Setting Up Your PayNow For Events: Vendors And Visitors

It starts with a message in the stallholders' chat: "PayNow to 9XXX XXXX, S$35 per stall." Someone replies with a screenshot and a question. "It says TaX MeX LiX. Is that you?"

Since 6 June 2026, that's what payers see when they pay a person by PayNow. Nicknames are gone, the real registered name shows with letters masked, and your event's name appears nowhere.

None of this stops you collecting. It just means setting up your PayNow for events takes an hour of thought before the first dollar arrives: which account, which name the payer will see, what QR you share, and what reference each person types.

Both kinds of event money are here: stall fees from 20 or 80 vendors, weeks ahead, and visitor entry from hundreds of people at a gate on one morning. For the wider job, from deposits to refunds, see our guide to collecting booth fees.

Personal PayNow Or A Business UEN: Which Should You Use?

For a one-off community event, personal PayNow on your mobile number is usually enough. If you run events as a business, a society or an association, use your UEN, because payers see your registered name rather than a masked personal one.

PayNow is a service from Singapore's banks that lets someone pay you with a mobile number, an NRIC/FIN or a business UEN instead of an account number. The Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) says it moves Singapore dollars, works 24/7, and is free to retail customers ABS: about PayNow.

We'd never print an NRIC on a poster, even our own. If you go personal, use the mobile number.

Personal mobile for a one-off, UEN once you run events regularly.

What Payers See Now That Nicknames Are Gone

Payers now see your real registered name with only selected letters shown. ABS ended nicknames on 6 June 2026 to cut impersonation scams, and its own example turns "Chan Shi Hui Jacqueline" into "ChXX ShX HuX JacquXXXXX" ABS media release on the end of PayNow nicknames, 29 Apr 2026.

The same release says UEN businesses can't change their registered names, so payers see the business name, not your event's.

Either way, put one line in your vendor info: "You'll see the name TaX MeX LiX (our treasurer). Don't pay if it shows anything else." It saves a dozen "is this you?" messages.

Static QR Or A QR With The Amount?

A static QR carries only your PayNow number, so the payer types the amount and reference. A QR with both built in means fewer typos and fewer short payments.

DBS describes its PayNow Corporate QR as one "with or without the reference number and amount details", made in its business banking. OCBC's business QR can carry them too. Personal banking apps vary, so check yours.

• Stall fees: one QR per booking with the amount and reference built in, if your bank can make it. Otherwise a static QR with the amount and reference written right beside it.
• Gate entry: one static QR, printed large, with the price and reference on the sign. Families pay for two or three adults, so a fixed S$5 amount gets in the way.

Our verdict: build the amount in where every payer owes the same, and leave it open where they don't.

How Do You Set PayNow References So Payments Match?

A good reference is short, unique per booking, and printed next to the QR so the payer copies it as they pay. Here's how we'd set them up:

1. Keep it under 20 characters. Banks cap the field (DBS lists 25 characters for incoming PayNow references), so short codes survive every app.
2. Use the booking, not the person. "GM07" for stall 7 is unique. "Ah Lian" isn't, and her son may be the one paying.
3. Add an event prefix. "GM" for Garden Market keeps it apart from last month's swap meet.
4. Use one fixed reference for the gate, like "ENTRY", so every entry payment shows up in one search.
5. Put the reference, amount and QR in one place: the confirmation message, the payment page, or the gate sign.

A missing reference is common: match on amount, time and name instead, and message the payer.

Stall Fees And Visitor Tickets Need Different Setups

Stall fees are matched one by one, booking against payment, while visitor entry is matched by totals at the end of the day. Checking every S$5 transfer at a gate builds a queue out to the road.

Stall Fees: One Booking, One Payment

Each vendor gets a stall, an amount, a reference and a deadline. When their transfer lands in your bank, you mark that booking as paid and send a confirmation.

The stall isn't confirmed until you've seen the money in your own account. Checking a transfer properly and spotting an edited screenshot is its own job: see how to verify a PayNow payment and spot a fake.

