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Fees & payments

The kinds of fees, when they apply, and how payments and balances work.

Kinds of fees

• Membership and joining fees — set on each membership type.
• Overdue / late fees — for toys returned past their due date.
• Damage / missing-piece charges — recorded at return.
• Refundable bond — held while a household is a member, returned when they leave.

Fee rules

Fee rules decide when and how much — e.g. a per-day overdue fee with a cap. They live in Settings → Fees, separately from membership types, so you can change the late-fee policy without touching membership pricing.

Recording payments

Every charge and payment lands on the household's balance. Staff record payments (cash, bank transfer, card) against it; members can also pay online through the library's connected Stripe or PayPal. The balance always reflects charges minus payments.

Waiving vs refunding

With permission, staff can waive a fee (e.g. a first-time overdue) — the waiver is recorded so the books still reconcile. A waiver cancels a charge; a refund returns money already paid. They're different actions for different situations.

Your library's own ToyHive subscription

Everything above is money between members and your library. Separately, your library's subscription invoices from ToyHive appear under Settings → ToyHive plan & invoices in "Your ToyHive subscription" — each has a Pay now link to a secure Stripe payment page, and paid invoices offer a PDF for your records. Set a billing contact on the same page (e.g. your treasurer) so invoices and reminders go to the right person; if left empty they go to the library owner. An unpaid invoice never interrupts your library's day-to-day operation.