Your account’s default checkout settings control how sponsors pay for sponsorships. These settings decide where payments go, which payment methods sponsors see, when credit card fees apply, whether invoices are pro forma, and more. Every application process uses these defaults unless that process has its own checkout override.
What It Controls
These account-wide settings apply to every sponsorship purchase that does not use an application process with its own checkout override:
- The business unit, merchant account, and bank account that receive sponsorship payments.
- The payment methods sponsors can choose.
- Whether a credit card processing fee applies, and when.
- Whether orders use pro forma invoices, and which payment terms those invoices use.
- Whether sponsors can choose an installment plan.
- Whether sponsors are invited to add a donation.
- Which products bill restocking and cancellation fees.
- An optional account-specific checkout step that adjusts or prices an order.
Where to Find It
Go to Sponsorship & Benefits › Setup › Settings to open the checkout settings page for your account’s Sponsorship application.
Prerequisites
You need the permission your administrator grants for sponsorship settings.
Set Your Default Checkout Settings
- Go to Sponsorship & Benefits › Setup › Settings.
- Choose the business unit, merchant account, and bank account that should receive sponsorship payments. These accounts must already exist in your account’s commerce configuration.
- Choose the payment methods sponsors can use, such as paying by card, paying by check, or billing their own organization.
- Set your credit card rules. You can accept cards always, never, or only within a chosen amount range. You can also always charge a processing fee, never charge it, or let the sponsor choose whether to pay it. When you set a maximum, Rhythm enforces it in the console and in the Portal, including on an order that was originally submitted with Pay Later.
- If your account issues pro forma invoices for sponsorship orders, turn that on and choose the invoice template and payment terms.
- If sponsors may spread a payment over an installment plan, turn that on and set its options.
- If you want to invite sponsors to add a donation at checkout, turn that on and set its options.
- If your account charges restocking or cancellation fees on returned or canceled sponsorship orders, choose the products that bill each fee.
- Select Save Changes.
Result
The toast Settings updated successfully confirms that your changes were saved. Every application process without its own checkout override now uses these settings for new purchases.
Tip
These settings are your account’s general Sponsorship checkout configuration. If one application process needs different checkout behavior, such as different invoice payment terms, turn on that process’s own Override Checkout Settings instead of changing the account-wide defaults. See Application Processes to learn how a process’s own checkout settings, including its own payment terms, work separately from these defaults.
Dependencies and Precedence
- An application process's own checkout override, when turned on, takes the place of these defaults for purchases made through that process. These account-wide settings still apply to every process that does not override them.
- Card payments must be allowed before a processing fee can apply. If you turn card payments off, the processing fee setting has nothing to act on.
- Restocking and cancellation fee products must already exist in your account’s commerce configuration before you can select them here.
- The contact-role permissions that decide who may buy sponsorships are separate from checkout settings; see Who Can View and Buy Sponsorships in the Portal. You must also set up this checkout record for the first time before you can configure contact-role permissions.
- Invoice payment terms for sponsorship invoices come from this checkout configuration, or from an application process's own override. If a sponsorship application process is not correctly connected to your invoice or template setup, its invoices use the default "Due upon receipt" term instead of the Net terms you configured.
- Sponsorships doesn't have its own coupon-code or discount setup. Some accounts approximate a temporary sponsorship discount through the general Orders & Inventory coupon framework instead: create a discount product, a coupon generation process, and a coupon that uses A fixed amount off the order total tied to that discount product, then issue coupon codes. Other coupon discount types, such as a percentage off or one restricted to specific products, do not work for sponsorship opportunities.
Change Impact and How to Revert
- Changing a payment method, fee, or invoice setting affects purchases made after you save. It does not change orders that are already completed.
- You can change any of these settings back at any time. There is no separate history or undo beyond your account’s audit history for the settings record.
Permissions
You need the permission your administrator grants for sponsorship settings to view or change these checkout settings.
Validation and Errors
If a required account, such as the business unit, merchant account, or bank account, is missing or does not exist in your account, Rhythm refuses the save and shows Unable to save settings. Correct the account selections, then save again.
Warning
Turning on Override Checkout Settings on an application process can make the process fail validation with an error about merchant_account_id or bank_account_id needing to start with the business unit ID, even when you are making an ordinary configuration change. This can also block other changes to the process, including making it inactive or hiding it from the Portal. If this happens, turn off Override Checkout Settings, save, then make the change you need, such as deactivating or hiding the process, before turning the override back on. If you only needed the override to set a credit card processing fee, you can configure that fee here in your account's default settings instead.