The simplest setup for a team where one person pays is to make that person the group lead. The lead buys the seats in one checkout. Each teammate then claims a seat through an invite link. The lead's payment covers the whole team, but each teammate's name, contact details and answers stay theirs. Set the price so the lead's payment matches the number of seats. Keep refunds on a clear approval path. Confirm the GST treatment with a chartered accountant before you take any money.
Why the lead-pays model works
Most group registration tools offer three payment setups: one checkout for the whole group, split payments, or individual payment links. [1] The lead-pays model is the first of these. College teams suit it well. One person usually holds the bank account, cheque book or UPI handle for the club. The rest of the team should not have to chase each other for money.
A common design makes the payer the group admin. When someone registers several people, they become the admin, and they pay for the registrations and any add-ons. [4] This comes from a vendor's marketing, not an independent study. The logic still holds. One payment gives one receipt, one refund path and one person to contact when something goes wrong.
Set up the group ticket and invite link
The steps below describe the general pattern. Check the exact screens in your platform before you publish.
- Create one ticket for the team seat, or one ticket type per seat category.
- Set the minimum and maximum quantities per group order at ticket level. Swapcard, for example, lets organisers set these limits per ticket. [3]
- Set a sale window and capacity so the team seats do not overrun the event.
- Give the team lead the order link. Ask them to buy the number of seats they need.
- Send the invite link to each teammate so they can claim a seat in their own name.
- Check the claimed seats against the number paid for before the registration window closes.
On Unifesto, group tickets work this way: the lead pays for the seats and teammates claim theirs by invite link. Paid tickets run through Razorpay checkout, and payouts go to the Space's verified bank account. [Unifesto's group tickets are described in the product facts, so check the current screens in your Space before you publish.]
Quota controls help too. Bizzabo's example caps attendees per cost centre, such as a maximum of 10 attendees per cost centre. [9] A similar cap works well for a club with a fixed budget per team.
Choose a pricing model
There are two common ways to price a group. In the first, the first registrant pays a single team price and later members join free. RunSignup calls this the most common relay setup. [2] In the second, each joiner pays an individual amount. [2]
| Model | Who pays | Best for | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Team price paid by the lead | One payment for the full team | Teams with one budget holder | Teammates who drop out leave the lead paying for an empty seat |
| Per-person price | Each teammate, usually through their own payment | Teams where members pay for themselves | More payments to track and chase |
| Tiered group rate | The lead, at a lower rate per person for bigger groups | Large squads, such as five or more | Rates need to be stated clearly on the page |
Venuesight gives one example of the tiered approach. Individuals pay a set price. Groups of five or more pay a lower per-person rate. [6]
Take a team of 12 with a seat price of INR 300. The lead pays INR 3,600 once. If three teammates later drop out, the lead has paid for three empty seats. Most organisers avoid this by setting a cut-off date for claiming seats and a rule for unclaimed seats before the sale opens.
Collect each teammate's details
The lead should not type in every teammate's details. One form template repeats the attendee fields once per seat. A group of six therefore produces six sets of name, email, dietary and accessibility fields. The organiser answers their own questions once. [5] Each teammate fills in their own block, and the lead answers the team-level questions.
Unifesto supports custom registration questions, including file uploads and show-if logic. Each registration gets its own QR pass. Check-in runs from the Unifesto app at as many check-in points as needed, with a duplicate guard. A team member cannot be scanned in twice, even when several names sit on one order.
If a teammate cannot attend, the organiser can move the registration to another account by email. Ticket transfer is part of the product, so the seat does not have to be lost.
Handle approvals, cancellations and refunds
A group registration is one order, and that has a consequence. In Swapcard's model, approving or rejecting a moderated group registration affects every participant in that order. [3] One rejection therefore hits the whole team. If your event uses approvals, tell the lead that any decision on the order applies to all its seats. It is safer to approve or reject the group before any teammate claims a seat.
Refunds need the same care. Unifesto's refunds need approval before money moves. That check protects the team as well as the organiser. For cancelled events, ticket holders are generally owed the ticket price back. The money should still move only after the refund is approved. See our guide to how refunds work when a college event is cancelled.
Per-event financials show what was collected, the fees, the refunds and the net amount. A CSV export is available. Use it to reconcile the lead's payment against the claimed seats before you pay anyone back.
