Take a deposit

A booking deposit belongs to one appointment. Use the steps below to record money you have already received outside Barkway. For an upfront card payment before an online request is submitted, follow Deposits and saved cards.

Record a deposit

1. Open Create Booking or Edit Booking.
2. Choose the pet and a core service so Barkway can calculate the booking total.
3. On a new booking, enable Take deposit now. On an existing booking, choose Take Deposit Now in the edit flow.
4. Enter the amount, choose a method and set Received at.
5. If the client already has credit, optionally enable Use client balance instead of recording new money.
6. Save the payment, then finish saving the booking if needed.

   

Required deposits

In Settings → Payments → Deposits, enable Require deposits on bookings under Allow Deposits and set Default Deposit Amount to a fixed amount or percentage. Barkway caps the required deposit at the booking total after discount. This setting does not collect money automatically; Require deposit when clients request bookings online is the separate upfront request-payment setting.

With portal card payments enabled, a client can pay an eligible deposit through their portal. Barkway records that payment when Stripe confirms it, so do not record the same deposit manually.

An agreed deposit can also help with no-shows. If the client has accepted the booking's payment terms and separately authorised a saved card, an admin may be able to collect an eligible unpaid deposit after a no-show or qualifying cancellation.

Deposits paid with a booking request

When you accept an online request with a paid deposit, Barkway applies that payment to the new booking invoice automatically. Do not use Take deposit now to record it again. The remaining balance accounts for the deposit. If you change the price later, the client isn't asked for another deposit.

Unavailable bookings

Unavailable time blocks cannot take deposits because they are not tied to a client appointment.

Use client balance

If the client has client balance, you can apply it towards the deposit. Barkway caps the amount so you cannot use more credit than the client has or more than the deposit requires.

If the booking is not finished

If you record a deposit before finishing the booking, Barkway creates a draft booking that is hidden from normal lists. If that draft remains unfinished for about 72 hours, Barkway deletes it and credits the deposit back to the client's balance.