Take a deposit or save a card when customers book

Before you start

• The owner's sign-in for the portal. Only the owner can send, charge, release or refund.
• A Stripe account, or a few minutes to make one when the portal sends you to Stripe. Card payments are paid into your own Stripe account. Kwickly Answers takes no cut. Stripe's own fees apply.
• A published booking page. The card and deposit links open the customer's own booking page, so without one there is no link to send.

Steps

Connect your Stripe account

1. In the portal, open Account, then Money, then Get paid by card.
2. Press Set up card payments and follow Stripe's steps.
3. When you come back, you should see Connected, payouts to and the last four digits of your bank account. If you see “Stripe still needs a few details from you before you can take cards.”, press Finish setting up.

Choose your deposit refund policy

1. Open What it says, then Business details, and find Your deposit refund policy.
2. Pick one: Refunded in full if they cancel in time (then fill in Hours before the appointment), Kept as credit toward a future visit, Not refunded, or In my own words.
3. If you will charge a late-cancellation fee, fill in Late-cancellation window (hours). Canceling less than this many hours before the appointment counts as late.
4. Press Save deposit policy. You should see “Saved.” and, under Customers read:, the words customers see before they pay.

Set a deposit or a saved card on a service

1. Open What it says, then Products & services, and open the service.
2. Under Card payments, type an amount in Take a deposit ($), like 25. Leave it blank to ask for none.
3. To charge for missed or late-canceled visits, tick Save a card for fees and fill in No-show fee ($), Late-cancellation fee ($), or both.
4. Optional: tick Hold the no-show fee when the booking is under 5 days away. A hold for that amount is then placed on the customer's card. It is not used with a deposit.
5. Press Save. Changes apply to new bookings. Bookings already made keep what the customer agreed to.

What your customers see

• Booking online: before paying, they read your terms and tick “I have read and agree to these terms.” They pay or save their card on Stripe's payment page, so the card number is typed there.
• In their emails: the confirmation and the reminder say “If you haven't already, pay the amount deposit here” or “add your card here”, linking to their booking page.
• Booking on a call: your assistant offers to email a link to their booking page, where they pay on Stripe's payment page. The card is typed on that page, not read out on the call. If they would rather not, the booking is still made and your assistant tells them you will be in touch about the deposit.
• Before they cancel: their booking page tells them what happens to their deposit, for example “If you cancel by the cut-off, your amount deposit will be refunded.”

Use the Payments panel on a booking

1. In Calendar, find the booking and press Payments, next to Move. A booking that still needs something says so: Deposit not paid, Card needed, Card link sent or Refund owed.
2. Send the card link again emails the customer their booking page again, so they can pay the deposit or save a card. Use it after a card did not go through, too.
3. Charge fee charges the no-show or late-cancellation fee the customer agreed to, on the card they saved. Fees are never charged by themselves. A no-show fee can be charged only after the appointment time. A late-cancellation fee needs a cancel inside your late window, and is refused if the deposit was refunded.
4. Release hold lets go of a hold on the customer's card. You can't charge the no-show fee after this.
5. Refund sends money back to the customer's card. It can't be undone, and Stripe may keep its own fee on a refund.
6. Each button asks you to confirm, with the amount and the customer's name, before anything happens.

When a booking with a deposit is canceled

• Your policy is “Refunded in full if they cancel in time”, and the customer cancels in time on their booking page or on a call: Kwickly Answers refunds the deposit for you from your Stripe account, and you and the customer each get an email. The customer is told refunds usually show within 5 to 10 business days.
• You cancel the booking: nothing is refunded by itself. You get an email asking “Refund the amount deposit?” with a link to that booking's Payments panel.
• Your policy is “Kept as credit toward a future visit”: the deposit is saved as credit on their customer record and taken off their next deposit automatically. When a customer has credit, a booking's Payments panel also offers Use amount credit.
• “Not refunded” or your own words: nothing is refunded by itself. You can still press Refund.
• An automatic refund did not go through: the booking shows Refund owed. Open Payments and press Refund to try again.
• The booking was moved first: the deposit stays with the booking, and the cancel-by time and your late-cancellation window count back from its new time.

It worked when

Book a service that takes a deposit on your own booking page, using your own email. After you pay on Stripe's page, the booking's Payments panel in the portal says Deposit paid., and the payment shows in your payments list under Account, Money.

Related help

• Change prices and services
• Turn on bookings
• Refunds
• All help pages