Deposits and payments
Get paid before they sit down.
Ask for a deposit, or the whole price, at the moment they book. The slot is held for half an hour while they pay and released if they do not.
£9.99 a month, unlimited bookings, never a commission. Free to start: 20 bookings a month, no card.
The problem
A no-show is not a gap in the diary. It is an hour you cannot sell twice.
The empty chair costs the same
You turned other people away for that slot. You still paid the rent and the wages for it.
Asking for money is awkward
Nobody wants to chase a deposit over text. So most people do not ask, and absorb the cost instead.
The worst offenders book the most
The person who does not turn up rarely does it once. Without a deposit there is nothing to lose by booking and forgetting.
How it works
Three steps, then it runs itself.
- 01
Say what you want up front
Nothing, a deposit, or the full price. You can set it per service, so the £15 fringe trim and the £120 colour ask for different things.
- 02
They pay when they book
Card details on the booking page, handled by Stripe. We never see the card number, and the money goes to your own Stripe account, not ours.
- 03
The slot confirms itself
Paid, and it is theirs. Not paid within thirty minutes and it goes back in the pot automatically, so an abandoned checkout never blocks your day.
What you get
The details that matter on a busy day.
The money is yours immediately
It lands in your own Stripe account and pays out to your bank on Stripe's normal schedule. We are not in the middle of it and never hold it.
Your own numbers make the case
The Analytics page shows how many deposit-paid bookings turned up against how many without did. Your shop, your customers, not an industry average.
Take the rest at the desk
Mark a booking paid by cash or card when they leave, and the day's takings say what was actually collected rather than what was priced.
Refunds stay where they belong
In your Stripe dashboard, on your terms. We do not make that decision for you.
FAQs
Questions, answered straight
The things people ask about deposits and payments before they sign up.
Something else on your mind? Ask a human.
Do I need a Stripe account?
Yes, and you can create one from inside DocMason in a few minutes. The money goes to that account, not to us.
Can I ask for a deposit on some services and not others?
Yes. It is set per service, so a long or expensive job can ask for money up front while a quick one does not.
What happens if they start paying and give up?
The slot is held for thirty minutes and then released automatically. It never sits there blocked by an abandoned checkout.
Does a deposit actually reduce no-shows?
In most shops, yes, and you do not have to take our word for it: the Analytics page compares your own deposit-paid bookings against the rest once there are enough of each to mean anything.
While you are here
Two more things it does.
- Deposits and payments