Online registration checklist: 15 points for more bookings

The offer

1. A course description that answers questions: what will I learn, who is the course for, what are the prerequisites, who leads it, what should I bring? Every open question costs an email – or a booking.
2. Dates and place in full: for a series, all the dates including days off, plus the time, duration and address or the note “online”.
3. Free places visible: “3 places left” motivates. And instead of “fully booked”, offer a waiting list – that way no registration is lost.
4. The price as a total price: Towards consumers you state the total price including VAT (§ 3 German Price Indication Ordinance). Whether your courses are exempt from VAT depends on the offer: since 2025 this is governed by the redrafted § 4 no. 21 German VAT Act – purely recreational courses are not exempt, private educational institutions still need a certificate from the state authority, and for small businesses the thresholds of €25,000 in the previous year and €100,000 in the current year apply (§ 19 UStG). If in doubt, ask your tax adviser.

The form

5. Ask only for what you need: name, email address and the details for invoice and payment are usually enough. Mark mandatory fields. Every extra question lowers the number of bookings – and the GDPR requires data minimisation anyway.
6. Booking without an account: a guest booking saves a password and registration. A customer account is an offer, not an obstacle.
7. Several participants in one booking: parents often register two children, couples book together. That should work in one pass.
8. A choice of payment methods: invoice, direct debit or PayPal – depending on what your participants are used to. For direct debit you need a mandate (see Setting up SEPA direct debit).
9. Consents separate and not pre-ticked: a newsletter or photo permission is voluntary and has nothing to do with the booking. Every consent gets its own empty box.

Completing the booking

10. Terms and privacy notice before the booking: withdrawal and cancellation fees, a course cancelled by you, catch-up sessions – that belongs in your terms of participation, linked before submitting. Plus the privacy policy and the legal notice.
11. Handle withdrawal properly: if a right of withdrawal exists, you need a withdrawal policy and, since June 2026, an electronic withdrawal function. If the exception for leisure courses with a fixed date applies, you have to state explicitly that there is no right of withdrawal. More on this in the article on the withdrawal button.
12. An unambiguous order button: the button used to book must read “order with obligation to pay” or a correspondingly unambiguous wording – otherwise no contract comes about (§ 312j(3) and (4) German Civil Code). Details below.

What may go on the order button

• Sufficient according to the explanatory memorandum are wordings such as “order with obligation to pay”, “order subject to payment”, “conclude a contract with obligation to pay” or “buy”.
• Not sufficient are “registration”, “continue”, “order” or “place order”. A court also refused to accept “register bindingly now” (Berlin Regional Court).
• “Book subject to payment” expresses the obligation to pay just as “order subject to payment” does and is therefore well defensible; there is no ruling on exactly this wording. “Book” on its own is risky – the CJEU has made clear that only the words on the button count.
• No additions: the button should carry nothing else. The Celle Higher Regional Court objected to “buy now and continue to payment” – because of the addition. Better to show the price beside the button than on it.

After the booking

13. Confirmation by email: consumers must receive confirmation of the contract with its content on a durable medium, at the latest when the course begins (§ 312f(2) German Civil Code). An automatic confirmation email with all the dates meets this and saves questions.
14. Invoice and payment details: send the invoice with it or announce it; for direct debit, announce the collection with its date in advance.
15. Contact before the course starts: a short email with directions, the room and what to bring – and if a session is cancelled, one message to the whole group instead of many individual calls.

How Kursimple helps

• A course website with a course list, dates and free places; full courses fill the waiting list.
• Cart, guest booking and family booking – several participants in one pass.
• Invoice, cash and PayPal in every plan, SEPA direct debit from Plus.
• The checkout button reads “book subject to payment”.
• The confirmation email goes out automatically.
• Online withdrawal and follow-up forms after the booking from Plus.

More about online registration

Sources

• § 312j German Civil Code – button rule · § 312f German Civil Code – contract confirmation
• Explanatory memorandum on the button rule, BT-Drucksache 17/7745
• CJEU, C-249/21 (“complete booking”), report on LTO
• Berlin Regional Court, 97 O 5/13, report
• Celle Higher Regional Court, 13 U 21/26, report
• § 3 German Price Indication Ordinance
• § 4 German VAT Act · § 19 German VAT Act · German Federal Ministry of Finance circular of 24 Oct 2025

Read on: withdrawal button · GDPR for course providers