Tip #17: How to mandate partial payment for your appointments

Tip #17: How to mandate partial payment for your appointments




When you require partial payments during the booking process, customers can only schedule with you after paying a certain amount in advance. This deposit acts as a commitment between both parties. Apart from that, it has many more advantages.

 

Benefits of mandating partial payment

  • Reduced no-shows and cancellations: As the customer has made a deposit, it's less likely that they'll cancel or not show up for the appointment.

  • Only serious inquiries: When people have to invest financially, they will book only when they are sure about proceeding. This filters out customers who book casually with the intention of canceling later.

  • Streamlined processes: Implementing the collection of partial payment through an online scheduler reduces the time and effort needed for follow-up and manual invoicing.

  • Stable revenue: Since only serious customers pop in and book appointments, revenue will be stable for your business.

  • Better time management: As most of the bookings happen without cancellation, you can efficiently manage the time slots for staff members and resources.

Use case

Consider an event management company that has an online scheduler embedded into its website. When clients book event services, such as catering, venue rentals, event decorations, and more, a partial payment requirement ensures commitment and helps cover initial expenses. In certain industries, such as event planning, customers often explore multiple options, which indicates uncertainty about committing to a particular service provider. By mandating partial payment, event planners or service providers can safeguard themselves against last-minute cancellations. Collecting a portion upfront allows event planners to proceed confidently with organizing the events, knowing that the client is invested in the process.

 

Zoho Bookings allows you to set the deposit amount to be paid while booking an appointment. It provides detailed customization by allowing you to configure different partial payment costs for different services (i.e., each services can have its own deposit amount).

 

Steps to set up partial payment

  1. Click Services on the Bookings menu bar, then select the required service on the left pane.

  1. Click Service Information in the middle pane.

  2. In the Type of Payment dropdown, select the option Deposit. A textbox will appear; enter the payment amount that should be paid in advance in the text box and click Save.



Now, when the customer tries to book a service with you, they'll be prompted to pay this deposit amount. But for this to work as intended, you'll need to configure a payment gateway:

  1. Navigate to Integrations > Payments and configure any one of the payment gateways available. Refer to this help page for more details about adding a payment gateway.



  2. After adding a payment gateway, enable the toggle beside Online Payments.



The setup is done; your booking page will allow appointments only when this deposit amount is paid.

 

Although implementing a partial deposit is necessary in many cases, it's also imperative that you stay flexible to show that you understand reasonable requests. This helps maintain good client relations.

 

Thank you for checking out this post. Please leave you questions and feedback in the comments section, or write to us at support@zohobookings.com.

 

Regards,

The Zoho Bookings Team

 


 

Related articles

  1. Configure Payments
  2. Payment Integration

    • Sticky Posts

    • Tip #13: Identify where your bookings come from with Source Tracking

      Source tracking is the practice of identifying where your bookings originated. This is important, because online bookings come from a wide variety of sources like social media platforms, your website, email and ad campaigns, partner websites, organic

    • Tip #17: How to mandate partial payment for your appointments

      When you require partial payments during the booking process, customers can only schedule with you after paying a certain amount in advance. This deposit acts as a commitment between both parties. Apart from that, it has many more advantages. Benefits

    • Tip #18: Organize a group workshop in a few steps

      It's the season for workshops—they're everywhere, catering to diverse interests and needs. Whether for more professional goals like leadership development or creative endeavors like painting, there's an abundance of workshops offered every day. A scheduler

    • Tip #16: Custom labels for staff, service, and resources

      Every industry uses its own jargon. Take healthcare, for example; when you visit a doctor, it's not just an appointment, it's a consultation. The people who provide consultations are the providers. Similarly, in the tranquil world of a spa, a massage

    • Tip #15: Customize service prices for each staff member

      It's common practice for a service to be priced differently based on the staff member providing it. For example, an experienced hair stylist may charge more for a haircut compared to the other stylists. This pricing strategy allows businesses to charge

    • Recent Topics

    • Reverse proxy

      We have a web application in the creator platform. When I launch a particular DNS, I would like that DNS to redirect to the web page of the application in creator app. Has anyone achieved it and if yes, please share how to do it.

    • Still client need to download .exe?

      Hello, the client for use zoho assist need everytime download .exe file and launch it?

    • Splitting a ticket's entire thread

      Hi, When you split a ticket it only splits the individual reply that you clicked "Split as new ticket" on. Is it not possible to split the entire ticket thread from that point into the new ticket (every reply from the split point forward)? Or is there

    • Editing the text on the Help Center home page

      Is it possible to edit the "Welcome to Help Center" message anywhere? This one: We'd like to be able to tailor it a little more ourselves.

