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Finances Overview

Understand how Event Caddy handles payment options, online payments, transactions, fees, refunds, and tournament financial reporting.

Event Caddy's Finance tools help you decide how purchasers can pay, connect online payment processors, manage individual orders, understand transaction fees, issue refunds, and review the overall financial picture of your tournament.

The most important distinction is between Transaction History, which tracks individual purchaser orders, and Event Finances, which summarizes tournament revenue and expenses.

How Payments Work in Event Caddy

A typical payment moves through several related parts of Event Caddy:

  1. The organizer decides which Payment Options purchasers can use.
  2. Stripe and/or PayPal are connected when online payments will be accepted.
  3. A purchaser completes a registration, Store purchase, sponsorship purchase, or donation through the Tournament Website.
  4. The order appears in Transaction History.
  5. Revenue from the order contributes to the appropriate section of Event Finances.
  6. Any applicable Event Caddy, organizer, or payment-processing fees are recorded according to their own rules.

Each part has a separate purpose.

Payment Options and Payment Gateways

A Payment Option is what the purchaser chooses at checkout.

Examples include:

  • Pay by Credit Card
  • Pay by PayPal
  • Pay by Cash
  • Pay by Check

A Payment Gateway is the connected processor used for an online payment.

Event Caddy currently uses:

  • Stripe for Pay by Credit Card
  • PayPal for Pay by PayPal

Stripe and PayPal can both be connected to the same tournament.

FREE tournaments can accept online payments through Stripe and/or PayPal. PRO and ELITE tournaments can also offer Cash and Check, including renamed manual methods such as e-Transfer or ACH.

For setup instructions, see Choosing and Configuring Payment Options and Connecting Stripe and PayPal.

Transaction History

Transaction History is the individual order record for normal Tournament Website purchases.

Use it when you need to:

  • find a particular purchaser or order;
  • review Paid or Unpaid status;
  • view, download, or send an invoice or receipt;
  • mark a manual payment Paid;
  • add transaction notes;
  • export transactions or line items; or
  • void or restore an order.

Registration Package purchases, Online Store purchases, Sponsorship Products, and dedicated Donate transactions can appear here.

Auction payments do not appear in Transaction History.

For complete instructions, see Managing Transaction History and Receipts.

Event Finances

Event Finances provides the broader financial summary of the tournament.

It organizes revenue into areas such as:

  • Registration Packages
  • Sponsors
  • Donations
  • Online Store
  • Auctions
  • Other Revenue

It also tracks expenses, including manually entered Other Expenses and estimated Stripe processing fees.

Event Finances and Transaction History are not the same report.

Tool Use it when you need to
Transaction History Review or manage an individual purchaser order
Event Finances Review overall tournament revenue, expenses, and financial totals

You can also manually add revenue or expenses that occurred outside Event Caddy.

For details, see Managing Event Finances.

Fees & Rates

Several different fees may be associated with a transaction, and they do not all go to Event Caddy.

Depending on the transaction, you may encounter:

  • the Event Caddy Convenience Fee charged per eligible registered player;
  • an optional Custom Fee configured by the organizer;
  • a Stripe or PayPal payment-processing fee; and
  • Auction-specific fees.

These fees have different owners, calculations, and reporting behavior.

For the complete fee model, see Understanding Fees & Rates in Event Caddy.

Refunds and Voids

A payment refund and an Event Caddy void are separate actions.

For normal Stripe or PayPal transactions:

  • the money is refunded through Stripe or PayPal; and
  • the Event Caddy transaction is voided separately when the underlying order should be reversed.

Voiding without refunding does not return money to the purchaser.

Refunding through the Payment Gateway does not automatically undo the Event Caddy order.

For the correct workflow, see Refunding and Voiding Transactions.

Feature-Specific Financial Workflows

Finance owns the shared payment and reporting system, but some Event Caddy features have their own financial workflows.

Player Registration

Player Registration owns Registration Packages, player records, and registration availability.

Finances owns the Payment Options, Payment Gateways, transactions, fees, receipts, and refunds that Registration Packages depend on.

Online Store and Sponsorships

Online Store owns Store Products, Sponsorship Products, checkout configuration, and product-level Consumer Reports.

Their transactions and general payment behavior are managed through Finance.

A Sponsorship Product purchased online is normally counted as Online Store revenue in Event Finances. Sponsor records should only be separately included in the Sponsors finance section when the sponsorship revenue was collected outside the Event Caddy transaction workflow.

Auctions

Auctions have their own winner, payment-status, and reporting workflow.

Auction credit-card payments require Stripe. PayPal is not supported for Auction payments.

Auction payments do not appear in Transaction History. Paid Auction Items appear in the Auctions section of Event Finances.

Text Message Credits

Text Message Credits are owned by Communications even though purchasing credits creates an Event Caddy purchase and receipt.

Frequently Asked Questions

What's the difference between Transaction History and Event Finances?

Transaction History contains individual purchaser orders and the actions associated with those orders.
Event Finances summarizes the tournament's overall revenue, expenses, and financial totals.

Does Event Caddy hold my tournament money until the event is over?

No.
Stripe and PayPal process online payments into the organizer's connected processor account. Payout timing and withdrawals are managed according to the organizer's Stripe or PayPal settings and policies.

Can I use both Stripe and PayPal?

Yes.
Both gateways can be connected to the same tournament and offered during normal Tournament Website checkout.
Some workflows have exceptions. Manage Order supports Stripe for online payment, and Auction credit-card payments require Stripe.

Can I accept payments outside Event Caddy?

PRO and ELITE tournaments can offer Cash and Check, and those options can be renamed for manual methods such as e-Transfer or ACH.
You can also use Other Revenue in Event Finances when revenue was collected outside Event Caddy and no Event Caddy transaction represents it.

Does marking a transaction Paid or Unpaid change Event Finances?

For normal Registration Package, Online Store, and Donate transactions, Paid/Unpaid status does not control whether the underlying revenue contributes to Event Finances.
Voiding the transaction reverses the order.
Auctions are different: only Auction Items marked Paid appear in Event Finances.

Where do I refund a credit-card payment?

Normal Stripe and PayPal refunds are completed through the corresponding Payment Gateway rather than directly from Event Caddy.
After a full refund, void the Event Caddy transaction when the underlying order should also be reversed.

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