Managing payments in Scheduling

This guide explains how to charge and view client payments for appointments.

To start accepting payments, first connect at least one payment processor.

We've merged the Acuity Scheduling Help Center with the Squarespace Help Center. This guide applies to both versions of Scheduling.

Before you begin

• If you offer free appointments, clients can always book them without entering their card number. To prevent this, give all your appointment types a price.
• You can accept tip payments of up to 50% of the appointment cost.
• When accepting payment after booking, you can collect up to 150% of the appointment cost.
• Scheduling doesn't calculate tax.

Choose how clients pay

Choose which payment processor clients will use and how they'll pay for their appointments:

1. Open the Payment settings panel: Acuity Scheduling | Squarespace Scheduling.
2. Click the Payment Terms drop-down menu to choose how clients pay. To learn more about each option, see Payment settings.
3. To accept tips at booking, use the slider to enable Clients can tip extra when they pay in full. This option isn't available if you’re using PayPal as a payment processor.
4. Click Save Settings.

Tip: To learn how to choose your currency, visit Connecting payment processors to Scheduling.

Payment settings

These settings only apply to appointment types with prices. If an appointment type is free, clients can book without entering a card.

Setting	Description and next steps
Require full payment	Clients must pay in full when booking.
Require deposit amount ($)	Clients must pay a set amount at booking. Clients can pay the full cost at booking and leave a tip if they pay in full. To learn more, see Requiring deposits.
Require deposit percentage (%)	Clients must pay a percentage of the total cost at booking. Clients can pay the full cost at booking and leave a tip if they pay in full.
Require a valid credit card, but don't charge	Vaults the card to charge the customer later. This option is available when using Stripe or Square, but not when using PayPal and Stripe or Square. Cards aren't vaulted for transactions of $0, which can happen if your appointment type price is $0, your client uses a coupon, or your client books using the code from a package, gift certificate or subscription. To learn more, visit Connecting payment processors to Scheduling.
Allow in-person payment only	Clients can’t pay during booking, but you can charge them from the Scheduling panel.
Allow payment now or after booking	Clients can pay during booking, but don't have to.
Allow client to choose amount	Clients decide whether to add extra payment to a base price that you set. To learn more, visit Pay-what-you-want pricing for Scheduling.
Customize for each appointment type	Choose from the settings above for each appointment type.

Note: Square won't vault clients' cards if they're affected by SCA and entered through the Scheduling panel. Square will vault SCA-affected cards that clients enter through the scheduler.

How tips work in Scheduling

If you turn on tipping, clients can choose to tip up to 50% of the appointment cost when they pay for their appointment in full while booking.

Clients can tip for appointments. They can't tip when purchasing packages, gift certificates or subscriptions.

Your tipping setting applies to all appointment types. It's not possible to accept tips for certain appointment types and not others.

You must use Stripe or Square as your payment processor to accept tips.

Requiring deposits

If you choose to require deposits, you can also add an option for clients to pay the full price at booking by turning on Clients can pay the full amount in advance. When this is off, clients can only pay the deposit price at booking.

If the client selects add-ons that affect the cost of the appointment, the deposit is based on the final total cost of the appointment including the add-ons. For example, 10% deposit on a $100 appointment with a $50 add-on is $15.

To collect a deposit, you need to have set a price for the appointment type the client is booking.

Notes:

• If the client pays in full at booking, Square won't vault their card.
• When you book an appointment with a deposit requirement on a client's behalf, they can't later pay the deposit using the link in their confirmation email. If you've turned on Clients can pay the full amount in advance, however, they can use that link to pay the full amount. You can always collect payment through Scheduling.

View payments

When clients book, they'll pay, give their card details to charge later, or not pay at all, depending on your settings. If they have a balance to pay after booking, clients can use the link in their confirmation email to pay the remaining amount, or you can charge them from the Scheduling panel at any time. Squarespace doesn't automatically bill clients for unpaid appointments.

View the the payments and outstanding balances for each appointment in its appointment details.

Check an appointment's payment status

To see how much a client paid:

1. Open your Scheduling calendar: Acuity Scheduling | Squarespace Scheduling.
2. Click the appointment to open the appointment details.
3. The Payment section shows the total cost, any payments already made, and the amount still owed.

Change an appointment's price

You can change the price of an individual appointment that has been booked and is on your Scheduling calendar. Changing the price won't change the price of new appointments.

To change the price of an appointment that's already booked:

1. Open your Scheduling calendar: Acuity Scheduling | Squarespace Scheduling.
2. Click the appointment to open the appointment details.
3. Click Edit and enter a new price in the Total Price ($) field.
4. Click Save.

Collect payments after booking

If you don't require clients to pay in full when booking an appointment, you can charge them for their remaining balance separately.

You can:

• Enter a card payment to charge them through the payment processor you integrated with Scheduling.
• Record a cash payment.
• Mark an appointment as paid. This is helpful if the client paid you through your payment processor without using Scheduling.

Note: It's not possible to use payment after booking for packages, gift certificates, or subscriptions. Instead, create a free code, then take payment outside Scheduling.

To enter a card payment:

1. Open your Scheduling calendar: Acuity Scheduling | Squarespace Scheduling.
2. Click the appointment to open the appointment details.
3. Click Make Payment.
4. Select a card already on file, or enter a new card.
5. Enter the amount, then click Pay.

Tip: If PayPal is your only payment processor, you can't charge a client's remaining amount to a card. Instead, arrange payment outside of Squarespace, then record the payment by selecting Cash and entering a note about how the client paid.

To enter a cash payment:

1. Open your Scheduling calendar: Acuity Scheduling | Squarespace Scheduling.
2. Click the appointment to open the appointment details.
3. Click Make Payment.
4. Select Cash.
5. Enter the amount, then click Pay.

Cash payments are recorded in Scheduling, but not in your payment processor.

To mark an appointment as paid:

1. Open your Scheduling calendar: Acuity Scheduling | Squarespace Scheduling.
2. Click the appointment to open the appointment details.
3. Click Edit.
4. Check the box for Paid(yes).
5. Click Save.

Send payment links to clients

To make it easier for clients to pay for an appointment after booking, you can include a payment link in your automated client notifications. To include the link, edit any of your email templates to include the tag %paylink%. When Scheduling sends the email, it will convert the tag into a link inviting clients to pay.

You can also edit your email templates to include a "Pay for appointment" button by clicking Add button, then Pay for appointment.

If a specific client needs to know how to pay you, you can manually send them a link to their confirmation page. From that page, they can follow the prompts to enter payment.

To find the link to a client's confirmation page:

1. Open your Scheduling calendar: Acuity Scheduling | Squarespace Scheduling.
2. Click the appointment to open the appointment details.
3. Click , then click Client's Confirmation Page.
4. Copy the URL from your browser and send it to the client.

Refund a client

It's not possible to issue a refund through Scheduling.

When a paid appointment is canceled, Scheduling will send you an email with a direct link to the client's payment. You can use the link to issue a refund through your payment processor.

Follow the links below to learn the refund steps for your payment processor:

• Stripe
• Square
• PayPal

Refunds issued in your payment processor aren't reflected in Scheduling, including in Scheduling's reports.

Remove a card on file

It's not possible remove the card Scheduling has on file for one of your clients from within Scheduling. Instead, go to your payment processor dashboard and manually remove it from the payment processor's file for the client.