Bookings · How-to
Cut no-shows with deposits and cards on file
Ask for a deposit on new bookings, ask clients who book online for a card on file, charge a fee when someone does not come, and know when a deposit is kept or refunded.
Connect a payment gateway
Deposits and cards are paid through your own gateway, connected on Integrations › Payments. Keeping a card on file needs a gateway that can store one, such as LiqPay or Fondy.
Switch on deposits
On Bookings › Settings, under “Deposit & cancellation”, turn on “Require a deposit on new bookings”. Choose “Fixed amount” or “Percent of total” and the value; a deposit is never more than the visit costs. Press “Save”.
To ask a deposit only for some services, leave the switch off, set the type and amount here, and set those services’ “No-show protection” to “A deposit”. They take this amount whether or not the switch is on, as the line under the switch says.
Set the cancellation window
“Free-cancellation window (hours before start)” decides what happens to a paid deposit: cancelled earlier, it is refunded; cancelled inside the window, it is kept. The rule is the same whether you or the client cancels.
See how clients pay
A client booking online sees the deposit on your booking page before they book, then pays it on the gateway's page. For a visit you book at the desk, the confirmation email carries the payment link, if the client has an email address. The visit shows “Deposit pending” until it is paid and “Deposit paid” after. Without a gateway there is no link: the deposit stays pending and you take the whole amount at the till.
Deposits for class places
With deposits switched on, or a class whose “No-show protection” asks for one, each place booked online pays a deposit, and the places one booking took are paid together. A class that asks for a card takes a deposit instead. A client’s cancel follows the cancellation window, as a visit’s does; if you cancel the whole class, every paid place is refunded. A place marked “No-show” in the “Register” keeps its deposit. The hold releases an unpaid place as it releases a visit, and “Keep this booking” by the place ends its hold.
Ask for a card on file
In a service, set “No-show protection” to “A card on file” to ask every client who books it online for a card. “A card, but only from clients who miss appointments” looks at the client's own visits: someone who sometimes misses is asked for a deposit, someone who often misses (three misses, or 30% of their visits) for a card, and everyone else for nothing. The client adds the card on the gateway's page before the booking goes through; Setvos never sees the card number.
Charge a no-show fee
Set a “No-show fee” on the service; the field appears once “No-show protection” is not “Nothing”. When you mark a visit “No-show”, the fee is charged to the client's card on file, unless a paid deposit is kept instead. If several services in the visit have a fee, only the highest is charged. The card must have been saved through the gateway you use now. Zero keeps the card as a deterrent only. A declined charge is not tried again.
Add a card at the desk
On the client's record, under “Cards on file”, press “Add a card”. The gateway's page opens in a new tab for the client to enter it.
Common questions
- What happens to the deposit at checkout?
It counts toward the bill: the till takes it off the total.
- Is the deposit kept after a no-show?
Yes. Marking “No-show” keeps a paid deposit, and then no no-show fee is charged on top.
- What does “A deposit” under “No-show protection” do?
It asks for a deposit on every booking of that service, online and at the desk, even while “Require a deposit on new bookings” is off. The amount is the one under “Deposit & cancellation” on Bookings › Settings. At the desk, “Require deposit” starts on for it, and you can switch it off for one visit. The option also lets you set a “No-show fee”.
- What is the first-visit card on the dashboard?
Under “A card, but only from clients who miss appointments”, a client booking for the first time has no visits to judge and is asked for nothing. The “Earn more with what you have” tile on Dashboard can switch on asking them for a card too. It is offered only when LiqPay or Fondy is connected, since monobank cannot keep a card, and at least one service booked online uses that rule.
- What happens to a deposit paid after its time was released?
If the time is still free, the booking is back on and the client is told. If someone else has the time, or the visit was cancelled or missed, the deposit goes back to the client’s card automatically a minute later. If the card refund fails, you are notified and return it yourself.
- How does the card step work in the client app?
A service that needs a card on file says so before booking. A signed-in client picks a card saved at your salon or adds one on your payment page; a guest adds one on your payment page too and comes back to finish booking. Nothing is charged then.
Read next
Choose your booking settings
Set the clock your diary runs on, the texts clients receive, deposits and the free-cancellation window, limits on online bookings, the waitlist offer, off-peak discounts and emergency windows.
Set up your services, prices and categories
Add the services you sell with a length, a price and who does them, group them into categories, vary prices by place or person, and choose what clients can book online.
Check in, finish, move or cancel an appointment
Open a visit to mark each stage of it, note what was done, move it, cancel it or mark a no-show, and know what the client is told.
Take online payments by card or by bank transfer
Connect a card gateway or add your payment details so clients can pay invoices, deposits and orders online — by card, or by bank transfer with one payment code for everyone — choose how they pay, mark transfers paid and let monobank pay tips to your staff.
Work with a client’s card
Read a client’s history, log notes and calls, and keep their details, files and tasks up to date from one screen.
More in Bookings
- Bookings: your diary, staff rota and online booking page
- Find your way around the appointments diary
- Book an appointment for a client
- Take payment for a visit at the till
- Visits at the client’s address, and prices by size
- Offer group classes, packages and services that need more
- Plan the staff rota and publish it
- Keep a waitlist and offer freed slots
- Book standing appointments and recalls
- Run classes: a timetable, enrolment and the register
- Read and answer client reviews
- Review rules, and reporting a review
Open in Setvos
Signed in? This article is also in the Help menu of the app.
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