Deposits and saved cards

In short: take the deposit at booking. Or charge their saved card. Deposits go through Stripe into your own Stripe account, and Barkway takes no fee.

How do deposits work in Barkway?

You can use either option, or both:

Deposit at booking: clients pay a deposit by card before an online booking request reaches you for review.
Saved card: after a no-show or a qualifying client cancellation on a confirmed booking, an admin can charge an eligible unpaid agreed deposit to a card the client has saved.

Clients pay by card through Stripe, straight into your business's own Stripe account. Stripe charges its processing fees to your account; Barkway takes no transaction fee.

Deposits and saved cards are separate settings in Settings → Payments. There is no single switch for both. Marking a booking as a no-show does not charge a card by itself; an admin has to choose to charge it.

What do I need before I start?

Set up card payments, complete the Stripe requirements shown in Barkway, and turn on Offer card payments in the client portal.
For online requests, enable the client portal and Allow clients to request bookings. Also turn on Allow new clients to request bookings if you want a public booking link.
Decide on a fixed or percentage deposit and your early-cancellation refund policy.

How do I set the deposit amount?

Open Settings → Payments → Deposits.
Under Allow Deposits, turn on Require deposits on bookings.
Enter Default Deposit Amount as a fixed amount, such as 10, or a percentage, such as 20%.
Save your changes.

Barkway caps the required deposit at the booking total after any discount:

A 20% deposit on a £50 booking is £10.
A fixed £20 deposit on a £15 booking is capped at £15.
Online request deposits use the selected services' current prices. A deposit of zero skips the payment step.

Require deposits on bookings sets the deposit requirement. It does not take money by itself or stop staff creating a booking. Clients can pay an eligible deposit in the portal once card payments are on, or staff can record a deposit received outside Barkway.

Changing these settings can change the deposit shown on existing unpaid bookings. It does not rewrite payment terms a client has already accepted. A paid online request deposit still counts once it is applied to the accepted booking.

Does Barkway tell clients when a deposit is due?

When you book a client in yourself, Barkway records the required deposit and shows it as due in their client portal, where they can pay by card if card payments are on. Barkway doesn't message them about it, so let them know yourself, or record the deposit if they've already paid you.

How do I take a deposit when clients request online?

In Settings → Payments → Deposits, check that Require deposits on bookings is on and the amount is set.
Turn on Require deposit when clients request bookings online and save.
Look for an Enabled but not currently active message. If you see one, follow the step it shows before relying on deposits at booking.

This setting covers requests from signed-in clients and public booking requests from new or returning clients. It does not turn bookings your staff create into prepaid requests. If deposits at booking are not active, or the deposit works out at zero, the request goes through without a payment step.

What does the client see when paying a request deposit?

Clients using the public booking link verify their email first and are signed into the portal.
Barkway shows the required deposit and explains that the appointment still needs your approval.
The client acknowledges the request deposit and refund conditions, then pays by card or with an eligible saved card. With a saved card, the client still confirms this payment.
Once payment is confirmed, Barkway rechecks availability and submits the request for your review. The client lands on My booking requests with a message that the request has been submitted.

The payment screen shows the payment deadline. Signed-in clients have a 30-minute payment window. A resumed public request uses the time left in its continuation window. Choosing a time on the signed-in request form does not hold that time before payment. Public request holds and paid requests waiting for review have their own availability checks, but staff can still change the diary.

A paid request deposit is not an accepted request or a confirmed appointment. You still review and accept the request.

If no deposit is required, the client submits without a payment step. Clients using the public booking link still verify their email and finish any pet or time selection.

What happens to a request deposit when I accept the request?

When you accept the request, Barkway applies the deposit to the new booking's invoice automatically. Do not enter it again. A £10 request deposit on a £60 accepted booking leaves £50 to pay. If you change the price later, the client is not asked for another deposit. If the final total is less than the paid deposit, the difference becomes client credit.

After acceptance, the deposit is part of the booking. Use the booking's payment and cancellation controls, not the request refund process.

What happens to a request deposit if the request is not accepted?

Before acceptance, Barkway automatically starts a full card refund if the request is rejected, expires or becomes unavailable, or if the client cancels it before review. A refund marked pending or needing attention is not complete. Refund a payment explains how to check and recover request refunds.

How do saved cards work?

A saved card lets an admin charge an eligible deposit that is still unpaid on a confirmed booking. This is separate from taking a deposit at booking.

In Settings → Payments → Card Payments → Client payment policy, turn on Allow customers to save a card for later.
Review Refund the deposit for early cancellations and the Booking terms, then save. Keep your written terms consistent with the cancellation policy below.
The client reviews and accepts that booking's payment terms when starting a portal payment.
The client separately authorises saved-card use, either during checkout or under Account → Payment methods in the portal.

Clients can remove saved-card permission from their portal account. When an admin tries to charge it, the card must still be authorised and card collection must still be on.

What happens if a client doesn't turn up?

Open the booking and mark it as a no-show, or review a qualifying cancellation made by the client.
As an admin, choose Charge saved card in Financials.
Select the eligible deposit amount shown and enter the audit reason.
Submit the charge and check its final status in payment history.

How much can I charge a saved card?

The most you can charge after a no-show or qualifying cancellation is the unpaid agreed deposit. There's no separate no-show fee. If the deposit has already been paid, there is nothing more to charge.

If the bank requires authentication, the client confirms the charge in the portal. A declined or processing charge is not collected money, so check the status before trying again.

What is the cancellation policy for confirmed bookings?

For bookings with accepted payment terms, Barkway uses a 24-hour cutoff. A cancellation 24 hours or less before the appointment is late. For a late client cancellation or a no-show, the amount you can keep is capped at the agreed deposit.

Early client cancellation: your Refund the deposit for early cancellations setting decides whether the deposit is refundable.
Groomer cancellation: unused prepayments are refundable.
Prepayments for services no longer owed: these stay refundable, whatever your deposit setting.

Barkway records the refund owed under the accepted terms, but staff still issue the card refund from the booking. Cancelling a confirmed booking does not send the money back automatically. This is different from the automatic refund of an online request deposit that was never accepted. See Cancel a booking and Refund a payment.

What if a payment fails or something goes wrong?

A request payment failed: the client can retry the existing request while the payment window is open. If the bank asks for an extra security check (3D Secure or 3DS), the client must complete it before the payment can succeed.
A payment is processing or the browser closed: return to the request and follow its status or recovery action. Do not collect or record a second deposit while the outcome is being checked. Processing does not mean failed.
The time is no longer available: Barkway asks for another available time when it is safe to do so. If money was taken for a request that cannot go ahead, Barkway starts a refund. Late payments on abandoned requests are also refunded.
Charge saved card is unavailable: check the booking has accepted payment terms, an unpaid eligible deposit, an active authorised card and active card collection. A saved card on its own is not enough.
A request refund needs attention or failed: follow Refund a payment to check its status and find any available recovery action.

Follow Review booking requests to accept paid requests and apply their deposits to the resulting bookings.