🔔 Hold Up!
Before setting up deposits, you'll want at least one active session and a connected Stripe account. It would also be a good idea to check your regional and tax settings are correct. If you need to set up guest type deposits, follow this guide instead.
Step 1: Add a Deposit
Firstly, head over to Deposit settings and click "Create New" Deposit
Make sure "Regular Deposit" is selected.
"Additional information" will show extra information on the payment page.
"Internal Name" will be shown on the backend and "Charge Title" will be shown to customers.
"Charge Per Time Interval" is used for businesses that want to charge customers per hour - such as board game cafes, and is generally not required. for
"Minimum group size" will only charge once that amount of guests has booked in, allowing you to only take deposits for bigger groups. It's set to 1 by default, which means all bookings.
"Cost" is the amount you will charge your customer. This will be a single flat cost, unless you select "Charge Per Person", in which case it will charge that amount based on the number of guests.
Once completed, save the deposit, and you'll see it listed with details on the main deposit settings page:
Step 2: Link the Deposit to your Session
Now we just need to head to our session, and link that session with this deposit.
Head to your session settings. Click on your session, and at the bottom, you'll see an area to link your deposit. Click the correct deposit for that session in the drop down, and don't forget to Save Changes.
By default, the deposit will run every day and every time slot. However, you can also set up session specific timings by selecting days and times in this section. For example, ticking Friday and Saturday would ONLY run the deposits during those days.
A session can use multiple deposits, providing they don't clash in terms of days and times. And a deposit can be applied to mulitple sessions.
Adding a Booking Fee
You can add a booking fee in addition to your deposits by ticking this option in your deposit settings. This will charge your customers a set amount or a percentage amount in addition to the regular cost.
Taking card details without charging
Taking card details without charging works exactly as above, you just need to select Capture Only (Don't Charge). Link the session exactly the same as above.
This will ask the customer for their details and store them in Stripe but it will not take any payment.
Later, if a customer does not show up or otherwise breaks rules, you can charge the card through BookingNinja or Stripe.
Some Notes on Card Capturing
Card Capture is a very helpful tool for reducing no shows and getting some commitment from customers booking online. However, there's a few important things to note!
We do not automatically charge a no show when you mark them. You still need to charge them manually each time. This is deliberate and done to avoid over charging and customer reports.
We strongly recommend making your rules for no-shows and your charges as clear as possible. Customers can report charges like this and enough reports will cause Stripe to suspend your account. Make sure you make it clear in your session description, additional info, and webpage.
In general, about 80% of cards are chargeable but it's not perfect: Savvy customers can use virtual cards and then turn them off later.
The actual charge to card can be adjusted when you go to charge the card. For example, you can charge more or less than you say. However, as above we strongly recommend this is communicated clearly.
BookingNinja does not store the card details or have access to the card details. They are stored entirely through Stripe.