Deposit Policy for Services

Modified on Tue, 15 Jul at 9:43 AM

MyTime provides the option to mandate a prepaid deposit during the service booking process. This feature allows you to impose a deposit fee, either in a fixed dollar amount or as a percentage, for particular services or across all services.

Things to know:

The ability to configure deposits for services is controlled by both the 'Accessing Services Menu' and 'Accessing Account Settings' access control settings.
The deposit fee is set per account, not per location. If an account has multiple locations, the deposit fee will be applied to all locations.
The deposit fee cannot be tailored to a specific client type. For instance, new client vs. existing client
If a client books multiple services, each with a deposit, there will be one charge for the total of all deposits
A service cannot have a cancellation fee as well as a deposit. If a deposit is set for a service, no cancellation fee will be charged.
Percentage deposit will always apply to the full price of the service before discounts
The full price of the service, including sales tax (where applicable), will be charged for deposits requiring 100% upfront.
If the appointment is canceled, the payment we took at the time of booking remains as per your arrangement with your client. However, if desired, you can refund the deposit in POS.
Commission is not calculated for canceled or no-show appointments. However, any deposit fees collected will still be reflected in revenue reports unless they are refunded.
The deposit icon on appointment modals can appear in either red or green:
- Green: When no promotion is applied to the service
- Red: When a promotion is automatically applied to the service
By default, deposits for multi-day appointments are calculated based on the total cost for the full duration of the booking. When the "Enable Flat Deposit on Multiday Appointment" hidden setting is activated:
- The system charges a deposit equal to a single day’s cost, regardless of the number of days booked.
- This setting works with both fixed dollar amount deposits and percentage-based deposits, providing flexibility in how deposits are collected.
- Example:
  Cost per day: $100
  Appointment duration: 3 days
  Deposit charged (with this setting enabled): Based on one day's cost—$100
  Even though the total booking spans three days, the deposit will only reflect the cost of a single day.
Online Bookings:
- If your account is configured to require online payment, the deposit will be charged at the time of booking, and a hold will be placed on the client’s card for the remaining balance of the service.
- If your account is set to allow in-person payment, the deposit will still be charged at the time of booking, but no hold will be placed for the remaining balance, as the client will pay it in-store.
- If a service is covered by a membership or package, the deposit fee will not be charged at the time of booking but will be charged if the service is canceled.
- Gift cards and promotional codes cannot be applied to services with a deposit fee
In-store Bookings:
- Staff members can choose to waive the deposit fee when creating appointments in-store. If they choose to collect a deposit, they will be directed to the POS to take payment for the deposit fee.
Franchise businesses:
- Parent companies have the option to allow or prevent the implementation of deposit policies across child accounts. This is controlled by the “Enable Deposit” setting on Business Setup > Settings.
- When the setting is enabled at the parent level, it will also be active at the child level, but child accounts can always disable it.
- When the setting is disabled at the parent level, it cannot be turned on at the child level, and the deposit fee will not be applied to child accounts (even if it was previously enabled).
Deposit fees paid will be displayed on SMS & email receipts.

CONTENTS:

Configure Deposit Fee for a Service
Collect Deposit Fee on the Booking Widget
Collect Deposit Fee In-Store
Refund Deposit Fee

Configure Deposit Fee for a Service

To configure a deposit for a service:

Navigate to Business Setup > Settings
Locate the Deposit Policy section
Toggle the Require Deposit? option to YES
Click on the Set deposit by specific service hyperlink
A modal will appear in which you can choose which services should require a deposit and whether the deposit should be a flat amount or a percentage of the service price.
Set your preference (only integers are allowed)
Save your changes in the modal and at the bottom of the Settings page

You've successfully set up a service deposit.

Your clients can book an appointment online with a deposit fee by doing the following:

Navigate to your website/booking widget
Choose their preferred location
Select the desired service and date
Proceed to checkout
On the checkout page, they will be notified of the deposit amount and required to enter a credit card
Below appointment details, they will see the following:
- Charged Today: Displays the deposit amount that was charged
- Charged After Appointment: Displays the balance remaining after the deposit is deducted from the service price.
Once they complete their booking, the same information in the previous step will also be displayed on the confirmation page

A hold will be placed on their card for the remaining balance (excluding the deposit amount).

Collect Deposit Fee In-Store

When you schedule an appointment in-store, a modal will appear prompting you to collect a deposit. To collect a deposit fee in-store:

Navigate to the schedule
Book an appointment for a service that requires a deposit
Save
Select YES on the Deposit Required modal
You will be directed to the POS to process the payment and save the ticket

Once the deposit is paid, you will be redirected to the schedule, where the new appointment will be visible. The appointment tile and appointment modal will display a deposit icon and tag.

Deposit Icon

Deposit Tag

Refund Deposit Fee

If an appointment is canceled, the payment you took at the time of booking remains as per your arrangement with your client. However, if desired, you can refund the deposit in POS. On the Closed ticket, the service will be marked as canceled, and only the deposit fee amount will be displayed.