Booking deposits & Stripe
Set your deposit policy, understand how live deposits are collected through Stripe, and what happens when Stripe isn't configured.
Online booking4 in this section
A deposit turns a browser into a committed customer. The Deposit card in Settings → Online booking has three knobs: Require a deposit to book (on/off), a deposit percent of the service price, and a minimum deposit dollar floor — the customer pays whichever is greater, never more than the service price itself. Out of the box the policy is 10% with a $50 floor.
How a live deposit is collected
- 1
The customer confirms the booking
The wizard shows the price and deposit for their vehicle type, but those numbers are display-only — the server never trusts them.
- 2
The server recomputes everything
Price and deposit are recalculated from your service catalog and deposit policy at submit time, so an edited page can't book at a made-up price.
- 3
A deposit invoice is raised
With Stripe configured and a deposit due, Service VIN creates an invoice whose total is exactly the deposit, attached to the new job and customer.
- 4
The customer pays on the secure checkout
They're handed straight to the same Pay now page (
/p/invoice/…) your regular invoices use. When Stripe'spayment_intent.succeededwebhook fires, the invoice settles to paid — no separate payment system to reconcile.
With and without Stripe
Troubleshooting
A booking has a deposit due on the job, but no invoice was created.
Why: The deposit invoice/pay-link step is best-effort — if it fails, the booking still stands rather than blocking the customer.
Fix: Raise the deposit invoice manually from the job and send its payment link.
Common questions
Can the charged amount differ from what the customer saw?
No. The server recomputes the price and deposit from the catalog at submit time — the wizard's numbers come from the same math, so what they see is what the deposit invoice says.
What if the customer bails on the payment step?
The booking already stands — the job and slot were reserved before the checkout hand-off. The deposit invoice stays open, so follow up with its payment link or collect at drop-off.
Can I take bookings with no deposit at all?
Yes — untick "Require a deposit to book". Customers then confirm without any payment step.