How To Setup Payment Account
In order to get paid on RunSignup, Race Directors must create a payment account with our merchant bank. No setup cost required.
This is essentially the same as setting up a retail banking account where they will also require personal and business information. This ensures funds are being sent to a real person/bonafide business. You do not open a new account at a bank. When someone registers for your Race, the funds will be held on your Payment Account with our merchant bank.
Want more information on what a Payment Facilitator is, and what type of information we need from you (and why) for you to set up your Payment Account? Read our Payment Facilitator FAQ.
Getting Started
To start you can either access the Payment Setup via the Race Wizard (Race Dashboard > Race > Race Wizard) and clicking on Step 6 Payments tab here:
Or by navigating to the Financial section of the Race Dashboard and clicking the Payment Setup link here:
Setting Up Your Payment Method
The first section of Payment Setup is to define your payment method. While you can chose to setup your payment method later, it is recommended that you enter in your payment method as soon as possible.
Set Up Now
Begin setting up your Payment Account now by clicking on the green button "Create New Account". In addition, you are also able to select an existing Payment Accounts on your RunSignup account to process transactions for the Race by clicking on "Select a Payment Account" drop-down menu.
Set Up Later
If you do not have the information necessary at the moment to completely set up a new payment account, or you are just creating an event for another person or entity and would like to send them instructions to set the payment account up themselves, RunSignup allows you to chose to set up payments later.
Send Setup Instructions By Email
You can enter an E-mail address here to send instructions to someone else to set up a payment account for this race.
The individual will receive a link to Set up the Payment Account for the Race. If they already have a RunSignup account, they will login and go straight to the payment account setup. If they are not a user, they will need to register so we can maintain security.
Begin Taking Transactions Now (Deferred Setup)
All transactions may be refunded to participants if you do not enter this information in a timely manner or if your payment account is not approved.
Use Test/Volunteer Mode
Use this option if you just want to test registration without actually accepting credit card payments or if your race only has volunteer or free events. When you are ready to accept transactions, you can set up your payment information on this page.
Set Up Now
Select a Payment Account
If you are already own a Payment Account and would like to use your existing payment account to process transactions for the Race, then simply find it in the Payment Account drop-down menu and then click Save and Continue.
Create New Account
If you need to create a new payment account begin by clicking the Create New Payment Account button listed under Payment Account.
Tell us about yourself
The personal information for this individual should be someone with significant responsibility to control, manage, or direct a legal entity customer, including an executive officer or senior manager (e.g., a Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operating Officer, Managing Member, General Partner, President, Vice President, or Treasurer); or any other individual who regularly performs similar functions. We will require the name, address, date of birth and full social security number for this individual. You can be assured that we will store this information safely and securely.
If you do not fit the description of an "Officer", then select the option to "Set Up Later" where you will be able to enter the email address of the appropriate individual who is considered an officer for the organization/business.
If you are setting up the payment account for a government legal entity type, then you are exempt from entering "Owner" information as government entities do not have a controlling owner. However, government entity types must provide personal information for an authorized representative since payment accounts must be associated with a person.
Who would you like us to Pay?
Select the legal entity type you are wanting to have the transactions processed under.
If you want the transactions to be processed under your own name (Individual Payment Account), then the full social security number for the individual will be required. If you want the transactions to be processed under a business or a non-profit, then the full EIN (Employer Identification Number) will be required - this is not the the same as the Tax Exemption Number.
Important: All earnings are reported to the IRS under this legal entity type.
Setting up Payments to Yourself
This is an Individual (Personal) Payment Account type. You will be processing transactions under your legal name and SSN.
Important: If you are a Sole Proprietor of a business, it is recommended for you to select the Business Entity option, not the "Yourself" option. This way, you are able to select "Individual or Sole Proprietorship" under the Business Type.
When you select the "Yourself" option, your personal information entered in the prior area is used as your payment information. If you need to change anything, do so above in the "Verify Personal Information" section above.
Setting up Payments to a Business Entity
This is a For-Profit Business Payment Account type. You will be processing transactions under the business legal name and EIN.
Business Information
When entering the Business name and (EIN) Tax ID, please enter the legal business name and EIN as registered with the IRS.
Important: Only physical address are able to be entered for the business location - PO Boxes are not allowed.
If you are looking to understand what an EIN is, see IRS article here.
If you lost or misplaced your EIN, see the IRS article here.
If you do not have an EIN but would like to apply for an EIN, see the IRS article here.
Advanced Payment
By default, this box is checked since we highly recommend that you set up your Payment Account under Advanced Payment.
