How to Collect Entry Fees for Pickleball Events

Charging an entry fee shouldn't mean chasing people for Venmo the morning of your tournament. Pikel builds the money into registration, so players pay when they sign up — or check a box to pay at the door — and you see exactly who's covered. Here's how to set it up, get paid, and handle discounts and refunds.

First: fees attach to competitions, not casual games

One thing to know up front. In Pikel, entry fees live on tournaments, not on games or leagues. A regular game night and a weekly league stay free to join, and there is no online fee to attach to them. When there's money involved, you create a tournament, and that's where the fee tools appear. If you try to charge for a game and can't find the option, this is why.

Step 1 — Set up payouts (once)

Before you can collect money online, tell Pikel where it should go. Open Profile → Payouts and onboard with Stripe. Stripe is the payment processor that moves money from your players to your bank account, and the onboarding is a standard, secure flow — bank details, a bit of identity verification, done. You do this once, and every event you run afterward pays out to the same place.

Prefer to handle the money yourself? Skip this step and collect off-platform — see below.

Step 2 — Add an entry fee to your event

When you set up a competition, open the entry-fee section and set your price. You also choose how players pay:

• Stripe checkout — players pay online when they register. The money is collected up front and paid out to you through Stripe.
• Collect it yourself, off-platform — set no online fee and take cash, Venmo or a bank transfer the way you always have. This happens outside Pikel entirely: the app has no record of who has paid, so you keep that list.

For a doubles entry paid online, whoever signs up the pair chooses how to split the fee at checkout — Pay for the team (both entries in one charge) or Pay separately (each partner pays their own half).

Step 3 — Create promo codes (optional)

Want early-bird pricing, a members-only rate, or a way to comp a volunteer? Create a promo code for your event. Players enter it at checkout and the discount applies automatically. It's the clean way to run a sale without maintaining two different prices.

Step 4 — Set your refund policy

Decide up front what happens if someone can't make it. Set a refund policy on the competition so the terms are clear before anyone pays — no awkward case-by-case negotiations later. When you do need to return money, issue a refund from the event and Pikel handles it through the same Stripe connection the payment came in on.

Pro tip

Pick your collection method to match your event. For a serious tournament with a bracket and prizes, take payment up front with Stripe checkout — it locks in commitment and kills day-of no-shows. For a low-key night with your regulars, collecting off-platform keeps signup frictionless — just remember Pikel isn't keeping that list for you. And always set the refund policy before you open registration, so the rules are the rules for everyone.