Every membership account is a running ledger rather than a set of invoices. The Transactions tab on a member shows every row, and the balance is simply their sum.
Which way each row moves the balance
| Row type | Effect | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Charge | Increases | Raised automatically by the billing job. |
| Manual Charge | Increases | You, via Add Charge. |
| Credit Card Payment | Decreases | A successful card charge. |
| Bank Debit | Decreases | A direct debit, at the point it is initiated. |
| Manual Payment Entry | Decreases | You, via Add Payment — cheque, transfer, cash. |
| Credit | Decreases | You, via Add Credit — a discount or write-off. |
| Correction | Either way | You, via Add Correction. |
| Credit Card Refund | Increases | Money returned to the member. |
| Refund | Increases | A refund paid outside the gateway. |
| Returned Bank Debit | Increases | A debit that failed or was reversed. |
| Failed Payment | No effect | A record that a card was declined. |
Why refunds increase the balance
Because giving money back undoes a payment. The payment reduced what they owed; reversing it puts that debt back. This is correct accounting and it has one important consequence — see the refunds guide.
What a charge is for
Automatic charges name the package and the period they cover, so you can always answer "what is this for?" from the row itself. A joining fee is simply described as Joining Fee.
The other tabs
Stripe Transactions shows just the gateway activity, with the gateway's own reference and any amount already refunded — that is where you refund from. Organisation-wide, All Transactions and Card Transactions show the same data across every member.