    • WHMCS for Zoho Flow

      Can we use WHMCS for Zoho flow?

    • Online meetings through Calendar Booking form with options

      This is great to see and particularly for those users who don't have Zoho BOOKINGS. The shame of it all though is that it could have been better. Why do we have to set up separate booking forms for each type of meeting and for each online conferencing

    • Agents permission per department

      Hi Team, can I setup permission for each agent what they can do in each department, for example I want account department agents to only have view access to support department tickets and not allowed to assign or reply to clients. I am sure this would

    • CRM notes

      I want to be able to add notes to a task that do not necessarily get rolled up into an account or contact.   For example, I tasks to work on a Court Order for John Doe divorce account.  There might be lots of updates (in the form of notes) that employees

    • Function #8: Add additional charges to invoices

      Here goes one of the highly sought-after custom functions in Zoho Books. If you find yourself needing to apply additional charges to customers on their invoices (say credit card surcharges, or fuel charges applicable to customers from a certain region,

    • Alternative / optional Position

      How do you create an alternative position or an optional position (article) in offers?

    • جمود في الصفحة عند حفظ عمل

      عندما اقوم باضافة ايقونة الى صفحة النموذج تجمد الصفحة ولا تعمل وتصبح مثل المظلة احدث الصفحة لا تعمل انتظر قليلا لا تعمل اقوم بنسخ رابط الصفحة والصقه في الرابط فيعمل

    • ZOHO Books Canadian payroll Integration

      Hello, I know ZOHO books doesn't have Canadian payroll and I dont believe its coming anytime soon. My question is there a Canadian payroll software that could be integrated with Zoho Books? Thank you HD

    • Zoho Desk Time Tracking and the Salary Privacy Issue

      Hello colleagues, Just wondering if anyone did hit the same wall? In the Desk, when the agent-specific hourly rates are enabled (Zoho Desk → Setup → Time Tracking → Billing Preferences), these Time Entries are being displayed in the Ticket History tab.

    • How to Delete, Disable, or Remove Streams from the Mail App?

      Is there a way to remove Streams from the mail app sidebar? I get too many notifications, it doesn't add any value to Zoho's functionality (especially since you can just make comments inside an email), and is distracting. I do not want notifications/alerts

    • Delay in MX updates

      Hi, I set MX Records 12 hours ago, and I am receiving email normally, but I still get notification MX record is not pointing correctly. Error: The MX records of your domain is not yet pointed to Zoho Mail. Why there is a delay in detecting MX records,

    • make.com integration

      Just wondering if anyone on Zoho One account connecting apps to Make.com We're on Canadian server (.com) and when connecting to Make.com, it keeps having error of Invalid Client ID. I have contacted both Zoho and Make and both sides said it's not an error

    • Article Numbers for KB articles

      Hello, I was wondering if it's possible to turn on article numbers/ part numbering for KB articles. If this is not already a feature, we'd like to request it. Frequently a solution will require multiple articles so tracking which articles are referenced

    • Refund Request ,Zoho Mail Subscription (zoho suport is not replying)

      Hi Zoho Team, I recently subscribed to the Zoho Mail yearly plan, but after evaluating it, I found that the interface does not suit my workflow. I’ve already canceled the subscription from my end. As I’m well within your 30-day refund window, I’m requesting

    • File Encryption - Zoho Desk iOS app update

      Hello, Everyone! We have now introduced the 'File Encryption' option within the Zoho Desk app as part of the HIPAA Compliance. This option allows the user to encrypt the attachments within the Desk mobile app, which acts as an additional layer of security.

    • Data encryption - Zoho Desk iOS

      Hello, Everyone! In the recent iOS version(v2.8.23) of the Zoho Desk app, we have supported data encryption. As a part of HIPAA Compliance, the Zoho Desk mobile app now allow users to encrypt the Desk mobile database as an additional layer of security.

    • Notify Admin when a user forgets to check-in or check-out at the designated time.

      Hello, I would like notify the Admin via email when a user forgets to check-in or check-out at the designated time. What is the best way to setup this email notification?

    • Assistance Needed with Prospect Conversion Issue

      Hi, I attempted to convert a prospect to an account, but received a pop-up notification indicating that the contact information matches an existing contact. I selected the option to add it to the existing contact, but it appears the prospect was not successfully

    • Mail Merge - unable to send more than 50 email

      Hi, I've subscribed to the pay email service because of the Mail Merge feature. However, I've found that this feature only allow to send up to 50 emails. I've to attach a screenshot for your reference. This limitation is not mentioned anywhere in service.