The Advanced Payment account is a newer option for us and offers the following features that is not available on the Quick Start payment Account:
- More Detailed Financial Reports
- Funds Release Frequency Options of: Daily, Weekly, Monthly
- Switch between Direct Deposit/Check payment at any time
- Ability to place Funds Holding (Stop payment) on Payment Account
- Quicker settlement time for AMEX transactions
- Lowered processing fees for Donations
- Transfer funds from one Race to another Race's Refund Reserve (must be on the same Payment Account)
- Less unrecognized transactions/charge backs due to longer Billing Descriptor
What is your Relationship to the Business?
We are looking for the relationship of the individual you've entered for "Tell us about yourself". For business entities, you can only choose either Owners or Officers. Officer is an individual with significant responsibility to control, manage, or direct a legal entity customer, including an executive officer or senior manager (e.g., a Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operating Officer, Managing Member, General Partner, President, Vice President, or Treasurer)
Applying as an Owner
If the individual under "Tell us about yourself" is an owner, then you must enter the percentage of ownership for the business. If there are additional owners, then click "Add Another Owner" and fill out the additional owners personal information and ownership percentage.
Applying as an Officer
If the individual under "Tell us about yourself" is an officer, then you must select the Employee Title for this individual. If the their title is not listed as an option, select "Someone else who regularly performs similar functions" and enter the Title for this individual.
Legal Ownership Information
If there are owner(s) of 25% or more ownership for the Business Entity, then full personal information including full SSN is required for the owner(s). Otherwise, check the box "There are no owners with 25% or more ownership in the business".
Setting up Payments to a 501c(3) Charity, or Other Non-Profit Organizations
If the funds are paid to a 501c(3) or other non-profit organizations, please select this option.
Important: Only physical address are able to be entered for the organization location - PO Boxes are not allowed.
Setting up the Payment Account for Non-Profit Organization is exactly the same as setting up for a Business entity. Please refer to the steps above to set up the payment account for 501c(3) Charities and other Non-Profits.
Only Officer individuals can be entered under "Tell us about yourself" when setting up a payment account for 501c(3) Charity or other Non-Profits.
Setting up Payments to Public Schools and Government Entities
If the funds are paid to a public school or other government entities, please select this option.
Important: Only physical address are able to be entered for the organization location - PO Boxes are not allowed.
Setting up the Payment Account for public schools and government entities is exactly the same as setting up for a Business entity. Please refer to the steps above to set up the payment account for more information.
Public Schools and other Government Entities are exempt from entering "Owners" as government entities do not have a concept of a controlling owner. However, government entity types must provide personal information for an authorized representative since payment accounts must be associated with a person.
Annual Total Sales Volume/Credit Card History
Once you’ve set up the new payment account information, you will need to enter in how much sales volume through credit card transactions you would expect in a year.
Also, let us know whether or not this business/organization has accepted credit cards before.
How Would You Like To Get Paid?
Next, you will need to decide how you or your organization would like to be paid. The recommended method for getting paid is direct deposit. Setting up direct deposit is much more convenient for you and your race because you will not need to rely on the speed of the postal service to receive your payment, and you will save yourself on trips to the bank.
Direct Deposit
If you select direct deposit you will need to enter in what type of bank account you want to deposit your race funds to. You will also need to provide a place to write a check to for certain things that RunSignup may not be able to process as a direct deposit, such as writing a refund reserve balance check.
By default, funds are released via direct deposit every Tuesday - end of day. Please allow up to 3 business days for the funds to reflect on your bank statements. You are able to check the status of the direct deposit on your Manage Payment Account Page > View Payments.
Check
If you decide to set up your account to pay by a check, you can do so by filling out all necessary fields below.
By default , check payments are released every Tuesday end of day. Please allow up to 10 business days for the check the check's arrival. For status of the check, please contact finance@runsignup.com.
Payment Account Agreement
Once you have filled in all of the information that you can, read through the payment account agreement terms, type your name in the box below to agree to them, and select the Save & Continue button below. The RunSignup Race Contract can also be viewed here.
Payment Account Setup Errors
If you submitted the payment account application and received the popup error below, this means that our system was not able to auto-approve your Payment Account.
Wait on Manual Review - This sends your Payment Account application to our Risk Team for manual review. The review process is less than 24 hours but there can be occasions where manual review may take up to 3-5 business days. You will receive email notification letting you know your Payment Account is approved. If there are any issues with your application, our Risk Team will reach out to you.
I Will Update My Information and Try Again - This creates several new fields on the Payment Account application for you to fill out. If you would like to try to auto-approve your Payment Account, choose this option to enter additional information. Otherwise, choose Wait on Manual Review.
Additional Payment Account Information
Please refer to our Payment Account FAQs here.
For a guide on how to Manage your Payment Account, see here.
For any assistance with your Payment Account setup, feel free to reach out to finance@runsignup.com.