How to Use Parent Payment Methods for Children

A child’s checkout can offer saved cards owned by an eligible family guardian. Select the child as the customer or attendee, then review the card owner before paying.

Before You Begin

• Sign in to your account at https://app.joinzipper.com/auth/login.
• For staff setup, you need access to Contacts > Customers. Viewing customer cards also requires access to customer financial information.
• Both parent and child need customer accounts in the same organization, with the parent linked as a family Guardian.
• The parent needs a saved payment method for that studio’s Stripe account. Availability also depends on the family’s payment-sharing setup.

Steps

Step 1: Verify or Create the Guardian Relationship

1. Go to Contacts > Customers, search for and open the child’s customer profile.
2. Open Billing & Payments. Choose View more in customer details if the Family card is hidden.
3. In Family, click Manage family and review the members and roles.
4. If the parent needs to be added, click Add member, choose Add existing customer, and select the parent’s account.
5. Choose Guardian as the Role. You can optionally enter a relationship label such as parent.
6. Click Add member.

The form uses family roles and an optional relationship label. It does not ask you to enable a separate payment permission on each parent-child relationship.

Step 2: Use a Parent Payment Method at Checkout

When booking or purchasing on behalf of a child:

1. Select the child as the customer or registrant and proceed to the payment step.
2. Open the saved payment method selector. Eligible shared cards are grouped under their owner’s name.
3. Select the parent’s card and review the attendee, card owner, and total.
4. Complete the purchase when those details are correct.

The shared card keeps the parent’s ownership. Choosing the child as attendee does not move the parent’s card onto the child’s Stripe account.

Step 3: Use a Parent Payment Method at Point-of-Sale

1. Search for and select the child as the customer, add items, then proceed to checkout.
2. Choose an eligible parent card from the saved payment methods.
3. Review the customer, card owner, and total before completing the transaction.

Cancellation Fees

Cancellation fees use their own booking and payment flow. Automatic fees can use a payment source captured when the booking was made; manual fee charges have their own payment selector. Review the fee and payer shown in that flow before confirming. Adding a guardian does not make every cancellation fee use that guardian’s card automatically.

How Parent Payment Methods Work

For a family with payment sharing enabled, eligible guardian cards can be offered for another member. Zipper checks the relationship and card owner’s customer record in the current organization and Stripe account. Dependents’ cards are not shared to other family members through the guardian-card list.

A Guest relationship follows a separate rule: a host can sponsor an active guest while acting through the host account. A guest signing in on their own cannot use the host’s saved cards just because they are linked.

Troubleshooting

Parent payment methods not appearing at checkout? Check the parent’s family role, the family’s payment-sharing setup, and that the parent has a saved card for this studio. Use the correct organization and account context. If the card is still absent, ask the studio to review the relationship and payment setup.

Payment failed on a parent’s card? The card may be expired or declined — ask the parent to update their payment method or try a different one.

Parent wasn’t notified of a charge? Check the payment record and the contact details used for that purchase. A family relationship alone does not guarantee that both parent and child receive every receipt.

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Need a hand?

Email our team at support@joinzipper.com and we'll usually reply within a few hours.

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