Require a deposit when booking an appointment

[DuckDuckMoo]

Is there a way to require a deposit at the time of booking an appointment, then at the time of service charge the remaining amount?

Example: My service cost $600 but I want customers to book me with a deposit of $50. This deposit holds their appointment until the day of the service where, once completed, I charge the remaining $550. 

I can not find a way to do this. Every post on the topic links to this post, Customer Prepayment for Square Appointments which does not address a deposit option. It simply describes how to have customers pay the full amount up front. Unless I am missing something or mistaken, I don’t see an option to do what I need.

Does anyone have a work around?

[JustinC]

@DuckDuckMoo - Yeah, unfortunately the prepayment feature doesn't allow a deposit option, but the fixed amount of the service up front. If you're looking to collect a deposit, use Square Invoices. 

Use card on file, to store their payment info for charging the remainder after the service is rendered. Here's how with Square Invoices: 

1. When creating an invoice in the Square Dashboard or Square app, scroll to More Options.

2. Check or toggle Allow Customer to save a card on file.

3. When paying the invoice, your customer will be given the option to save their card details for future invoices and purchases.

[DuckDuckMoo]

I took this advice with atrocious results. The process of invoicing the remainder was confusing to clients and staff. On several occasions I had to refund and recharge (costing

me). Even lost customers over it that had already paid the deposit only to loose them during this process. I ultimately fell back to a fix fee with no show protection. I’m actively looking for a better solution, even if it means breaking up with Square. 😞 

[Joe]

Hi @DuckDuckMoo - thanks for following up here and sharing where you landed. So sorry to hear that this workaround was not a helpful solution for you. We realize there is much room for improvement here, and we hope to be able to share some updates on this front soon.

Would you mind clarifying your note about cost associated to you for refunding your customer? There should be no cost whatsoever for customer refunds from Square's side - all relevant funds, including fees charged to you, should be sent back to customer with no charge.

[simsgarden]

I have a similar issue, I think. I require prepayment in full, but several of my clients paid for one service at $25, then upgraded to a $50 service later. Square is showing me "partial payment" at the top of the appointment. I am not seeing an obvious option for taking the remainder of the payment, their appointment is tomorrow so I need to be able to figure this out quick.

Am I missing something, can you tell me how to charge them for the remaining amount within the service and appointment that they have, without having to create a new service or add on (which will make the total price go above what it should be).

To recap: Square is showing the total amount of the service as $50, that partial payment of $25 was charged, but is not giving me an option to charge the remainder. 

[NaildbyDawnyil]

How do I setup required deposit payments at the time of booking?

[thebeautyguru]

A DEPOSIT TO BOOK OPTION IS NEEDED SO BAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I lose so much money not taking deposits, however for me to have to go through every single client who books with me in a week to ask for a percentage of their appointment as a non-refundable deposit to ensure they show up is beyond time consuming. I have online booking to make my life easier, not harder. I run spa and do multiple high end services. If when booking my clients were asked to pay 20% of the appointment in order to save that slot, they would be fine with it. If they were asked to pay $550 just to book, it would be a turn off PLUS months in advance. Also, because I am a spa and see 15-50 clients a week it would take too much time outside of business hours to collect. Another issue I have is most of my clients come to see me every 2-3 weeks for maintenace so they book out through the year if I had to have to pay the full payment option just to get on the appointment book they would be dropping thousands instead of paying every other week which is more feasible considering most people only get paid every other week. Another issue with having to collect full payment is, less chance of tips. IF/when I have employees under me, most new artist (photography, salons, spas, artist, any new service) they typically rely on tips. PLEASE HELP US OUT AND GIVE A DEPOSIT OPTION WHEN BOOKING TO SAVE US TIME!!!!!!!!!! We now pay for this app, once again and I haven't noticed the app getting any easier. I have now used square for my business for over 5 years, please protect the business owners by helping us collect money when clients book IN CASE THEY DO NOT SHOW UP. Many times when I have tried to charge their card on file it declines OR I let a client know I would be charging their card for not showing  up and she was able to go in and DELETE her card from the file. You should also add a feature where you can not delete the primary card on file, only change it so that one is on there at ALL times.