Accept Payments for Bookings

Feature overview

You can accept payments for online bookings using Stripe Connect. You can treat these payments as refundable deposits or as full payment for the selected service.

Customers are redirected to a Stripe Checkout page to add their payment information and pay. Their booking is held for 10 minutes while they complete the payment.

Your waitlist and reservations pages show each customer's payment status, along with a link to manage the payment (issue a refund, etc.).

You can also set a cancellation policy, so customers who cancel early enough are refunded automatically, and edit the text messages customers get when they try to cancel a paid booking.

Stripe is a global payments and financial services company that makes it easy for us to provide these solutions to you, and for you to manage your own payments. You can learn more about them at www.stripe.com.

Getting started

Connect to Stripe

Payments are part of the Business plan. If you're on the Business plan and have Manager or higher access, go to Settings > Integrations.

However, since you'll need to create a payment account in Stripe, it's typically best if a business owner completes these steps.

You'll see the Stripe integration option at the bottom of the page:

Click "Connect" to get started.

You'll be directed to a Stripe Connect page where you enter your email to create your payment account, or, if you already have a Stripe account, you can link that one:

Follow the steps in the Stripe Connect setup, depending on whether you have an account or need to create one.

You'll need to enter your banking details for payouts and for identity verification.

Once you complete your Stripe account setup, you'll be redirected back to TablesReady.

Sometimes it takes Stripe a few minutes to process and verify you, so the integration may not show as successfully connected at first. If this happens to you, just give it a few minutes and refresh.

You should eventually get a screen like:

Setting up Services for Payments

Once Stripe Connect has been enabled, head to Settings > Services to set up your bookings for payments.

If you haven't already set up your business to take online bookings, go through that article first to set up your schedules, services, resources, and booking options.

Turn on the option to charge for services via Stripe:

Then, edit the services you want to charge for. Fill in the amount you want charged, as well as a description.

If you're charging a deposit that is not the full price of the service, you should clarify that in the description.

And that's it! Next, set your cancellation policy (see below).

What Your Customers See

Here's what this looks like for customers on your online booking page:

Clicking "Complete reservation" takes your customer to a Stripe Checkout page. They have 10 minutes to complete the payment; otherwise the booking is automatically canceled.

Once their payment goes through, they'll see their reservation confirmation page and receive their reservation confirmation SMS, if you've turned it on. Confirmation and reminder texts aren't sent for a booking until it's paid.

On your end, you will see the reservation on your waitlist and reservations pages, something like:

It shows the payment status, Paid or Unpaid. While a customer is still paying, the booking shows a red Unpaid badge and a "Holding for" countdown. Unpaid reservations are removed after 10 minutes.

If a payment comes through just after the 10 minutes are up, we keep the booking if the time is still free. If someone else has booked that time in the meantime, we refund the payment automatically and text the customer to let them know.

The "Manage Payment" link is a direct link to the payment in Stripe. Refunds under your cancellation policy happen automatically (see below), but you can use this link to refund a payment yourself at any time, for example if you forget to apply the deposit to their full tab and need to refund it later.

Fees

Note that Stripe and TablesReady fees are non-refundable, even if the full amount is refunded to the customer.

Stripe fees are currently 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction.

TablesReady charges an additional 2% fee.

Cancellation policy and automatic refunds

Once Stripe is connected, a Cancellation Policy setting appears in Settings > Reservation Options. Choose how long before a booking customers can cancel and still get their money back, from 0 to 36 hours or days. The default is 24 hours.

For example, with a 24-hour policy, a customer who cancels more than 24 hours before their booking is refunded automatically. The last 24 hours before the booking are the no-cancellation window: cancellations in that window aren't refunded. Set the policy to 0 to refund any cancellation made before the booking time.

Here's how it works depending on who cancels, and how.

When a customer cancels from their booking link

Customers can open their booking from the {link} dynamic field in your confirmation and reminder texts (see How Can Customers Reschedule or Cancel Their Appointment/Reservation?).

Before the no-cancellation window: the booking is canceled and the payment is refunded automatically. We let them know it may take a few days for the money to reach their bank account.
Inside the window: they can still cancel, but first they have to tick a box confirming that their payment will not be refunded.

When a customer texts to cancel

Customers can cancel by replying with one of your cancel keywords if you've turned on the Cancel automation (see SMS Automations).

Before the no-cancellation window: the booking is canceled, the payment is refunded automatically, and they get your Stripe cancellation reply.
Inside the window: a text won't cancel a paid booking. They get your no-cancellation reply instead, which points them to their booking link or asks them to contact you.

When you cancel a paid booking

Before the no-cancellation window: we'll confirm that the booking will be canceled and fully refunded, and the refund happens automatically.
Inside the window: we'll warn you that the payment won't be refunded. To refund it anyway, tick the refund box before you confirm.

If an automatic refund ever fails, the canceled booking shows a red Refund needed badge in History, with a Manage Payment link so you can refund it in Stripe.

Stripe messages for your customers

Once Stripe is connected, three extra replies appear in the Cancel section of Settings > Automations. Each one can be edited and can use dynamic fields such as {link}. (The labels use your own word for reservations, such as appointments.)

Stripe payments no-cancellation SMS when public reservations enabled: sent when a customer texts to cancel a paid booking inside the no-cancellation window and you take online bookings. By default it asks them to manage their booking from their link.
Stripe payments no-cancellation SMS when public reservations disabled: sent in the same situation when online bookings are turned off. By default it asks them to contact you by phone or email.
Stripe payments cancellation SMS: sent when a customer texts to cancel a paid booking before the no-cancellation window and is refunded. We also send it when a payment comes through after the booking time was taken and we refund it automatically.