🧪 Beta: Payment plans are currently being tested on a small number of box offices. If you'd like to try this feature out, please get in touch with support.
Payment plans let your ticket buyers spread the cost of their purchase over multiple instalments, instead of paying the full amount upfront.
You can offer your buyers the option to pay an initial deposit for their ticket, and automatically collect the rest, based on an instalment payment schedule you set.
This is especially handy if you're selling tickets with a higher price tag, as it gives your buyers a bit more breathing room and a smoother, more flexible way to pay.
💡 Payment plans require your box office to be connected to Stripe. From 1 December 2026, they add one extra usage credit per ticket on top of the standard ticket usage: Learn more about Ticket Tailor fees.
How to set up a payment plan for your event
Step 1: Create a payment plan
Each payment plan is a template that defines the number of instalments, deposit amount, and payment schedule. Once created, plans can be assigned to one or more events.
To get started, head to your box office Settings then choose Payment plans from the left-hand menu.
Click the Create payment plan button.
Give your payment plan a name, for example "Monthly payment plan".
Choose the Total number of monthly payments you'd like your payment plan to include (this includes the first payment).
We'll reduce this count if the event is too close, or so no payment is too small.
Decide if you'd like to set a Custom first payment using the checkbox.
If you leave this unticked, all payments will be split equally.
You can set the first payment as a percentage or a fixed amount. A fixed amount is taken once per order, not per ticket. For example, with a £50 first payment, a buyer ordering 3 tickets pays £50 at checkout, not £150.
Choose a Completion date – this is the date by which the payment plan must be completed.
Select when you'd like tickets to be issued for your event:
Only after the plan is paid in full – attendees are created and tickets are emailed once the payment plan is paid in full.
Immediately at checkout – attendees are created and tickets are emailed as soon as the first payment is taken.
Tick Set terms and conditions to add terms to your payment plan.
Ticket buyers will see a link to your terms at checkout and agree to them by paying. We’ll also add them to their confirmation email.
If you edit your terms later, the changes only apply to new orders.
Under the Advanced settings, you can set a Minimum and Maximum order total to define when payment plans should be available – handy if you only want orders of a certain value to be eligible for a payment plan.
When you're done, click Create payment plan.
Step 2: Assign the payment plan to your event
After you create your payment plan, you'll have the opportunity to immediately assign it to an event. If you're not ready to, you can click Skip for now and assign it later by following the below steps:
From your Ticket Tailor dashboard, head to Events and open up the event you'd like to assign a payment plan to.
Go to Edit event and tickets in the left-hand menu.
Scroll down and open up the Event settings section.
Use the Payment plan dropdown and select the relevant payment plan you've created.
Click Save event.
Please note: You can only have one payment plan linked to one event.
✅ That's it! Now your ticket buyers can choose to pay in full, or pay in instalments when they buy their tickets!
What your ticket buyers will see at checkout
Once you have a payment plan assigned to your event, your ticket buyers will see the option to either Pay in full, or Pay in instalments at checkout. The payment schedule will be visible to ticket buyers.
Upon completion, they'll receive a Payment plan confirmation email, confirming their payment schedule, their first payment amount, and the remaining instalment details.
How your ticket buyers' payment schedule is worked out
Payments are collected monthly, starting on the day your buyer checks out. Your completion date is a deadline, not a payment date. If the monthly payments would run past it, the last payment is taken on the completion date instead.
This means the number of payments depends on when your buyer checks out. The total they pay stays the same.
Buyers who check out early get more, smaller payments, up to the total number of payments you set.
Buyers who check out later get fewer, larger payments, because fewer months fit before your completion date.
For example: Let's say you've created a payment plan with a completion date of 17 May, with up to 7 equal payments, and your ticket buyer is purchasing a £210 ticket:
A buyer who checks out on 17 November pays 7 monthly payments of £30.
A buyer who checks out on 17 March pays 3 monthly payments of £70.
If you’d set up to 3 payments instead, a buyer who checks out on 17 November pays 3 monthly payments of £70: on 17 November, 17 December and 17 January. Their payments finish well before your completion date.
If your completion date has passed, or there isn’t time for at least 2 payments, buyers won’t see the payment plan option at checkout and will pay in full.
How to edit your payment plan email templates
Payment plans require some extra communication with your ticket buyers, and there are multiple emails templates that you can edit, including:
Payment plan confirmation email – sent to customers when they check out with a payment plan. It includes the payment schedule, first payment amount, and instalment details.
Payment reminder email – Sent to customers before an instalment payment is due. It includes the upcoming payment amount and due date.
Payment received email – Sent to customers each time an instalment payment is successfully collected. It includes the amount paid, remaining balance, and next payment date.
Payment failed email – Sent to customers when an instalment payment fails. The next attempt message tells them when we will try again and how to change their card, or asks them to pay when no further attempt is due.
Payment plan complete email – Sent to customers when all instalment payments have been collected and their payment plan is complete.
To edit these emails:
Head to your box office Settings, then Email templates from the left-hand menu.
Select the Payment plans tab.
Click the Edit button next to the email/s you want to customise.
What are the usage fees for payment plans?
🧪 Beta: The extra usage fee for payment plans doesn’t apply during the beta. From 1 December 2026, each ticket sold on a payment plan counts as 1 extra usage.
Each ticket sold on a payment plan counts as 1 extra usage.
This means a ticket sold on a payment plan costs 2 usage fees:one usage fee for the ticket itself
one usage fee for the payment plan.
You will be charged your Ticket Tailor fees at the time when the order is placed.
Each instalment payment is processed as its own separate transaction. Since Stripe charges a fee per transaction, that fee is taken on every instalment, not just the first one.
💡 You can still add a booking fee to offset your costs. As booking fees are part of the order total, they're split across the payments like the ticket price.
💡 Things to note
Payment plans are not offered at checkout if a ticket buyer is placing a multi-checkout order and purchasing tickets to multiple events at the same time.
You can still have multi-checkout turned on for your box office, but only single event orders will be offered the option to pay via a payment plan.
A payment plan requires a minimum of 2 monthly instalments to be offered at checkout. Your ticket buyers will not be offered a payment plan if only one payment can fit before the completion date.
Make sure your payment plan terms explain how you handle refunds. You can add them with Set terms and conditions when you create your payment plan, so ticket buyers see them at checkout.
Payment reminder emails send within 3 days before the payment is collected.
If your ticket buyer adds refund protection, the full cost of refund protection is taken with the first payment. The rest of the order is split across the payments as usual.