Your payment policy decides what a client commits to when they book: nothing, a card on file, or a deposit. It also decides what a late cancellation or a no-show costs. This article covers what happens day to day: at booking, at checkout, and when you charge a fee.
Before you start
- Card payments must be connected. See Connect card payments.
- An admin sets the policy under Settings → Payments & selling → Payment policy. See Set your payment policy.
- Charging a fee needs a card captured for that booking, by a deposit or a card on file.
The three choices
| Policy | At booking | Can you charge a fee later? |
|---|---|---|
| No policy | Nothing is asked for | No, there's no card to charge |
| Card on file | The client adds a card. Nothing is charged. | Yes |
| Deposit | The client pays a deposit | Yes |
How big the deposit is
- A deposit is a percentage of the visit or a fixed amount. It's never more than the service price.
- On a visit with several services, one deposit is worked out for all of them together. A fixed $25 deposit is $25 for the visit, not $25 per service.
- A service with its own deposit adds that deposit on top.
When the policy applies
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Only for visits over | Below this amount, nothing is asked for. Leave it at 0 to apply to every booking. |
| Require a deposit for large bookings | A booking at or over a total, or a visit longer than a number of hours, takes a deposit even when the policy only asks for a card. |
| A service's own Payment policy | Set in the service's Settings section. It overrides the location's policy for any appointment that includes it, at any price. |
| A location's own policy | Under Each location, a location can use its own policy in full instead of the business one. |
| One booking | Staff booking from the calendar can change what this client must do for this appointment. |
When the services on one visit disagree, the strictest wins: a deposit beats a card, and a card beats nothing.
At checkout
The deposit already shows as Paid and comes off what the client owes. Take the rest as usual. See Take a payment.
If the bill ends up smaller than the deposit, for example after a discount, the cart shows Deposit is $X more than this bill. Under Where the unused deposit goes, choose Refund to card or Keep as credit. It happens when you complete the sale.
Charge a late-cancellation fee
Open the appointment
On the calendar, open the appointment. Select its status (such as Booked) and choose Cancelled.
Give a reason
Answer Why are you cancelling?
Decide about the deposit
If the client paid a deposit, choose under What happens to the deposit. Follow the policy shows what the policy keeps and refunds. Choosing Refund all or Keep all instead needs a reason, which goes in the booking's activity log.
Charge the fee
Tick Charge $X cancellation fee to the card on file. It's off until you tick it, so you can let a regular off. It only appears when the cancellation falls inside the policy's window.
Confirm
Select Cancel appointment. When money is taken, the client is always told.
Charge a no-show fee
Mark the no-show
Open the appointment, select its status and choose No-show.
Decide about the deposit
As with a cancellation, choose under What happens to the deposit.
Charge the fee
Tick Charge $X no-show fee to the card on file.
Confirm
Select Mark no-show. The slot is freed and the no-show is recorded on the client.
If the deposit doesn't cover the whole fee, the box reads Charge the remaining $X to the card on file.
When the client cancels themselves
- Outside the window: free. A deposit is refunded in full.
- Inside the window: online, they're asked to pay the cancellation fee. Rescheduling inside the window is blocked rather than charged.
What the client is told
At booking, the client sees the terms in plain words: the deposit, the free-cancellation window and the fees, in dollars. The same terms are on their booking page. Each booking keeps the terms it was made under, so changing the policy only affects new bookings.
Check it worked
- A message confirms what happened, such as Cancellation fee charged: $40.
- The fee and any deposit decision appear in the appointment's activity.
- Reports → Cancellation & no-show fees lists every fee charged. Reports → Cancellations & no-shows shows rates by client, service and provider. Reports → Prepayment list and Deferred revenue & MRR show money taken for work not yet done.
If something goes wrong
There's no fee box when I cancel
The booking has no card captured, the cancellation is outside the window, or no fee is set for this kind of cancellation.
"Fee couldn't be charged: no card on file"
The booking has no usable card. The appointment shows Cancellation fee owed or No-show fee owed with the amount To pay. Select Collect fee on the appointment to take it another way.
The client says they didn't recognise the fee
They were emailed when it was charged, and it's labelled clearly on their statement. If they dispute it with their bank, see Respond to a card dispute.
The deposit couldn't be returned
The sale is flagged for you. At checkout, select Retry refund, or Keep as credit if the client agrees.