What actually works
6 things that move the number.
The goal of a deposit is not the money. It is commitment: a customer who has paid £15 moves the appointment instead of forgetting it. Set it up with that in mind.
Apply it to the services where a no-show hurts
Long appointments, anything with materials ordered in advance, and first-time customers. A 15-minute walk-in service does not need a deposit and the friction costs you bookings.
Charge enough to matter, not enough to argue about
10–20% of the service price, or a flat £10–£25, is the range that changes behaviour without becoming a purchase decision of its own.
Take it at the moment of booking
A deposit requested later by message is a second decision the customer can skip. Put it in the booking flow: pick service → pick slot → pay deposit → confirmed.
Accept the way your customers actually pay
Card is not universal. In many markets mobile money (M-Pesa, MTN MoMo, Orange Money) is how people pay for everything — a booking page that only takes cards is a booking page half your customers cannot finish.
Write the refund rule in one sentence
“Deposits are refunded with 24 hours’ notice; otherwise they are kept.” Show it before payment, repeat it in the confirmation. Ambiguity is where the arguments come from.
Credit the deposit against the bill automatically
The customer should never have to remind you they paid a deposit. The balance due at the chair should already be the price minus the deposit.
The shortcut
Booking OS does this for you.
Every step above is built into the Booking OS — seeded for a booking business, running the day you launch it, with your approval on anything that reaches a customer.
Deposit per service
Fixed amount or percentage, switched on per service, shown in the booking flow before the slot is confirmed.
Card and mobile money
Stripe for cards; Flutterwave, CinetPay, MTN MoMo and Orange Money for mobile money — the customer picks.
Policy shown at the right moment
Your refund rule appears on the booking page and in the confirmation, word for word.
Balance calculated for you
The appointment carries the deposit; check-out shows the remaining balance and issues the receipt.
This is the live Booking OS running right now with demo data — the system your booking business version is configured from. Open it full-screen →
Common questions
Questions worth asking.
Can I take deposits without a card machine?
Yes — the deposit is taken online at booking, through Stripe or a mobile-money provider. Nothing is needed at the desk except to see that it was paid.
What if a customer cancels inside the notice period?
The deposit is kept, and the slot goes to the waitlist. Because the rule was shown before they paid, there is nothing to argue about — and you can always refund manually as goodwill.
Do deposits work for services priced on the day?
Yes. Use a flat deposit (£15, 5,000 XOF) rather than a percentage, and it is credited against whatever the final price turns out to be.
Features reflect the current platform as of August 2026 and continue to expand — the live demo above always reflects what's actually deployed.
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