A deposit or a card on file: how to cut no-shows without losing customers.
A no-show is an hour you cannot sell again. Asking for something when people book changes the odds: a deposit, the full price, or a card kept on file and charged only if the person does not come. Here is how each works in Apronta, and how to choose.
What a booking can ask for.
In Apronta you set one rule for the business, and every booking made on your page follows it. There are four answers:
- Nothing. The person books and turns up.
- A deposit, as a percentage of the price or a fixed sum. Never under one euro and never more than the price. As a percentage it grows with the service: it asks little of a quick trim and more of a colour.
- The full price, paid when booking.
- A card on file. Nothing is charged when booking; the card is charged only if the person does not come or cancels late.
The cancellation window.
You decide how many hours before the start a cancellation stops being free (24 for a service business, 2 for a restaurant, unless you change it) and what a late cancellation or a no-show costs: the deposit, a fixed sum, a percentage of the price, or nothing. Never more than the price of what was booked. The rule is shown to whoever books before they pay.
A booking can always be cancelled on its own page; inside the window, the page says what it will cost before the button. Moving it to another time is free until the limit you choose (24 hours unless you change it), so the hour goes back on sale instead of standing empty.
Deposit or card on file?
A deposit is money up front: it suits long or expensive services, where a no-show costs an afternoon. It counts towards the price, and the rest is paid at the counter or by a link you send from the diary.
A card on file asks no money of anyone who keeps their word, which weighs less on a regular. If you want, the rest of the price is charged to that card when you mark the visit as done.
A service business starts with a 20% deposit and 24 hours; a restaurant starts asking nothing. Change it when your own numbers say so: each client’s record counts their no-shows.
What it takes.
Asking for money or a card when people book is on the Pro and Marca plans, with a Stripe account in your business’s name. The money goes into your account and Apronta takes no commission. On Marca, a gift voucher can pay the deposit too, if its balance covers it. Reminders before the visit are on the same two plans.