Payments
Deposits
Last updated 19 May 2026
Deposits
Reduce no-shows and protect your revenue with booking protection rules. You can require an upfront deposit when customers book, or save a card for an agreed no-show and late-cancellation fee with no payment taken today.
Where to find it. Web: Sidebar → Manage → Deposits (rules and settings), or Deposits dashboard (tracking). Mobile: More → Deposits (dashboard and rules).
TL;DR
- Booking protection requires Stripe Connect. Rules can either charge a deposit upfront or save a card for no-show protection.
- A deposit rule has no effect until it is assigned to at least one service.
- New rules do not create manual card holds. Older legacy holds remain visible in the dashboard until resolved.
- A service can only have one deposit rule at a time, assigning a new rule replaces the existing one.
Overview
Deposits let you:
- Require an upfront payment (fixed dollar amount or percentage) when a customer books online
- Save a card with consent for an agreed no-show and late-cancellation fee, without reducing the booking balance
- Target deposits to specific services, high-value treatments can require a deposit while simple cuts do not
- Apply different rules for new clients, returning clients, or high-risk clients (PRO)
- Set a cancellation window with configurable refund actions (full refund, credit, or forfeit)
- Define tiered refund policies based on how far in advance the customer cancels (PRO)
- Display a custom agreement message that customers must accept before paying
- Track all deposits from a dashboard with three tabs: Needs Action, Outstanding, and Recent
- View deposit performance metrics on the Intelligence dashboard (PRO)
Note
Deposits require Stripe Connect to be configured. Basic Deposit Upfront rules (fixed or percentage, all-client targeting) are available on both FREE and PRO plans. Advanced features such as client-specific conditions, tiered refund policies, and deposit performance analytics require a PRO subscription. New rules do not create manual card holds.
Creating a deposit rule
A booking protection rule defines the amount, product type, and policy applied when customers book a service assigned to that rule.
On web
- Go to Manage → Deposits in the sidebar.
- Click Create Deposit Rule (or + New Rule if rules already exist).
- In the Create Deposit Rule dialog, fill in the following fields:
| Field | Options | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Rule Name | Free text | A descriptive name (e.g. "Standard 50% Deposit", "New Client $30") |
| Protection Type | Deposit Upfront or No-show Card Protection | Deposit Upfront charges at booking and reduces the balance. No-show Card Protection saves a card and takes no payment today. |
| Deposit Type | Fixed amount or Percentage | Fixed charges a set dollar amount; Percentage charges a proportion of the service price |
| Amount | Number | Dollar amount (e.g. 30) or percentage (e.g. 50). For percentage, the deposit is calculated from the service price at booking time |
| Cancellation Window | Hours (number) | How many hours before the appointment the customer can cancel and receive the configured refund. Default varies by rule |
| Refund Action | Full refund, Credit, or Forfeit | What happens to the deposit when the customer cancels within the allowed window |
| Refund Policy | Simple or Tiered (PRO) | Tiered lets you define multiple refund tiers based on cancellation timing (see Tiered refund policies below) |
| Client Condition | All clients, New clients only, Returning clients only, or High-risk clients | Who the rule applies to. New/returning/high-risk conditions require PRO |
| Agreement Text | Free text (optional) | A message shown to the customer before they pay the deposit (e.g. "A 50% deposit is required to secure your booking. Cancellations within 24 hours will forfeit the deposit.") |
- Click Save (or Create Rule).
On mobile
- Go to More → Deposits.
- Tap Create Rule (or the + button).
- Fill in the same fields as web: Rule Name, Protection Type, Deposit Type, Amount, Cancellation Window, Refund Action, Client Condition, and Agreement Text.
- Tap Save.
Tip
Start with a simple rule, a 50% percentage deposit on all clients with automatic capture, and refine later once you see how it affects your no-show rate.
Writing the client agreement (AI)
Each deposit rule has an optional Client Agreement field — the text shown to the customer before they pay the deposit (e.g. "By proceeding, I agree to the cancellation policy for this booking."). You can write your own, or use the AI writer.