Check GST and payment rules before money moves
Most teams need an expert here. A Quora answer, which is not an official source, says conference participation fees generally attract GST, commonly 18%, unless a specific exemption applies. [7] Two CA forum answers disagree with each other. One says a school's student conference fee is exempt if the school is a recognised educational institution and the event relates to students' education. [7] The other says GST at 18% applies to a college conference, and that the educational-institution exemption may not cover conference fees. [8] Neither is an official CBIC ruling. Confirm with a CA before you rely on either view.
IIT Kanpur's ICFMCF conference shows how fees can appear. It lists student fees of INR 4,000 for early bird and INR 5,000 for regular registration for oral presentations, with GST at 18% charged on top. Your event does not have to copy that model. The example shows the fee and the tax shown separately, so the team lead can see both on the invoice.
For payments from several people, Razorpay payment links accept partial payments. The link shows partially_paid until the full amount is cleared. Each partial payment gets its own payment ID under one order. [6] Several teammates can chip in toward one bill this way. This does not settle the tax question. It also does not make a personal account a sound place to collect fees. Read why collecting event fees on a personal UPI ID is a poor setup for a club or fest. For student clubs specifically, paid event tickets get no automatic GST exemption. Read more on whether GST applies to student club tickets.
Our view
Our view: for most college teams, the lead should pay once and seats should be claimed by invite link. The money stays in one place. Refunds go through one approval path. Teammates never need to share bank details with each other. Set a firm date after which unclaimed seats are released. Tell the lead that unclaimed seats are their cost to recover, not the event's.
What this advice cannot settle
The research gives vendor guidance, a few forum answers and one university fee sheet. It does not include an official Indian government or university guide to single-payer group registration. We found no official rule on whether a club may take one payment for a team and reimburse members afterwards. We also found nothing on which GST invoice a college will accept in that case. A corporate travel guide says per-passenger reimbursement works only if the invoice is issued in the company's name, even when individuals pay. That is a vendor blog and an illustration only. [Check your college's finance office for its rules on reimbursement, GST invoices in the college's name and refunds before you set this up.]
Unifesto's group tickets are as described in our product facts. We have not tested every edge case, such as partial team cancellations after a payment has cleared. Test with a small group first.
FAQ
Can one person pay for a whole team on a free event?
Yes. Free RSVP events cost nothing on Unifesto, so the lead-pays model matters most for paid events. On a free event, the lead can still reserve seats through a group order and share the invite link with teammates.
Do teammates need to pay anything extra?
It depends on the pricing model. In the relay model, the first team member pays the full team price and later members register for free. In per-person pricing, each teammate pays their own amount. [2]
What happens if a teammate cannot come?
The organiser can move the registration to another account by email. If the seat is not claimed by the cut-off, release it. Handle the cost on the lead's side as agreed beforehand.
Who issues the GST invoice when the lead pays for everyone?
Ask a CA and your college's finance office. The sources disagree on whether an educational-institution exemption covers conference fees, so do not assume an answer without professional advice. [7][8]
Set up group tickets on Unifesto for your club or fest.
Sources
- The Complete Group Registration Guide & Template: https://www.regfox.com/blog/how-to-simplify-group-registration-for-camps-retreats-and-teams-2
- Groups & Teams: How to Set Up and Price Relay Registration - RunSignup: https://info.runsignup.com/2026/04/23/groups-teams/
- How to set up Group Registration: https://help.swapcard.com/en/articles/15684566-how-to-set-up-group-registration
- Grow Event Attendance with Group Registration: https://www.rhythmsoftware.com/whats-new/group-registration
- Group Registration Form Template: https://www.regform.com/form-templates/group-registration-form
- Enable Partial Payments: https://razorpay.com/docs/payments/payment-links/partial-payments/
- GST Implication for Conducting Students National Conference Fee [Resolved]: https://www.caclubindia.com/experts/gst-implication-for-conducting-students-national-conference-fee-2935294.asp
- Is a fee charged for conference participation exempted from the GST in India? [Resolved]: https://www.caclubindia.com/experts/is-a-fee-charged-for-conference-participation-exempted-from-the-gst-in-india--2940194.asp
- Group Registration & Approvals: Workflow, Emails, Best Practices: https://www.bizzabo.com/blog/group-registration-approvals