If a weak signal by the pitch stops the whole evening, the setup is wrong.

For 5-a-side pitches, padel, tennis and basketball venues

Online payments at a five-a-side venue: deposits, match bills and the canteen

Money moves through a pitch business at three separate moments: the deposit taken when the slot is booked, the bill settled when the match ends, and the water, soft drinks and shirts sold at the canteen. In most venues all three are cash, and all three cause a different problem. This page explains how card collection is set up at a pitch business, why the deposit is the critical one, and what to check before you choose a system.

The question is not "do you take cards". The question is who pays for the hour that stayed empty.

The real loss: the team that never shows up

If a customer skips a car wash, the car simply isn't washed and nobody is out of pocket. At a pitch the slot is consumed: 9 pm was blocked, it was not offered to anyone else, the team doesn't turn up and that hour can never be sold again. The product doesn't sit in stock; it disappears with the evening.

That is why the first payment question at a pitch is not "can they pay by card" but "is there any money behind this booking".

Bookings made by word. A WhatsApp "put me down for 9" is not a commitment; cancelling costs nothing.
Double booking. The same team reserves at two venues and later picks the cheaper or closer one. The other slot stays empty.
Last-minute cancellation. A "we can't make it" at 8.40 pm leaves no chance of filling that hour.
The weather excuse. It comes up even at indoor venues, and with no record to point at the argument turns personal.

A deposit softens all four at once. Even a small amount — a quarter of the slot price — ends the "we lose nothing by not going" position.

Why taking the deposit in cash doesn't work

Deposits are not a new idea; most venues already ask for one. The problem is how it is collected: the team has to come by the venue to leave it. Mid-week, through traffic, two days early. Most teams never come, the venue says "fine, pay on the night", and the deposit quietly disappears.

This is where online collection genuinely helps a pitch business: once the deposit is a link or a QR code, the captain pays from their phone in thirty seconds. No trip, no change, no "we'll sort it tomorrow".

Three moments, three different rules

1. The deposit — while you take the booking

As the match is saved you enter the amount and pick a payment method. Choose Online and the QR code is created instantly; if the captain isn't at the venue, the link goes out over WhatsApp. Two rules matter here:

A deposit is taken once. It must be impossible to charge a second deposit on the same match; otherwise on a busy Saturday two staff members charge the same team twice.
A deposit can never exceed the total. If 5000 is typed where 500 was meant, the system has to stop it. Refunding an overcharge costs both time and standing.

2. The match bill — at check-out

When the match ends the remainder is due. In a properly built setup the check-out subtracts the deposit by itself and adds whatever was put on the tab at the canteen. Every place where staff have to do mental arithmetic is a mistake waiting to happen at 11 pm.

3. The canteen — the receipt

Water, cola, a shirt, a toastie. Small amounts, but they add up over an evening and they are what really fills the cash box. The canteen receipt has to be payable by card too; otherwise you end up with a half-system — "pitch by card, canteen in cash" — and the end-of-day has to be assembled from two sources.

What really matters: who "saw" the payment

All three moments face the same test: when the money lands, does the record learn about it by itself, or does somebody have to mark it? Marking by hand goes wrong in both directions:

A match closed without payment. Staff assume "it must have come in". It didn't, and the slot is gone too.
A paid bill left open. The money arrived but the record never closed; the end-of-day doesn't add up and the captain gets chased a second time — and is rightly annoyed.

In a well-built setup the check-out button is never drawn before the money arrives, and once it does nobody has to press anything. The same holds for the canteen receipt: it must not enter the till before payment lands — otherwise you create a category of sale that looks collected while the money is still missing.

Seven questions to ask

1. Whose account does the money land in?

This is the most important one. Does the money go straight into the venue's own merchant account, or is it pooled somewhere and forwarded later? In the second case someone else holds your balance and the payout calendar is not yours. Know in advance who is holding the weekend's takings on Monday.

2. How many fees are there?

The payment provider's processing fee always exists and is normal. What matters is whether the software charges a second fee on top. At a venue working on a thin margin per hour, a second fee comes straight out of profit.

3. Is the payment tied to the match record?

Which pitch, which hour, which team does this money belong to? Without that link all you have is a bank movement, and at the end of the month nobody can answer "whose deposit was this 500".

4. Does it sit on its own line in the till?

If online takings and your own terminal's card takings fall into one bucket, the end-of-day cannot separate them — and the two reach your bank on different schedules anyway. A separate line is what makes reconciliation possible.

5. What happens when payment doesn't arrive?

The captain may open the link and change their mind; a card may be declined. The screen must not stay silent — staff need to see why. And an unpaid canteen receipt must not pollute the till or the stock count.

6. Is there a test mode, and is it obvious when it's on?

Most providers have a test mode where a payment looks successful but no money arrives. Forgetting to switch to live is the most expensive silent mistake there is; a good system says so plainly on screen.

7. What happens with no internet?

Card collection needs a connection — that is unavoidable. But opening bookings, closing matches and taking cash have to keep working offline. If a weak signal by the pitch stops the whole evening, the setup is wrong.

Which method fits which moment

Captain on the phone, booking a slot → a link. It goes out over WhatsApp, and the hour is truly blocked once the deposit lands.
Team at the venue, match finished → QR code. Fastest by far: the captain lifts their phone, scans, the bill closes.
Canteen counter, evening rush → QR code. No hunting for change, the queue keeps moving.
Fixed weekly match, same team → a monthly account or subscription. One conversation instead of one every week.
Small amount, regular team → cash is still practical. Card collection isn't there to end cash; it is there to cover what cash can't.

Tournaments and group bookings

Tournaments, corporate matches and school groups are a different kind of collection from a single match:

The payer is not the player. A company's HR pays; ten other people show up at the pitch. The link goes by e-mail and the payer never visits the venue.
The amount is large. Nobody carries the fee for an eight-team tournament in their pocket; cash is not practical at that scale.
A deposit is required. The bigger the event, the bigger the cancellation risk; here a deposit is not a preference but a condition.
The record must stay in one place. Deposit plus balance are two collections, and both have to be visibly tied to the same event.

For the booking side — pitches, slots and fixed weekly matches — see the five-a-side pitch software page.

Providers inside and outside Turkey

There is a practical split: businesses based in Turkey normally use a local merchant account such as PayTR; Stripe does not open business accounts for Turkish companies. For venues outside Turkey it is the other way round. Whichever your software supports, you connect your own account in your own country — the keys stay yours, encrypted on the server, and never inside the app.

A small test before you go live

Before you put a real team through it, collect a token amount (a pound or two) with your own card and check four things:

Did the money actually reach your account (not in test mode).
Did the deposit appear on the match, and was it subtracted automatically at check-out.
Did the canteen receipt enter the till before payment landed — it shouldn't have.
Does the amount sit on its own line in the end-of-day till.

If all four hold, the setup works. If one doesn't, the problem will surface on a busy Saturday evening with three pitches full at once — better that it surfaces today.