Two AI modes
In the bottom-right of the agreement textarea, an AI action button appears:
| Mode | When | Label |
|---|---|---|
| Suggest | Empty textarea | Write with AI (Sparkles icon) |
| Rewrite | Existing text present | Rewrite (RefreshCw icon) |
Tap to generate. The AI considers:
- The rule itself (amount, protection type, cancellation window hours, refund action)
- Your venue's brand voice persona (HOST, CONCIERGE, CASUAL, ENTHUSIAST)
- Your venue category (hair, barber, aesthetics, etc.)
- Your Business Memory facts
Output is plain English, first-person from the client's perspective ("I understand…", "I agree…"), single paragraph, maximum 400 characters, British English. No bullets, no headings, no em dashes, no AI tells.
Rewrite mode
When you have existing text and tap Rewrite, the AI keeps any specific details you wrote that are still accurate for the rule, then re-tunes for voice and brevity. Useful after you've changed brand voice and want the agreement to match.
Cost
1 Spark per AI generation (each Suggest or Rewrite call). See Understanding Spark.
Owner role required for the AI button. Manager and stylist accounts can edit the agreement text but not trigger AI generation.
When to use AI agreement
- Setting up a new deposit rule and want a clean baseline
- Changed your brand voice and want every rule's agreement to match
- The default text feels generic and you want something on-brand without writing from scratch
For especially sensitive language (clinical, medical, legal), write or review manually — AI is a draft accelerator, not a legal advisor.
Assigning rules to services
After creating a deposit rule, you choose which services it applies to. A rule with no services assigned has no effect.
On web
- After saving the rule (or from the rule's detail view), the Assign to Services step appears.
- The service list shows all active services at your venue. Each service displays its name and current deposit status.
- Tick the checkbox next to each service that should require this deposit.
- Click Save Assignments.
On mobile
- After saving the rule, tap Assign Services.
- Toggle each service on or off.
- Tap Save.
A service can only have one deposit rule assigned at a time. If you assign a new rule to a service that already has a different rule, the new rule replaces the old one.
Protection types
OpenChair supports two booking protection products for new rules.
Deposit Upfront (FREE and PRO)
The customer's card is charged immediately when they complete the booking. The deposit amount is deducted at the time of booking and the deposit status moves to Captured.
This is the simplest option and works well for most venues.
No-show Card Protection
The customer's card is saved at booking time with off-session consent, but no payment is taken today and the booking balance is not reduced. If the customer cancels late or no-shows, an Owner or Manager can charge the agreed fee from the booking detail.
The fee amount and consent text are saved on the booking, so later rule edits do not change existing bookings.
Legacy manual card holds
Warning
Older bookings may still show manual card holds. They expire after 7 days if not captured, and expired holds appear in the Needs Action tab of the deposits dashboard. New booking protection rules do not create manual holds.
Client conditions (PRO)
By default, a deposit rule applies to all clients. With a PRO subscription, you can target specific client types:
| Condition | Who it applies to |
|---|---|
| All clients | Every customer who books a service with this rule assigned |
| New clients only | Customers who have never booked at your venue before |
| Returning clients only | Customers who have at least one previous booking |
| High-risk clients | Customers flagged as high-risk (e.g. history of no-shows or late cancellations) |
When a customer books online, OpenChair evaluates the deposit rules assigned to the selected service and checks the client condition. If the condition does not match, no deposit is required for that booking.
Cancellation and refund policies
Each deposit rule has a cancellation window and a refund action that together determine what happens when a customer cancels.
Simple refund action
Every deposit rule has a Cancellation Window (in hours) and a Refund Action:
- If the customer cancels before the cancellation window (e.g. more than 24 hours before the appointment), the configured refund action applies.
- If the customer cancels within the cancellation window (e.g. less than 24 hours before), the deposit is forfeited.
| Refund Action | What happens |
|---|---|
| Full refund | The full deposit amount is returned to the customer's card |
| Credit | The deposit is converted to account credit for future use |
| Forfeit | The deposit is kept by the venue, no refund issued |
Tiered refund policies (PRO)
Tiered policies let you define multiple refund tiers based on how far in advance the customer cancels. Each tier specifies a time threshold and a refund percentage.