Visitor Entry: Count Heads, Then Count Money

At the gate, a volunteer glances at each payer's success screen and waves them through. Nobody can check 300 transfers against a bank feed in real time, so count instead. A second volunteer clicks a counter for every paying adult, and a small cash box takes anyone without PayNow. After closing, paying adults times the price should roughly equal the PayNow total under your gate reference plus the cash.

Off by a few is normal. Off by 40 means something's wrong at the gate, and next time you sell entry ahead online.

Precision for stall fees, totals for the gate.

Should Event Money Go Into A Separate Account?

Yes. Event money in its own account turns your bank statement into your record, with nothing to pick out by hand.

There's a catch with personal PayNow. DBS and HSBC both say a mobile number can be linked to only one account at a time, so moving your number to an event account sends your dinner splits there too. Live with that for a few weeks, or use a committee member's number instead.

Businesses have it easier. DBS and OCBC both let you add a 3-character suffix to your UEN to create extra PayNow proxies, each linked to its own account, so one proxy can belong to your events account alone.

Business Account Fees: Check, Don't Guess

Business accounts may come with a minimum balance, a monthly fee or both, and the details differ by bank. Read your bank's current pricing guide first, and ask about charges on incoming PayNow.

One rule is fixed: ABS says entities can't add a surcharge for paying by PayNow. Build your costs into the price instead, the way we describe in how to price booths at your fair or market.

Our verdict: a separate account is worth an afternoon at the bank, even for one event.

What Records Should You Keep For PayNow?

Keep the bank statement for the event period. For the gate, keep the day's head count, the cash total and the PayNow total under your gate reference.

Afterwards, filter the statement by your prefix and tick off every stall row. The statement is the record; screenshots aren't.

Worked Example: A 20-Stall Plant And Pet Market

Picture a Saturday plant and pet market in a community garden: 20 stalls at S$35 each, selling cuttings, pots, soil mixes, pet treats and collars. Adults pay S$5 at the gate and children enter free. This is an illustration, not a real event.

The garden's interest group isn't registered, so the treasurer collects on personal PayNow. Six weeks out, she opens a savings account used only for the market and moves her mobile number's PayNow link to it.

Stall fees. Each stall gets a reference from GM01 to GM20, and the vendor info says the payee shows as "TaX MeX LiX". 18 of the 20 transfers carry the reference, and one message each sorts out the other 2. That's S$700 in one account before the day.

Gate entry. One printed static QR, a sign reading "S$5 per adult, reference ENTRY", a clicker and a cash box with S$50 of change.

The day ends like this:

The total matches the clicker. The 238 transfers covered 266 adults because families paid for two or three at once, which is why the gate QR has no fixed amount.

The next morning, the whole market is reconciled from the statement in 20 minutes.

Using DuitNow And PromptPay Next Door

DuitNow in Malaysia and PromptPay in Thailand work like PayNow, so every habit above carries over. Only the IDs change.

• DuitNow is run by PayNet. You can receive with a mobile number, a MyKad or passport number, or a business registration number for SSM-registered businesses, and each ID links to one account.
• PromptPay is Thailand's system. You can be paid with a mobile number or a citizen ID, and payers scan Thai QR Payment codes in their banking app.

Both connect to PayNow across the border, and ABS describes both links using mobile numbers. A Malaysian vendor booking your Singapore stall may be able to pay your PayNow mobile number from their own app; ask them to check with their bank first. They'll see your name masked with asterisks, not X's.

What To Do Next

Before the vendor call goes out, decide four things: personal or UEN, which account the money lands in, the name payers will see, and your reference format. Write them into the vendor info.

A Google Form, a spreadsheet and PayNow handle a 20-stall market. The tiring part is matching 80 payments to 80 bookings, which BookASquare makes easier: buyers see your QR, amount and order number together, and upload proof on the order, and you tick each off against your bank.

One limit, plainly: BookASquare never holds your money. If you'd rather a platform collect and pay you out, Eventbrite or Peatix fit better.

If you want stall payments matched to bookings without the chat scroll, see how manual and card payments work.