Questions to ask a membership platform before you pick one

Before you sign with a membership platform, ask how it pays you, what it shows you about fees and refunds, and what you can export, because those answers decide how hard your books will be every month.

Why your bookkeeper cares which platform you pick

The demo will focus on the patient side. Sign-up screens, messaging, reminders. That matters. Your platform is also where your membership revenue starts, and every dollar it collects has to land in your books with a clear trail back to a member. If that trail is hard to follow, you'll feel it at every month end, and so will your bookkeeper and your CPA.

So add a few money questions to the sales call. They take ten minutes to ask and they'll save you hours later.

How and when does money reach your bank?

Ask how often payouts happen and how many days sit between a member's charge and the deposit. Ask whether each deposit is one lump sum or broken out by charge. Ask whether the deposit is the full amount charged or what's left after fees, refunds and failed payments come out.

A net deposit is fine. It's common. It means the number in your bank won't match the number on your revenue report, and someone has to bridge the two every month. The question is whether the platform gives you enough detail to do that in ten minutes instead of two hours. I wrote more about that gap in why your Hint report doesn't match your bank.

Can you see every fee, refund and failed charge?

Processing fees are a real cost of running the practice. You want them recorded as an expense, not quietly netted out of revenue so your income looks smaller than it is. That only works if the platform reports fees for each payout.

Refunds and failed payments matter for the same reason. A failed card isn't lost revenue until it stays failed. Ask whether the platform retries a failed charge, whether it shows you which members failed, and whether a refund shows up as its own line or disappears inside the next deposit.

What can you get out of it?

Your data should leave with you. Ask what reports you can export, in what format, and how far back they go. At a minimum I'd want a payout report that ties to bank deposits, a charges report by member and date, and a member list with plan, start date and status.

Ask about annual plans and employer-paid memberships too. If a member prepays a year, or an employer pays for a group of employees on one invoice, can the platform show what that payment covers? Your bookkeeper needs that to record it correctly.

Then ask what happens if you leave someday. A platform that makes switching painful will make cleanup painful too.

Here's the short list I'd bring to the call:

• How often do payouts hit my bank, and how many days after the charge?
• Is each deposit the full amount or net of fees, refunds and failed payments?
• Can I download a payout report that lists every charge inside each deposit?
• Do refunds and failed payments show as their own lines?
• Can I export members, plans and charges as a spreadsheet, and how far back?
• How do annual plans and employer invoices show up in reports?

What I'd do this week

If you're still choosing, send these questions in writing and keep the answers. Ask each platform for a sample payout report and a sample export before you sign.

If you've already picked one, log in and pull last month's payout report. Then try to match one deposit to your bank statement, charge by charge. If you can do it, you're in good shape. If you can't, that's the first thing to fix, because every number on your P&L sits on top of it. Getting membership dues recorded correctly is part of our DPC Bookkeeping service.

Common questions

Should I pick a platform based on its fees?
Fees matter, but a cheaper platform that hides fee detail can cost you more in bookkeeping time. Compare the fee and the reporting together.

Does a net deposit mean my books are wrong?
No. It means each deposit has to be split into revenue, fees and refunds when it's recorded. That's normal bookkeeping work.

What if my platform's exports are limited?
Download what you can every month and save it with your statements. A monthly payout report and member list kept on file covers most of what your bookkeeper needs.