Three levels
Nothing, a card on file, or a deposit — salon-wide, per service, or per option.
Charged after the fact
A late or no-show fee goes against the card already on file. Nobody has to be chased.
Agreed, and dated
A client's agreement is stored against the version of the policy they actually read.
The level the work deserves
A twenty-minute beard trim and a six-hour install don't need the same guarantee.
- 01
Nothing
Booking stays open, and nothing is collected until the appointment. It's the default, and it suits walk-in-shaped work and regulars nobody worries about.
- 02
Card on file
No money moves at booking, but a card is saved. That's what turns a late cancellation into something collectable rather than a conversation.
- 03
Deposit
A real charge at the moment of booking, credited against the visit. The salon has an amount, and any service worth more can carry its own.
One setting, three answers
It's the same screen whether you take nothing from anyone or a deposit from everyone. The salon-wide default lives here, and any service — or any option within a service — can override it from its own page.
When one appointment is several services
A cut, a colour and a treatment booked together can each ask for a deposit. Inchair charges either the largest of them or all of them added up, consistently, so nobody is quoted a number you didn't intend.
A card-on-file requirement and a deposit requirement can meet in the same booking too. The deposit wins: money up front is the stronger guarantee, and asking for both would be asking twice.
- The largest deposit, or the sum of them
- Deposits per service and per option, not just per salon
- Whatever is taken counts against the final bill
The policy, on the record
Your cancellation policy is your own wording, shown on the booking form — and, where it matters, ticked before the booking goes through.
A consent record is only worth what it says about the version agreed to, so Inchair stores both the moment the client agreed and the moment the wording last changed. Rewrite the policy and you can still tell which agreements were given against the old one.
- Shown at booking, or required with a tick
- Agreement stored against the version that was read
- Self-service cancel and reschedule, or contact-only
For the ones it keeps happening with
A short private list that changes what booking looks like for one person.
Deposit only
They can still book — but a deposit appears, even for services that normally take nothing.
Blocked
Online booking declines with a neutral message that names no list. You can still book them yourself.
By email or phone, not by name
The list matches on the identifier, so a fresh name at the booking page gets nobody around it.
Questions
- Do I need Stripe to take deposits?
- Yes. Deposits and no-show fees are real card charges, so they need a connected Stripe account. Everything else on the booking page works without one.
- Can I charge a no-show fee after the appointment?
- Yes, wherever there's a card on file — which both the card-on-file and deposit levels leave you with. The charge is made from the appointment's own page and recorded against that booking.
- Does the deposit come off the final price?
- Yes. A deposit is a payment against the visit, so what's left at checkout is the balance.
- Can a deposit be refunded?
- Yes, and the refund is recorded as its own entry rather than by editing the original charge — so what was taken and what was given back both stay readable.
- Can I require a deposit from one specific client?
- Yes, keyed to their email or phone number. Their booking looks completely normal until the deposit step appears; the list is never named or shown to them.
Set your booking page up in an afternoon.
Bring your clients across, take your first deposit, and stop answering booking messages on your day off.
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