Deposits and payments

The three payment choices

Set Payment on each service (open the service, then Edit in the General card):

• No payment required: nothing is paid online; the customer pays at the appointment.
• Deposit required: a Fixed amount or a Percentage of the price now, the rest at the appointment.
• Full payment required: the whole price online.

A staff member can have their own payment choice for a service, in the service's Pricing for window or under My pricing in the Staff Portal. See Services.

Settings → Payments sets the Default deposit: what a new service's deposit starts at when you choose Deposit required. Changing it doesn't change services that already have a deposit.

For example, a €60 service with a 20% deposit asks for €12 online. The customer pays the other €48 at the appointment: the booking's Payment card shows Deposit paid: €12.00 and Pay at the appointment: €48.00. A deposit of a fixed €15 on the same service asks for €15.

Before paying, the customer sees what happens to the money if they cancel, worded from your settings, for example: "€12.00 deposit. Refundable if you cancel at least 24 hours before. Non-refundable after that." See Cancellations and rescheduling.

How a customer pays

When a booking needs a payment, Confirm booking in the widget takes the customer straight to Shopify's checkout. The booking waits as Awaiting deposit and its time is held for them. Once they pay, the booking is Confirmed and the confirmation emails go out.

The checkout can also hold an Outstanding balance line: an unpaid no-show fee the customer owes from an earlier booking. A customer who owes a fee pays it this way even for a service that takes no payment. See No-shows and debts.

A visit is paid once, in one checkout, with one line per service that takes a payment. Before paying, the customer sees one sentence for the whole visit, with the total, for example "€15.00 deposit. Refundable if you cancel at least 24 hours before. Non-refundable after that."

The pending payment hold

While a booking waits for payment, its time is held so nobody else can book it. When the hold runs out unpaid, the booking is canceled, the time is freed, and the customer gets the Deposit not paid in time email, if you have it switched on.

• Bookings made on your store are held for the Pending payment hold in Settings → Payments → More settings: 10, 15, 30 or 60 minutes, 15 to start with. The customer pays in the same visit to your store, so a short hold is enough.
• Bookings you or your staff make are held for 24 hours, but never past the booking's start, because the customer opens the payment link later.

A hold on your store counts from when the booking was made. One you or your staff made counts from the first payment link sent, or from when it was made without one. Sending the link again only reminds the customer: it never extends the hold. An unpaid visit is canceled as a whole, including services that take no payment.

For example, with a 15-minute hold, a booking made on your store at 10:00 and still unpaid is released shortly after 10:15.

If the customer comes back from the checkout and goes to change the time or the services, the hold ends there and then: the time is free again, for them too, and no email is sent.

Bookings you or your staff make

When you choose Add booking in the calendar, or a staff member makes a New booking in the Staff Portal, for a service that takes a payment, the booking waits for payment. The button then reads Create and send payment link, in the admin and in the Staff Portal alike, and the payment link goes out as soon as the booking is made. If it can't be sent, the booking stays: send it later with Send payment link on the booking. The customer gets an email to pay the deposit through Shopify's checkout. If they open the link after the booking has stopped waiting for payment, it shows their booking page instead, which says the time is no longer held and offers Book again.

If you move a booking that is still waiting for payment, its checkout shows the new time and staff member. A payment link already sent keeps working and opens the updated checkout, so there is nothing to send again.

A customer who owes a fee from an earlier no-show pays it too. The form says how much they owe, and the booking waits for that payment, even for a service with no deposit.

A booking that waits for payment needs an email address the payment can go to. If the one on the customer's profile isn't a real address, the form says so and no booking is made: correct it on the customer's profile, then try again. When you add or edit a customer, the email must be a real address too.

Refunds

Only the payment for that one booking is ever refunded, never an outstanding balance paid in the same checkout.

• You or your staff cancel: the cancel window has a refund box, for example Refund the €12 deposit to the customer, ticked to start with. Untick it to keep the money; you can add a note, saved to the customer's notes.
• The customer cancels in time, inside your cancellation window: refunded or kept, following When a customer cancels in time in Settings → Cancellations & no-shows → More settings. It starts as Refund their deposit or payment.
• The customer cancels late, or doesn't turn up: always kept, and deducted from any no-show fee for that booking. See No-shows and debts.
• A shop closure cancels bookings: any deposit is refunded.

Refunds go back through Shopify to the way the customer paid. The customer learns about it from Rezervito's cancellation email; Shopify doesn't send a refund email of its own. If Shopify can't make one, the booking shows Refund failed, and your shop notification email gets a message. Choose Try again, or refund it yourself in Shopify (Open the order in Shopify) and then choose Mark as refunded. Once refunded, the Payment card shows Deposit refunded and Activity has a line for the refund.

When a booking is completed, its deposit or payment counts towards the price.