Pay as a Guest Feature

Pay as a Guest provides a one-time online payment experience for customers who do not need to sign in to an Elecate account. The guest can review the order, select the amount to pay, choose an available payment method, review applicable fees, confirm the payment, and receive a transaction receipt.

At a glance:

• No account sign-in is required for the guest payment flow.

• Payment options are controlled by the existing Payment Portal / Shopping Cart configuration.

• Partial payments and gratuity are available when enabled in the existing configuration.

•  A credit card convenience fee may apply and is displayed before payment is submitted.

•  Available reports are controlled by the reports enabled for the Shopping Cart or Payment Portal.

How to Pay as a Guest?

Step 1: Open Pay as a Guest
From the payment entry point, select Pay as a Guest to continue without signing in. Customers who already have an account may instead select Sign In & Pay. The guest option takes the customer directly into the guest payment experience. 

Step 2: Review the order
The Pay as a Guest page displays the order details before payment. Depending on the order, the customer may see the subtotal, additional charges, gratuity, tax, discounts, amount already paid, order total, and balance due.
 
Step 3: Add gratuity, if available
If gratuity options are enabled, the customer can select an available percentage or enter a custom additional gratuity amount. Any additional gratuity entered by the customer is added on top of gratuity already included in the event.

Step 4: Choose the payment amount
When partial payments are enabled, the customer can choose to pay the full balance, the minimum amount, or another amount. The Paying now amount reflects the amount selected.

Step 5: Select a payment method
The payment methods shown to the guest are determined by the Payment Portal / Shopping Cart configuration. Credit Card and ACH can be enabled or disabled through that configuration.

Step 6: Enter credit card information
When Credit Card is selected, the guest enters the information required to process the card. The form includes an email address for the receipt, phone number, billing address, ZIP code, and card information. City and state are populated from the ZIP code.

 
Step 7 : Review the payment
Before submitting the payment, the guest can review the selected card, balance, any applicable credit card fee, and Total to Pay. The Change option allows the guest to select a different card.
The guest must check the payment confirmation box to acknowledge the payment terms and confirm that they are authorized to use the payment method.
 

A credit card convenience fee may apply. When shown, it is charged in addition to the balance and is included in the Total to Pay. The fee is non-refundable.

Step 8: Confirm the payment
After selecting Pay Order, a confirmation dialog displays the exact amount the customer is about to pay. Select OK to continue or Cancel to return to the payment screen.
 
Step 9: Wait for processing
After the customer confirms the payment, the payment is submitted for processing. The payment control displays Processing while the transaction is being submitted.
 
Step 10:  Review the transaction receipt
After a successful payment, a Transaction Receipt is displayed. The receipt includes the date, event number, transaction number, amount, currency, and transaction status. An Approved status indicates that the payment was successfully processed.
The transaction number can be copied using the copy option next to the transaction number. The order details are also updated to reflect the payment and remaining balance.

 
Reports

The Reports option allows customers to access reports that have been enabled for the Shopping Cart or Payment Portal. The reports available will vary based on the portal configuration.
 
For example, a Payment Receipt report may be available when it has been enabled. Other reports can also be made available through the existing report configuration.

Configure Pay as a Guest

Step 1: Enable Pay as a Guest
To enable the Pay as a Guest option, set the following AppSetting:

Step 2: Configure guest payment terms
Payment terms shown to guests can be updated from the Admin Portal under Guest Payment Terms.
 

•    Enter custom payment terms in the Terms and Conditions field.
•    Select Save to apply the custom wording.
•    Leave the field empty to use the default wording.
•    Use Use default wording to restore the default wording.

The configured text appears beside the checkbox that the guest must select before submitting a payment. These are the terms of the payment, not the general terms of the event.

Step 3: Use the existing Payment Portal / Shopping Cart configuration

Most Pay as a Guest behavior is inherited from the existing Payment Portal / Shopping Cart configuration. These settings do not need to be configured separately for the guest flow.

Configuration Summary

Use the following checklist when setting up Pay as a Guest:

☐ Set WebShowGuestLoginButton to Guest.
☐ Review and customize Guest Payment Terms if needed.
☐ Confirm Credit Card and/or ACH payment methods are enabled as intended.
☐ Review ACH time rules if ACH is available.
☐ Confirm the desired portal theme and colors.
☐ Review partial payment settings.
☐ Review gratuity configuration.
☐ Confirm the reports that should be available to guests.
☐ Test the complete guest payment flow before making the feature available to customers.