Comps and Lifetime Memberships

A comp is a complimentary membership: the member is active and gets their membership like anyone else, but they are never billed. There is no card, no signup fee and no recurring charge. A comp either lasts for life (a lifetime membership) or ends on a day you pick.

Use comps for founding or lifetime members, staff, partners, or anyone you have agreed not to charge. For a member who has paid until a date and should start paying after it, use Members Without a Card instead.

Comps are for subscription programs. Programs billed per release can't be comped ("Comps are for subscription programs. For a release program, waive the signup fee instead.").

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Who Can Grant Comps

Granting, ending and changing comps needs the Manage Comps and No-Card Activation permission (in the CRM group of the role editor), plus Manage CRM to add or activate members. Owners have it. For anyone else, add it to their role under Settings > Team; it only counts when granted for the whole business, not for chosen locations. See Team and Permissions.

Comps don't need Activate Members Without a Card to be turned on for your business; that switch only applies to activating members who will be billed later.

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Granting a Comp

A staged member

1. Open the staged member from People.
2. Click Grant comp.
3. In the Grant comp sidebar ("The membership starts now and is never billed. No card is needed, and they get no card reminders."), choose the Length:
   • Lifetime: no end date. The membership stays complimentary until staff end it.
   • Until a date: pick the day under Comp ends. The membership ends at the start of that day, in your business's time zone. The earliest day you can pick is tomorrow.
4. Optionally add a Reason (for example founding member, staff or partner), up to 500 characters.
5. Leave Send welcome email ticked to send the welcome email, then click Grant comp.

Adding a new member

In the Add Member sidebar, after choosing a subscription program and plan, tick Add as a comp ("Complimentary for life or until a day you pick. No card, and they're never charged.") and fill in the same length and reason. The member is added and active at once.

Several staged members at once

Select staged members on People, choose Activate, then pick Comp / Lifetime ("Every selected member is complimentary: never billed, for life or until a date."). The length and reason apply to everyone in the batch, which runs in the background like any bulk activation. A comp batch can't also send card links. See Bulk Member Actions.

From a spreadsheet import

The contact import has Comp and Comp End Date columns, and a Paid Through cell that says "Lifetime" (or "Never") also makes the row a lifetime comp. Comp rows are staged as comps; tick Activate them now to activate them when the import finishes. See Bulk Import Members.

Members staged as comps

A member can be staged as a comp (from an import) before they are activated. Their row on People reads "Staged as lifetime comp" or "Staged as comp until {date}", and their profile says "Activating them makes them a comp: nothing is ever charged." Activating them, from their profile or in a batch, always makes them a comp. A card link can't activate them.

Zoe can't grant, change or end comps. Use People for that.

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On the Member's Profile

A comp's profile has a Comp section:

• "Complimentary until {date}" or "Lifetime member", with "Never billed: no card, no signup fee and no recurring charges."
• The Reason, if one was given.
• Granted: who granted the comp and when.
• Change end date (or Set end date for a lifetime comp), for staff with the permission.

There is no billing date on a comp, so there is nothing to reschedule. The member's action menu offers:

• Change Tier (when the program has more than one plan): the change takes effect at once and nothing is charged.
• Pause, or Cancel scheduled pause when one is set.
• Resume membership for a paused comp.
• Change end date or Set end date, and End comp.

A comp can't switch programs ("Complimentary memberships can't switch programs. End the comp, then add the member to the new program.").

Changing the end date

Click Change end date (or Set end date on a lifetime comp) and pick a day after today. The membership is cancelled at the start of that day; nothing is charged or refunded. Moving the date earlier or later is fine. Once a comp has an end date, it can't be turned back into a lifetime comp.

Ending a comp now

Click End comp and confirm. The membership is cancelled today: they stop receiving member benefits and fulfillment. Nothing is charged or refunded.

When a comp reaches its end date, MemberZone cancels it automatically within a few minutes of the start of that day. Either way, the cancellation is recorded with the note "Comp ended".

Pausing a comp

Because a comp is never charged, its pause doesn't follow billing dates. In the Pause dialog, leave Pause start date empty to pause now or pick a day, optionally set an Auto-resume date, and choose whether to email the member. A paused comp is left out of fulfillment until it resumes.

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What Comps Are Left Out Of

• Billing: no renewals, signup fee or card checks.
• Card emails and links: comps never get card reminders, the on-hold email or a card link ("A comp is never billed, so it doesn't get a card link. Add a card from their profile if they need one."), and they are never card pending.
• Revenue: comps aren't counted in MRR.
• Cancellation fees and downgrade credits: nothing was paid, so there is nothing to charge or refund.

A comp is included in fulfillment for every shipment or pickup until the comp ends. If their shipments carry a shipping charge and they have no card, that charge stops with "Add a card first.", so you can collect it or waive it.

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Rewards for Comps

A comp gets its plan's rewards like any member, with a few differences because it is never billed:

• Never held back for payment. A comp is always treated as paid up. Its rewards are still held back while it is paused, and stop when it ends.
• Each membership period resets on each anniversary of the day the comp was granted, one billing period of its plan apart (for example the 9th of every month for a monthly plan granted on the 9th).
• Imported comps (from the contact import, or a no-card activation batch MemberZone ran for your migration) start getting rewards set to New members at signup, existing members at their first renewal on the first anniversary of the grant. Comps you grant by hand start right away.

See Rewards and Discounts.

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Finding Comps

• People > Contacts: on the Members view, the Billing filter offers Any, Standard (billed) and Comp. Comp rows show a "Comp until {date}" or "Lifetime" badge, and their price reads Comp.
• Exports: the contacts export has a Billing column ("Standard", "Comp", or "Comp (staged)" for a member staged as a comp) and a Comp Ends column (the end date, or "Lifetime").
• At the register: Toast, Tender and Shift4 show Comp (a comp with an end date) or Lifetime when staff look the member up, so they know not to ask them to pay for the membership. See Member ID and Member Details at the Register.

See Find and Filter Members.

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What the Member Sees

In their member portal, a comp shows a "Comp until {date}" or "Lifetime" badge. Where a billed member sees their price and next billing date, a comp sees "Complimentary until {date}" or "Lifetime member", with no renewal date. They can't change their plan or switch programs themselves; only you can.