Event Pricing and Payments

Events can be free or paid. Paid events use Stripe Checkout with a price determined by the event record's pricing field and the user's membership status.

Pricing Model

Each event stores pricing in a pricing object:

{
  "pricing": {
    "members": 0,
    "nonMembers": 5
  }
}

A value of 0 means the event is free for that group. A value of 5 means $5.00 CAD.

Payment Flow

User clicks "Register"
        │
        ▼
Frontend checks if event is free
        │
        ├── pricing === 0 → Register directly → status: "registered"
        │
        └── pricing > 0  → Create Stripe session
                │
                ▼
           POST /payments/
           { paymentType: "Event", eventID, year, email }
                │
                ▼
           Backend fetches event → reads pricing
                │
                ▼
           Creates Stripe Checkout session
           unit_amount = pricing × 100 (cents)
                │
                ▼
           Updates registration → status: "incomplete"
           Stores checkoutLink on registration record
                │
                ▼
           Redirects user to Stripe Checkout
                │
                ├── User pays → Stripe webhook → status: "registered"
                └── User abandons → session expires (30 min) → stays "incomplete"

How the Backend Reads Event Pricing

File: services/payments/handler.js → export const payment

When the payment type is "Event":

const [event, user] = await Promise.all([
  db.getOne(data.eventID, EVENTS_TABLE, { year: Number(data.year) }),
  db.getOne(data.email, USERS_TABLE),
])

const isMember = !isEmpty(user) && user.isMember
const samePricing = event.pricing.members === event.pricing.nonMembers

unit_amount =
  (isMember ? event.pricing.members : event.pricing.nonMembers) * 100

The event's display name and image are also used:

data.paymentName = `${event.ename} ${
  isMember || samePricing ? '' : '(Non-member)'
}`
data.paymentImages = [event.imageUrl]

Stripe Checkout Session

const session = await stripe.checkout.sessions.create({
  payment_method_types: ['card'],
  line_items: [
    {
      price_data: {
        currency: 'CAD',
        product_data: {
          name: data.paymentName,
          images: paymentImages,
        },
        unit_amount,
      },
      quantity: 1,
    },
  ],
  metadata: data,
  mode: 'payment',
  success_url: data.success_url,
  cancel_url: data.cancel_url,
  expires_at: Math.round(new Date().getTime() / 1000) + 1800,
  allow_promotion_codes: true,
})

After session creation, the handler updates the registration with the checkout link:

await updateHelper(
  { eventID, year, checkoutLink: session.url },
  false,
  email,
  fname,
)

This sets the registration status to "incomplete" until payment completes.

Application-Based Events with Pricing

For application-based events (isApplicationBased: true), the flow is different:

Register → "registered" (pending review)
   │
   Admin accepts
   │
   ├── pricing === 0 → "acceptedPending" (no payment needed)
   └── pricing > 0  → "accepted" → user pays → "acceptedComplete"

The acceptance handler checks:

const pricing = isMember
  ? eventExists.pricing?.members ?? 0
  : eventExists.pricing?.nonMembers ?? 0

if (pricing === 0) {
  data.registrationStatus = 'acceptedPending'
}

Free Events

When pricing.members and pricing.nonMembers are both 0, the event is free:

• No Stripe session is created
• Registration goes directly to "registered" status
• No checkout link is stored
• No webhook processing needed

Where Pricing Is Set

Pricing is configured by admins during event creation or editing:

Frontend: src/components/Events/EventForm.tsx

• price field → maps to pricing.members
• nonMemberPrice field → maps to pricing.nonMembers
• Defaults to 0 (free) if not set

Backend: services/events/handler.js → create / update

• Stored as-is in the event record
• No backend validation on pricing values beyond type checking

Key Files

Related Pages

• Event Data Model — the pricing field
• Events and Registrations — how registration depends on event pricing
• Events System Overview — event architecture
• Payment Flow — full Stripe integration details