- Help center
- Knowledge base
- Payments
Set up and manage upfront payments
Set up and manage upfront payments
Prevent no-shows and late cancellations by collecting full or partial upfront payments. Learn how to set up, apply, and manage upfront payments for online and calendar bookings.
Getting started
Upfront payments can help secure revenue for your bookings. Before setting this up, you'll need to:
- Enable payment processing on your Fresha account.
Setting up upfront payments
Require clients to pay full or partial amounts upfront, in-store or online. Charge any remaining balance after the appointment.
To set up upfront payments:
- Open Workspace settings, then select Payments and then Payment policy.
- Under Policy on all bookings, click Edit.
- Choose Collect upfront payments and proceed to the Next step.
- Decide where the upfront payment is collected:
- Same upfront payment for all services:
Enter the Upfront payment amount as a fixed value or a percentage of the service cost. - Customize upfront payment per service:
Click Next step and specify the Upfront payment amount for each service.
- Same upfront payment for all services:
- Select whether the upfront payment should apply to All clients or specific Client groups, allowing you to tailor the requirement as needed.
- Define your policy and terms by providing a summary of your upfront payment policy, including any additional details or conditions clients should be aware of when booking appointments.
- Click Finish to apply upfront payments for both online and offline appointments.
Only one policy can be active at a time and you can choose between Upfront payments and Capturing card details.
Choose whether the upfront payment applies to specific clients by enabling or disabling the setting in their client profile.
Adding upfront payments
If a service is not set up to require upfront payment by default, you can manually add this requirement to the appointment with the option to collect in-store or send a request for the clients to make payment.
Send a request
To send an upfront payment request:
- Open the Calendar and create a new appointment or select an existing one.
- Under Payment policy, use the drop-down menu to select Edit policy.
- Adjust the Upfront payment value. This can be a fixed rate or a percentage of the appointment cost.
- Select Send a request, click Apply and Save.
- After saving the appointment, the client will receive a notification requiring them to confirm by making payment.
Collect in-store
To collect an upfront payment in-store:
- Open the Calendar and create a new appointment or select an existing one.
- Under Payment policy, use the drop-down menu to select Edit policy.
- Adjust the Upfront payment value. This can be a fixed rate or a percentage of the appointment cost.
- Select Collect in-store to take payment the client is with you.
- Click Apply, then select Save and pay.
- You can take the upfront payment using the client’s payment card, a Fresha card terminal, Manual card entry, gift cards or Tap to Pay on an iPhone.
- Click Pay now to collect the payment.
Upfront payments cannot be collected for walk-in clients, you'll need to add a client to the appointment before an upfront payment can be added.
You can manually add an upfront payment to any appointment, regardless of whether the policy is applied to the service or client.
Editing upfront payment policies
To edit the upfront payment policy:
- Open Workspace settings, then select Payments and then Payment policy.
- Under Policy on all bookings, click Edit.
- Choose Collect upfront payments and proceed to the Next step.
- Make the necessary adjustments to the upfront payment policy.
- Select Next step.
Sending reminders
To send upfront payment reminders:
- Open the Calendar and select an existing appointment.
- Click on the three dots next to the upfront payment and select Send reminder.
- A notification will appear at the top of your screen to confirm the reminder has been sent.
If a client has not yet paid the required upfront payment to secure their appointment, you can use the same steps to send a payment reminder message.
Removing upfront payments
To remove the upfront payment from an appointment:
- Open the Calendar and create a new appointment or select an existing one.
- Click on the three dots next to the Upfront payment and select Remove policy.
- Click Save.
Once an upfront payment has been removed, you can return to the appointment and add a new upfront payment.
Refunding upfront payments
By default, upfront payments are non-refundable however you can choose to refund these at your discretion.
Refund an upfront payment
To refund an upfront payment:
- Open the Calendar and select an appointment where an upfront payment has been made.
- Click on the three dots next to the upfront payment and select Refund.
- Click Confirm to proceed with the refund.
- The refund will be applied to the client's card within a few working days.
Once an upfront payment has been refunded from an appointment, you cannot add another upfront payment.
Cancel an appointment and refund an upfront payment
To cancel an appointment and refund an upfront payment:
- Open the Calendar and select the appointment you want to cancel.
- Click on Quick actions (the three dots) and select Cancel.
- Select a cancellation reason and mark the checkbox if you want to notify the client.
- Choose Refund and click Confirm to proceed with the refund.
Mark an appointment as no-show and refund an upfront payment
To mark an appointment as a no-show and refund an upfront payment:
- Open the Calendar and select the appointment you want to cancel.
- Click on Quick actions (the three dots) and select No-show.
- Mark the checkbox if you want to notify the client.
- Choose Refund to process the refund and mark the appointment as a no-show.
FAQs
Can I change the amount upfront payment amount after setting it’s been enabled?
Can upfront payments be applied to some services and not others?
Will the client receive the self checkout reminder by email or text?
What happens to the upfront payment if the service booked has changed?
Will there be a fee for taking upfront payments?
Will the upfront payment policy apply to all appointments once enabled?
Does the Marketplace New Client Fee apply to the upfront payment value?
Do I have to pay the Marketplace New Client Fee if my client is a no-show?
Why is my client labelled as a new client?
Are split payments supported for upfront payment collections?