Example tiered policy:
| Cancel timing | Refund |
|---|---|
| More than 48 hours before | 100% refund |
| 24 to 48 hours before | 50% refund |
| Less than 24 hours before | No refund (forfeit) |
Tiered policies are stored as structured data on the deposit rule and evaluated automatically when a cancellation is processed.
How deposits work during booking
When a customer books a service that has a deposit rule assigned:
- During the online booking flow, the deposit amount is displayed before payment (e.g. "A deposit of $30.00 is required to confirm this booking").
- If the rule has Agreement Text, the customer sees the agreement message and must accept it.
- The customer enters their card details via the Stripe payment form.
- Depending on the protection type:
- Deposit Upfront: The card is charged immediately. The booking is confirmed with deposit status Captured.
- No-show Card Protection: The card is saved with consent. The booking is confirmed with no payment taken today.
- A confirmation is sent to the customer showing the deposit collected or the no-show card protection terms accepted.
If the deposit payment fails (e.g. card declined), the booking is not confirmed.
Deposit statuses
Each deposit moves through a lifecycle of statuses from Pending to a terminal state such as Captured, Refunded, or Forfeited.
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Pending | Deposit has been initiated but not yet processed |
| Authorised | Legacy card hold placed successfully, waiting for capture or release |
| Captured | Deposit has been charged to the customer's card |
| Forfeited | Deposit was kept by the venue after a late cancellation or no-show |
| Refunded | Full deposit amount was refunded to the customer |
| Partially refunded | A portion of the deposit was refunded (e.g. from a tiered policy) |
| Expired | Legacy card hold expired without being captured |
| Cancelled | Deposit was cancelled before processing |
The deposits dashboard
The deposits dashboard gives you a centralised view of all deposit activity across your venue.
On web
Go to Deposits in the sidebar. The dashboard has three tabs:
| Tab | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Needs Action | Deposits that require your attention, including expired legacy card holds. These need to be resolved (contact the customer or write off). |
| Outstanding | Active deposits, legacy authorised holds waiting to be captured, and pending deposits. These are in-flight. |
| Recent | Completed deposits from the last 30 days, captured, forfeited, and refunded deposits. |
Each deposit entry shows the customer name, service, amount, status badge, and the date. Click a deposit to view details and take action (capture, refund, or forfeit).
A Needs Action count badge appears on the Deposits sidebar item when there are expired holds requiring attention.
On mobile
Go to More → Deposits. The same three tabs are available. On iPad, the screen uses a master-detail layout with the deposit list on the left and details on the right.
Processing refunds
When a booking with a deposit is cancelled:
- OpenChair checks the deposit rule's cancellation window and refund action (or tiered policy).
- The appropriate refund amount is calculated automatically.
- If a refund is due, it is processed through Stripe back to the customer's original payment method.
- The deposit status updates to Refunded or Partially refunded.
Refunds use a compare-and-swap pattern to prevent double-refund errors, if two refund requests arrive simultaneously, only one is processed.
For manual refunds (outside the automatic cancellation flow), venue owners can process a refund from the deposit detail view.
Deposit performance metrics (PRO)
The Intelligence dashboard includes a deposit performance card that shows:
- Total deposits collected over a period
- Deposit collection rate (percentage of eligible bookings where deposits were collected)
- Forfeiture rate
- Refund rate
- Revenue protected by deposits
This card helps you evaluate whether your deposit strategy is reducing no-shows and protecting revenue.
Assistant deposit nudges (PRO)
OpenChair Assistant can proactively suggest deposit-related actions, such as reminding you to capture an expiring hold or flagging a customer with repeated no-shows who might benefit from a deposit requirement. These nudges appear in the Assistant interface and require a PRO subscription.
