Guide for club admins

Set up your club and collect your first dues

By the end of this guide your members can join your club from Telegram, pay their dues with a tap, and you'll see who's paid in your dashboard. Setting up takes about 15 minutes.

1. Create your club

   1. Go to Start your club.
   2. Fill in Club name, Your name, Email and a Password.
   3. Press Create club.

   You should now see your dashboard on the Members page, saying No members yet. At the top right is your club's Join code — members will need it in step 5.

2. Connect your payment account

   Members pay by card through Stripe, straight into your club's own account. Estrelar never holds your club's money.

   1. Open Settings in the dashboard menu.
   2. Under Payments, press Connect payment account.
   3. Stripe opens. Sign in or create an account, and fill in your club's details and the bank account payouts should go to.
   4. When you finish, Stripe sends you back to Settings.

   You should now see Connected — your club can accept payments.

   If it says Connected, but your provider still needs more details before you can accept payments., press the button under Payments — Connect payment account or Manage payment account — and finish what Stripe asks for.

3. Create your club's Telegram bot

   Your club gets its own bot — members talk to it, not to Estrelar. You make it in Telegram with BotFather, Telegram's official tool for this.

   1. In Telegram, open @BotFather.
   2. Send /newbot. Choose a name members will recognise (like Bar Squad Dues) and a username ending in bot (like barsquad_dues_bot).
   3. BotFather replies with a token — a long line like 123456789:AA…. Copy it.
   4. Back in Settings, under Telegram bot, paste it into Bot token and press Connect bot.

   You should now see Connected as @your_bot. Members join and pay by messaging your bot.

   Treat the token like a password — never paste it into a chat. If it leaks, send /revoke to BotFather and paste the new one under Replace bot token. If Settings says Saved, but not running., press Retry starting the bot.

4. Add a membership plan

   1. Open Plans.
   2. Under New plan, fill in a Name (like Monthly dues), the Amount (EUR), and the Interval — MONTHLY or ANNUAL.
   3. Press Create plan.

   You should now see your plan in the list.

   With one plan, members join straight onto it. With more than one, the bot asks each member to pick. To stop offering a plan, press Deactivate next to it.

5. Invite your members

   Send your members an invite link that carries your join code: t.me/, your bot's username, ?start=, then the join code from the top of your dashboard. For example:

   We're collecting dues through Telegram now 🙌 Tap to join, then press Start: t.me/barsquad_dues_bot?start=BARSQUAD24 How it works: estrelar.unwave.net/guides/members.html

   Send the link, not just the bot's name. Pressing Start from a plain link sends no code, and a new member can only try once every 30 seconds — so they'd be told to wait before they could type it.

   The member guide walks them through joining and paying.

   You should now see each member appear on the Members page as they join. They show as INACTIVE until their first payment goes through, then ACTIVE.

6. Collect dues each cycle

   When dues come round — say, the 1st of each month — send everyone who's due their payment link:

   1. Open Billing.
   2. Press Run billing.

   You should now see a Run result. Every member whose period ends within the next few days, or who is already overdue, gets a message from your bot with a Pay now 💳 button. If nobody is due, it says Nobody is due — all caught up. 🎉

   Estrelar doesn't send these on a schedule — you choose when by pressing the button. It's safe to press twice: members who already have an open payment link are skipped.

   Anyone listed under Created but not delivered has a payment link the bot couldn't send them — usually because your bot isn't running (see step 3). Running billing again straight away won't resend it: contact them another way, or run billing again after about a day, once that link has expired. Anyone under Failures got nothing, so run billing again once the reason is fixed.

7. Handle cash, comps and leavers

   Open a member from the Members page:

   • Paid in cash or by transfer: use Record a payment (cash or transfer) and press Record payment. It counts exactly like a card payment — they're covered for this cycle and asked again next cycle. If the bot already sent them a payment link this cycle, tell them not to use it, or they'll pay twice.
   • Covered by the club (a coach, a volunteer): add a reason under Comp this membership if you like, and press Comp membership. They're never billed and show as active, until you press Stop comping.
   • Leaving, or suspended: press End membership. Billing stops and any open payment link is cancelled. They can re-join through the bot later.

8. Schedule sessions

   Open Schedule. It shows a week at a time, on your club's local time. Use ‹ Previous week and Next week › to move around.

   1. Click the day and time the session starts. A New session form opens with that date and time filled in. (Or press New session above the calendar and type the date.)
   2. Add a title, and a Capacity (or leave it empty for no limit). Change the duration if it isn't an hour.
   3. If it happens every week — say, Tuesday Calisthenics at 19:00 — tick Repeats weekly. Leave it unticked for a one-off, like a workshop.
   4. Press Create.

   You should now see the session on the calendar. A weekly one also appears under Weekly sessions and keeps appearing week after week on its own. Members see sessions when they send /sessions to your bot, and book with a tap.

   Two sessions can't overlap in the same space. If the new one would, the form says which session is in the way, and nothing is created. Pick another time, or another space. One session can start the moment another ends.

   Spaces are the rooms or areas you run sessions in. Your club starts with one, Main space. Add more under Settings → Spaces. With more than one, the calendar shows one space at a time (choose it in Space shown), the form asks which space, and members see the space next to each session in the bot. You can rename a space, or retire one that has no upcoming sessions.

   To change a weekly session, press Edit next to it under Weekly sessions. A new title or capacity applies to its upcoming sessions straight away. A new day or time moves its upcoming sessions too — including booked ones — and the bot tells those members; the page says how many booked sessions that is before you confirm. Moving it to another space tells its booked members too. Lowering the capacity never removes anyone who already booked. To stop it, press End class: its upcoming sessions are cancelled and their members told.

   Members can see and book sessions up to four weeks ahead by default. Change that under Settings → Booking window (1 to 12 weeks). You can still schedule further out; members see those sessions once they come into range.

   Open a session to see who's booked and their membership status. Members who are active or overdue can book; anyone who hasn't paid yet, or whose membership was ended, can't. Members can cancel their own booking any time before the session starts.

   To call one off, open it and press Cancel session. Everyone booked gets a message from your bot; anyone it couldn't reach is listed so you can tell them another way. A session can't be cancelled once it has started — tell people in your group chat instead.

What the statuses mean

Status	Meaning
ACTIVE	Paid up for the current period, or comped.
OVERDUE	Their period has ended and they haven't paid for the next one. Run billing to send them a link, or record a cash payment.
INACTIVE	Joined but hasn't made a first payment yet, or their membership was ended.

If a member tells you the bot said…

The bot said	What to do
That join code isn't right.	Check they sent /start followed by the join code shown at the top of your dashboard. Capitals don't matter.
This club can't take payments yet	Your payment account isn't connected — go back to step 2.
The club hasn't configured any membership plans yet	Add a plan — step 4.
Their payment link expired	Links last about 24 hours. For a first payment, they can send /start again. For a renewal, press Run billing — once the old link has expired, they're sent a new one.
Booking is for members with an active membership	They haven't made their first payment, or their membership was ended. Check their status on the Members page.
Nothing at all	Check Settings → Telegram bot. If it says Saved, but not running., press Retry starting the bot.

Are you a member rather than an admin? Read the member guide.