Add New / Edit

A membership type is the template that defines what a membership costs, how long it lasts, who can sign up for it, and what information members provide. Most settings here can either use the system-wide default or override it for this type specifically, so you can run several types with different rules side by side — for example Full, Associate, and Student.

You create and edit types under Memberships > Membership Types. Each type’s edit screen has two tabs: General (covered below) and Meta Fields.

The display name for this membership type — for example Associate. This name is also used as the value in the membership name column when importing members via CSV, so it must match your import file exactly (case-insensitive). See [Install with Member Import].

These four settings control how long a membership lasts and what happens at expiry. Each can inherit the system default or override it for this type.

Renew Policy — whether memberships of this type can be renewed at all. Defaults to the system setting.

Renewal Mode — how the expiry date is calculated:

• Anniversary — expires 1 year after the join date
• Fixed — all memberships of this type expire on the same calendar date each year
• Never expires — membership does not lapse

Fixed Expiry Date — the day and month all memberships expire (e.g. 1 July). Only visible when Renewal Mode is Fixed. Defaults to the system setting.

Grace Period (days) — the number of days after expiry during which members retain access to members-only resources while they renew. Defaults to the system setting.

Registration Fee — the sign-up fee for this membership type. This fee also applies to expired memberships — once a membership has fully lapsed, renewing it costs the registration fee, not the renewal fee.

• If set to 0, this membership type is free and no payment is taken at sign-up.

Renewal Fee — the fee charged to renew, provided the membership hasn’t expired (i.e. the member renews while still active or within grace).

• If set to 0, the renewal fee is the same as the registration fee.

👉 Setting the renewal fee lower than the registration fee rewards members who renew before they lapse. A member who renews on time pays the lower renewal fee; one who lets their membership fully expire pays the higher registration fee to rejoin. This is the early-renewal incentive built into the fee model.

Applies a proportional discount for members joining mid-period, so someone signing up halfway through the year pays roughly half. Only applies to new registrations on types using a fixed-expiry renewal mode.

Options:

• None (the default)
• Months remaining

The currency for this type’s fees. Defaults to the system setting.

Controls self-registration for this type:

• Users can register — anyone can register using a shortcode-generated registration form.
• Only admins can register — no self-registration; admins create these records

Defaults to the system setting.

If admin approval is required, when a member registers they are placed in a ‘pending approval‘ status until reviewed.

This setting is only visible when registration is open to users.

Defaults to the system setting.

If required, a new member is sent an email with an email confirmation link.

Defaults to the system setting.

Tick the gateways offered for this membership type. Available options depend on what you’ve enabled site-wide under Meta Membership Settings > Payments:

• Credit Card (Stripe) — via Minimal Stripe Wrapper
• POLi Payments — NZ internet banking, via the Meta Poli Payments add-on
• Manual Payment — bank transfer, cash, or cheque – this option is built into core. 

A free membership type (registration fee 0) does not require a gateway.

This tab assigns your defined meta fields to this membership type and controls how each appears. The heading reminds you: fields that will appear on Profile and Registration forms. Available fields come from Meta Membership > Settings > Meta Fields — if a field you want isn’t listed, define it there first.

Profile and Registration form lists

The tab has two separate lists, switched via the Profile | Registration toggle near the top:

• Profile — fields shown on the member’s profile/dashboard, where existing members view and edit their details
• Registration — fields shown on the sign-up form for new registrants

A field can appear on one, both, or neither. Assign fields independently to each list — you might collect a phone number at registration but expose far more detail on the profile.

Adding and ordering fields

Unused fields appear under Available fields at the bottom, each tagged with its type (text, date, phone, multi_select, and so on) and a + add button. Click + add to move a field into the active list above. Use the up/down arrows on the left of each row to set the order fields appear on the form. Click the ✕ on the right to remove a field from the list.

Per-field controls

Each assigned field has four controls:

Width — half or full. Half-width fields sit two-per-row on the form; full-width fields span the row.

Privacy — who can see this field’s value:

• all — visible to everyone
• members — visible only to logged-in members
• owner — visible only to the member it belongs to

Can edit — yes or no. Whether the member can change this field’s value themselves, or whether it’s admin-managed only.

Required — a field defined as required (tagged req) must be filled in; this is set on the field definition, not here.

Click Save Changes when done.