Payment policies and payment plans
A payment policy is a reusable payment plan. You define it once under Catalogue → Payment policies, attach it to the things you sell, and checkout applies it to that sale.
New workspaces start with Pay in full and 50% deposit, balance at checkout. Attach nothing on an item and checkout charges 100% now.
How a plan applies at checkout
- Checkout loads the policies attached to that item (service, class, course, package, or event).
- Archived policies and plans that fail a lead-time window are hidden.
- If more than one plan is eligible, the customer or staff pick one. The default is used when nobody picks.
- Any policy discount comes off the price first. The remaining total is the payment-plan total.
- The amount due now is charged on the invoice (full price, deposit percent, or the first instalment).
- The rest is stored as a payment plan on that sale - later instalments are invoiced or auto-charged on their due dates.
The chosen plan is snapshotted onto the sale. Editing or archiving the policy later does not change amounts or dates already sold.
Create a policy
- Go to Catalogue → Payment policies.
- Choose a kind:
- Pay in full - charge the whole amount at checkout.
- Deposit + balance - collect a percentage now; the remainder is due at the visit or on the final invoice.
- Instalment plan (Growth / Pro) - split the discounted total into equal instalments on a schedule.
- Optionally add a catalog discount. On Growth / Pro you can also set lead-time windows and, for instalment plans, collection rules.
Solo includes pay-in-full and simple deposit policies. Instalment plans, lead-time rules, notify/collect offsets, and auto-charge require Growth or Pro.
Attach to catalogue items
Open the item editor and expand Financials:
- Services - Catalogue → Services
- Classes, courses, and programs - Catalogue → Classes
- Packages - Catalogue → Packages
- Events - the event editor
Attach one or more policies and mark one as the default at checkout. Leave the list empty to charge 100% now.
Checkout surfaces
The payment-option picker appears when at least one eligible policy is attached:
- Portal service booking, course purchase, package sale, event ticket, and class drop-in
- Staff booking, sell course, sell package, sell event ticket, class roster casual sale, and a mixed invoice cart that is a single package, event, or drop-in
The first due amount is charged inline. Later amounts follow the plan.
Retail products, gift cards, and the mobile staff app do not use these policies yet. Recurring memberships have their own billing schedule - they are not payment policies.
Deposits vs instalment payment plans
| Deposit + balance | Instalment plan | |
|---|---|---|
| Typical use | Hold a slot with partial pay | Spread a course, package, or program fee |
| First charge | Deposit % at booking | First instalment when first due is On purchase |
| Remainder | At visit / checkout | Dated invoices or auto-charge |
| Plan tier | Solo+ | Growth / Pro |
Discounts and lead-time windows
A policy can take percent off or a fixed amount off the catalogue price before the plan is built. Deposit percent and instalment amounts use that discounted total.
Min / max lead time (days) hide a plan when the booking or session start is too soon or too far away. Lead-time filters only apply when checkout knows a start date.
Instalment timing (Growth / Pro)
On an instalment plan:
- No of instalments, spacing, and interval (weeks or months) set equal shares.
- First due: On purchase - the first share is the checkout charge.
- First due: Days before start - the first share is due that many days before the booking or course start (nothing extra at checkout unless that date is already due).
- Last due: Days before start - the last share is due that many days before start; the others are spaced evenly between first and last.
Dated instalments become invoices labelled like Course name - Instalment 1 of 3 of $200.00.
Auto-charge and reminders (Growth / Pro)
Invoice and remind emails the customer notify days before each dated due date, then raises the instalment invoice collect days before (0 = on the due day). Collect cannot be earlier than notify.
Auto-charge needs Stripe. The first card payment saves the method. Later dated instalments are charged collect days before due. Customers still get the upcoming-due email, then a charged or charge-failed email.
Balance-at-visit instalments (on_fulfillment, including the remainder after a deposit) are never auto-charged - collect them at POS or invoice them.
If you leave Growth, advanced policies stop appearing on new checkouts. Payment plans already sold keep collecting.
After you edit a policy
| Change | New checkouts | Sales already made |
|---|---|---|
| Edit name, percent, dates, auto-charge | Use the new rules | Keep the snapshot from the sale |
| Archive | Hidden from the picker | Existing plans keep invoicing / charging |
| Attach or detach on an item | Next sale only | Existing plans unchanged |
Refunds still go through the original invoice - see invoices and refunds.
Tips
- Connect Stripe before selling online or turning on auto-charge.
- Pair deposits with cancellation rules on your online booking portal.
- See reduce no-shows for reminder and deposit strategy.
- Spread a multi-week course fee with an instalment plan on the course's Financials.