With thousands of races cancelling in 2020, many of our customers used deferrals to provide flexible options for their participants. With 2021 approaching, we want to provide a streamlined process for races to fulfill those deferrals, making it easy for participants with minimal overhead and financial loss for the the event.
In the past, deferrals on RunSignup were handled manually by the race directors by generating coupons or sending reserved entries to deferred registrants. Earlier this year, we released a feature called ‘Defer via Race Transfer‘ which makes it easy for deferred registrants to complete their deferral into the following year’s race or other races in your series, if you choose to allow that.
The new features released this week week expand on the Defer Via Race transfer tool to provide races flexibility in how they handle their deferrals.
Deferral Credit Methods
Deferral credit methods relates to how much of the cost of registration is offset due to the deferral. To set these options, go to Participants -> Participant Management -> Deferrals and click on the “Defer via Race Transfer Setup” to pick the year for deferrals to open up your options.
We now have 3 deferral credit methods:
Use Paid Amount for Deferred Registration: This setting looks at the amount a registrant paid for their deferred registration and gives them a credit for that amount when they go to complete their deferral. (If you had a lot of free or discounted registrations that were deferred, you might want to use one of the other options below)
- New Event is Always Free: This setting works just like it sounds! If a registrant deferred their registration, they will be able to complete their deferral and register for ANY event in your race for FREE.
- Set Creditable Amount for Previous Event: This is a great way to give someone a creditable amount specific to the event tied to their deferred registration. This way, it doesn’t matter if they received a partial discount or a free registration, they will receive a deferral credit in the amount that you set.
Deferral Credit Settings & Options:
When you are setting up the Defer Via Race Transfer feature (Participants -> Participant Management ->Race Transfer), there are 2 additional settings to be aware of when determining how you want your deferral credits to work:
- Allow the add-on amount from the registration to be credited to the new registration
- Only allow the event cost to receive the credit
Examples: Below are 4 examples showing how these settings can be used. In each of the examples, the customer has a deferred 10K registration ($25) and $20 add-on.
1. Allow Add-On Credit Setting Only:
With this setting, the deferred registrant will receive credit for their deferred registration AND previously purchased ADD-ON ($45, in this example). They will be able to use the full credit towards the cost of the registration AND add-ons.
2. Allow Add-On Credit and Only Allow the Event Cost to Receive the Credit
With both of these settings checked, the deferred registrant will receive credit for their deferred registration AND previously purchased ADD-ON ($45 in this example). They will only be able to use the credit towards the cost of a new registration and they will be prompted to pay for additional add-ons.
- They CAN use the $45 credit to transfer into a higher priced event (like below)
- If they don’t use the entire $45 credit, they will not be refunded for the difference and they won’t be able to use the balance at a later time.
3. Only Allow the Event Cost to Receive Credit
- With this setting, the deferred registrant will receive credit for their deferred only, not any previously purchased add-ons ($25 in this example) They will only be able to use the credit towards the cost of a new registration and they will be prompted to pay for additional add-ons.
- Neither Option Checked
- With both of these settings OFF, the deferred registrant will only receive credit for their deferred registration, not any previously purchased add-ons. They will be able to use the deferred credit towards the event cost AND the cost of an add-on.
- They CAN transfer into a lower priced event and use the balance towards an add-on (see below)
- If they don’t use the entire $45 credit, they will not be refunded for the difference and they won’t be able to use the balance at a later time.
- With both of these settings OFF, the deferred registrant will only receive credit for their deferred registration, not any previously purchased add-ons. They will be able to use the deferred credit towards the event cost AND the cost of an add-on.
Deferral Report Updates
We have also made updates to the deferral report to make it easier for you to view information for your deferred registrations.
- To find this report, with revenue information, navigate to Reports>>Not Registered>>Deferred Registrations
- Choose the event year in the drop-down menu and click Change Event Date
- Scroll to the bottom of the page, and click the Participants Report link:
- The report with the additional customized columns will display:
You can also add as many columns to this report as you would like by clicking Report Options>>Customize Columns.
You can view a crash course on the new deferral options below.
