Overview
A one-time join fee allows you to charge customers an upfront fee when they first sign up for a membership. This fee is collected in addition to the first month’s charge. All future billing cycles will only charge the regular monthly rate.
This feature is useful when you want to cover onboarding costs, setup time, or other initial expenses for new members.
How It Works
When a customer subscribes:
They pay both the join fee and the first month’s membership price at checkout.
Example: If the join fee is $50 and the monthly rate is $100, the customer’s first payment will be $150 total.
On the next billing cycle, they will only be charged the $100 monthly rate.
The join fee is never charged again after the first signup.
How to Enable the Join Fee
Go to Birrdi Admin → Memberships.
Select the membership plan you want to edit or create a new one.
Find the setting labeled “One-Time Join Fee”.
Enter the amount you want to charge as the join fee (e.g.,
$50).Save your changes.
Once saved, this join fee will automatically apply to all new signups for that plan. We recommend adding a clear note in your membership description explaining the join fee and how it works—this helps customers understand the charge when they click the “Learn More” button during checkout.
Important Notes
The join fee applies only on signup — existing members or renewals will not be charged again.
The join fee and monthly charge will appear as separate line items in the payment record.
You can change or remove the join fee at any time; however, changes only affect new memberships moving forward.
Example Scenario
Action | Join Fee | Monthly Rate | Customer Pays |
Signup | $50 | $100 | $150 total |
Month 2+ | — | $100 | $100 monthly |
Tip
If you want to test the join fee before going live, you can create a test membership plan and sign up using a test account. This lets you confirm the pricing behavior and checkout flow.