Payments and refund policy

The Payments section under Settings is where you connect a payment account (so clients can pay through the booking page), and set the refund policy that runs when a client cancels.

If you only ever take payment in person — cash, EFTPOS terminal, your existing card reader — you can ignore this page entirely. Online payments are optional. Most salons start out without them and add them later once they want deposits to cut no-shows.

Connecting your payment account

TimeToBook uses Stripe Connect under the hood — the same processor most modern booking apps use. You don't need an existing Stripe account; we'll create one for you during onboarding.

1. Open Settings → Payments.
2. If your group is in the international region (anywhere outside NZ, AU, UK), pick your country first. We use this to enable the right Stripe features for your region.
3. Make sure your location address is complete — Stripe won't open an account without it. If anything's missing, the page deep-links you straight to the bit that needs fixing.
4. Click Start onboarding. The Stripe form mounts directly in the page — fill in your business details, bank account, and ID verification.
5. When Stripe approves you (usually instant, occasionally a day or two), the page shows Charges enabled and Payouts enabled. You're live.

Payouts land in your nominated bank account on Stripe's normal schedule — typically every 2–7 business days depending on your country.

If anything looks stuck, click Refresh status to re-check your account with Stripe.

Refund policy

Even if you haven't enabled online payments yet, the refund policy controls what happens when a client cancels through their Manage your booking link in the confirmation email:

• Refund cutoff (hours before appointment) — how many hours before the booking a client can still cancel and get a refund (if they paid). Default: 24 hours. Range: 0–168 hours (one week).
• Automatically refund cancellations — if on, eligible cancellations inside the cutoff window refund automatically without you lifting a finger. If off, cancellations still happen but you'll process the refund manually.

The cutoff is also what governs whether the client sees a cancel button at all on the self-service cancellation page. Inside the window, they see "call us" instead of a button — exactly the behaviour you want when it's too late for an automatic refund.

Tap to Pay

Stripe Connect also unlocks Tap to Pay on phone for supported countries — clients tap a card or phone against your iPhone at checkout, no extra hardware required. Tap to Pay is on the Roadmap and rolls out to TimeToBook gradually; if your country shows up under Can accept Tap to Pay, you're eligible when we ship it.

Troubleshooting

• "Add a complete location address before starting onboarding." — Stripe needs a real street address, city, and postcode for every location. Click the missing-address link to be taken straight to the bit that needs fixing.
• "Payouts disabled." — Stripe usually wants more info: ID document, business registration number, or sometimes a tax ID. Open the management panel below the status box and follow the prompts.
• My account looks fine but charges aren't going through. — Click Refresh status. If still stuck, contact support and we'll dig into the Stripe logs with you.

Wait — I haven't enabled this yet, do I need to?

No. The booking flow works fine without an online payment account; clients book, you confirm, and you take payment in the salon the way you always did. Turn this on when you're ready to require deposits for no-show-prone clients, or want clients to pay in advance for high-value services.