Why pay to join
You paid, so you go.
Every plan on Kept Plans asks you to pay your part to join. Here is what that covers, why it does not come back, and how we are testing it honestly.
What your payment covers
Three things, one tap.
Your share of the costs
The court, the table, the lanes, the gas. Split evenly and paid up front, like splitting the bill before it shows up, so nobody chases anyone for money afterward.
Your spot
Your RSVP. The host plans around it and books for real numbers. On a free plan it is a small amount the host picks.
New people who actually came
Everyone else paid too, so everyone shows up. You meet the people who said yes, not the ones who said maybe.
The thesis
Free yeses are cheap. Cheap yeses do not show up.
When saying yes costs nothing, people say yes to more than they will do. A maybe gets typed as a yes, and a yes gets quietly dropped when something easier comes along.
Paying changes the question. It is no longer “would I like to do this?” but “am I actually going?”. Once you have paid, you go, because nobody likes wasting money they already spent.
That is why it is not a deposit and it does not come back when you show up. It is what the plan costs, like a ticket. The only time you are not charged is when the plan does not happen.
In one line
You pay your part. You go. Everyone else does too.
- You show up
- You paid for a plan that happened
- You cancel or skip it
- No refund. Your spot was held for you
- The plan does not happen
- You are not charged
What it builds on
Well-known ideas, not magic.
None of this is new. It borrows from ideas behavioural researchers have studied for decades.
Sunk cost
Money already spent pulls you toward using what you paid for. Usually that is a bias. Here it gets you off the couch and out the door.
Commitment devices
Deciding in advance, with something at stake, helps your future self follow through when the couch is calling.
Implementation intentions
A specific when, where and with whom turns an intention into an action. “We should” has none of those. A plan has all three.
The experiment
Free RSVP versus paying to join.
We are comparing plans where joining is free with plans where people pay to join, and measuring what actually happens.
| What we measure | What it tells us |
|---|---|
| Joined to attended | Of the people who said yes, how many actually came. |
| Cancellations | How many people cancel, and how early. |
| No-shows | How many people neither came nor cancelled. |
| Repeat attendance | Whether people come back for another plan. |
| Satisfaction | How people rate the plan afterwards, guests and hosts. |
| Plans joined | Whether paying puts people off joining at all. |
| People who start hosting | Whether reliable groups make more people want to host. |
We will look at both sides fairly. If paying turns out to put people off more than it helps, we will change it.
Results get published when there is enough data.
Not before, and not cherry-picked. Small numbers are noisy, and we would rather say nothing than say something misleading.
When there is a result worth sharing, it will be on this page and in the changelog, with how we measured it.
Questions, answered
Do I get my money back when I show up?
No. It is not a deposit. It is what you pay to join: your share of the plan’s costs, or the RSVP on a free plan. It is charged when the plan happens. The only time you are not charged is when the plan does not happen.
Why pay to join?
Because free signups fill up with maybes. When everyone has paid their part, everyone shows up: nobody wants to waste money they already spent. The host can book the court with real numbers, nobody chases anyone for money afterward, and you meet people who actually came. Read the thinking behind it.
Where does the money go?
Your share of the costs goes to the host, to pay for the court, the table or the gas, plus any host fee for running it. RSVP money is split: 50% to the host and 50% to Kept Plans. The service fee on plans with costs goes to Kept Plans.
What if I need to cancel?
Cancel from the plan, so your spot can go to someone else and the host knows. There are no refunds for cancelling: you paid for a spot that was held for you. Tapped join by mistake? Cancel within 15 minutes and nothing is charged.
Do you give refunds?
Only when the plan does not happen: the host cancels, the weather cancels it, or it does not reach its minimum. Then you are not charged, or you are refunded in full if the charge already went through. There are no refunds for cancelling or not coming. The payment and refund policy has every case.
See how it feels.
Pay your part, show up, meet the people. It is the quickest way to get the idea.