    • Zoholics Europe 2025: Your Ultimate Data Analysis (Zoho Analytics) Workshop Experience

      Why should you attend? This year, Zoholics Europe 2025 is putting data analysis centre stage. With a dedicated workshop designed to answer all your data-related questions, you’ll gain practical skills, real-time solutions, and expert insights that you

    • UK payroll entries

      Hey guys, Nett payroll payments are imported direct into the bank, using an external payroll system (will be glad for Zoho to have a UK payroll app) At present I have monthly recurring bills for HMRC which are auto entered & paid when due. This seems

    • Invoice status on write-off is "Paid" - how do I change this to "Written off"

      HI guys, I want to write off a couple of outstanding invoices, but when I do this, the status of the invoices shows as "Paid". Clearly this is not the case and I need to be able to see that they are written off in the customer's history. Is there a way

    • Reverse Charge Services (Non-EU) Showing Correctly in 84/85 and 67, But Missing in Box 46 - Germany

      Hi, I'm located in Germany and I’ve set up my expenses for non-EU services (e.g., OpenAI, DeepSeek) under the reverse charge mechanism (§ 13b UStG) in Zoho Books, and I noticed some discrepancies in the VAT Summary Report. What’s Correct: Reverse Charge

    • Zoho Live Chat/Support

      What is going on with Zoho support lately? I've tried to use the live chat feature 4 different times and it refuses to connect to any (despite waiting over 30 minutes one of the tries). I finally gave up and emailed my question nearly a week ago and still

    • Can we have a module to records Certificate No and TDS rates for Lower TDS Certificates by the vendors ?

      Can we have a module to records Certificate No and TDS rates for Lower TDS Certificates by the vendors ?

    • Tip #38- Track Organizational Changes: A Guide to Using Action Log Viewer- 'Insider Insights'

      Hello Zoho Assist Community! Ever needed to trace who did what and when within your remote support operations? Let’s say your support team is growing, and you want to monitor key activities like settings updates, user invites, module changes, or permission

    • Tip of the Week #67– Avoid confusion – Mark duplicate threads.

      When customers send the same message to multiple email addresses, such as support@ and sales@, your team may end up seeing the same message in different inboxes. This creates confusion, risks double replies, and clutters your workspace. Use the Mark as

    • Tax in Quote

      Each row item in a quote has a tax value.  At the total numbers at the bottom, there is also a Tax entry. If you select tax in both of the (line item, and the total), the tax doubles. My assumption is that the Tax total should be totalling the tax from

    • Final Reminder: Discontinuation of Older ASAP Widgets and Mobile SDK Support

      We launched the new ASAP Help Widget last year, introducing a unified and enhanced experience. Since then, older configurations have been placed in read-only mode, with all major updates and improvements built exclusively on the new version. As part of

    • Zoho Subscriptions -- Zoho Commerce integration

      Is there integration between Zoho Subscriptions and Zoho Commerce? I would like to create subscription plans in Zoho Subscritpions and list them for on my Zoho Commerce store.

    • Website show Blank white screen

      Customer called me to tell me my website is currently down upon review it shows a white screen however I can access everything via editor. JITCADCAM.com

    • How manufacturing analytics can transform your enterprise with Zoho Projects Plus

      Did you know that every single car is made up of 30,000 to 40,000 individual parts? All of these are manufactured meticulously in various facilities before being assembled into one. The global manufacturing industry spans a wide range from delivering

    • Projects custom colors replaced by default orange

      Since yesterday, projects uploaded to Zoho, to which I had assigned a custom color, have lost the customization and reverted to the default color (orange). Has anyone else had the same problem? If so, how did you resolve it?

    • Customize your SalesIQ live chat with Custom CSS and blend it with your website design

      Hi everyone. Hope you all are having a great day! SalesIQ offers various inbuilt customization choices for your chat widget and window like changes in colour, theme, font etc. Although these choices are many, sometimes they may not match with the design

    • From Email Address When Replaying to Missed Chats

      One of the most common things we do is follow up on every missed chat.  Missed chats are like money in the bank, people just waiting for your response and to start a relationship with our companies. However, SalesIQ only lets you respond from 1 email address from your entire account?! We have happily paid for 4 subscriptions, but our users cannot reply from their own email address?  How are we supposed to build customer relationships? The fix to this issue is so simple, just load in the logged in

    • how to treat a same person as customer and vendor in zoho

      hi team, in my company, few persons acting as creditors as well as debtors (which means sometimes we pay them... some times we paid by them). in that case i would like to maintain a same ledger for that person.in zoho books it is treating creditor and

    • Next Page