Role access
Owners manage deposit rules; Managers can view deposits and capture/release holds; Stylists have no deposit access.
| Action | Owner | Manager | Stylist |
|---|---|---|---|
| Create and edit deposit rules | Yes | No | No |
| Assign rules to services | Yes | No | No |
| View deposits dashboard | Yes | Yes | No |
| Capture or release a legacy card hold | Yes | Yes | No |
| Process a manual refund | Yes | No | No |
| View deposit performance metrics | Yes | Yes | No |
Note
On web, the Deposits page in the sidebar is only visible to Owners. Managers can access deposit tracking through the booking detail view.
Platform differences
The core deposit workflow is available on both web and mobile with minor navigation differences.
| Feature | Web | Mobile |
|---|---|---|
| Navigation (rules) | Sidebar → Manage → Deposits | More → Deposits → Rules |
| Navigation (dashboard) | Sidebar → Deposits | More → Deposits |
| Create rule | Dialog with form fields + service assignment step | Full-screen form → service assignment screen |
| Dashboard layout | Three-tab table with pagination | Three-tab list (master-detail on iPad) |
| Rule editing | Inline edit in rule detail sheet | Separate edit screen |
| Service assignment | Checkbox list in second step of create/edit flow | Toggle list on dedicated screen |
| Deposit performance | Intelligence dashboard card | Intelligence dashboard card |
| Capture/release legacy holds | Action buttons on deposit detail | Action buttons on deposit detail |
Troubleshooting
| Issue | Solution |
|---|---|
| Deposit not appearing at booking | Ensure the deposit rule is active and assigned to the booked service. Check that the client condition matches the customer (e.g. a "New clients only" rule will not trigger for returning customers). Verify Stripe Connect is configured on your venue. |
| "Expired" deposits in Needs Action tab | Legacy card holds expire after 7 days if not captured. Contact the customer to arrange payment, or write off the deposit. New booking protection rules do not create manual holds. |
| Customer says they were charged but booking shows "Pending" | The payment may be processing. Check Stripe for the payment intent status. If the charge succeeded but the webhook was delayed, the status will update automatically when the webhook arrives. |
| Cannot create deposit rules | Only venue Owners can create and manage deposit rules. If you are a Manager or Stylist, ask the venue Owner to set up deposit rules. |
| Deposit amount seems wrong | For percentage-based rules, the deposit is calculated from the service price at the time of booking. If the service price has changed since the rule was created, the deposit amount reflects the current price, not the price when the rule was set up. |
| Customer cannot complete booking with deposit | The customer's card may have been declined. They should try a different card. If the error persists, check that your Stripe account is active and charges are enabled. |
| Refund not processing | Refunds are processed through Stripe. Ensure your Stripe account has sufficient balance. If the original payment was made more than 180 days ago, Stripe cannot process a refund, you will need to arrange an alternative refund method. |
| Advanced options (client conditions or tiered refunds) not available | These features require a PRO subscription. On a FREE plan, deposits apply to all clients. |
| Deposit rule assigned but no deposit charged for a specific customer | Check the rule's client condition. If set to "New clients only", returning customers will not be charged. If set to "High-risk clients", only flagged customers will be charged. |
FAQ
Why is a deposit not appearing at booking?
Ensure the deposit rule is active and assigned to the booked service. Check that the client condition matches the customer, a "New clients only" rule will not trigger for returning customers. Also verify that Stripe Connect is configured on your venue.
Can I require deposits only for new clients?
Yes, on PRO plans, client conditions let you target All clients, New clients only, Returning clients only, or High-risk clients. Basic deposit rules on FREE plans apply to all clients.
What happens if a legacy card hold expires?
Legacy card holds expire after 7 days if not captured. They move to the Needs Action tab in the deposits dashboard. Contact the customer to arrange payment or write off the deposit. New rules use Deposit Upfront or No-show Card Protection instead of manual holds.
Can I refund a deposit?
Yes, when a booking is cancelled, OpenChair automatically processes the refund based on the rule's cancellation window and refund action. Venue owners can also process manual refunds from the deposit detail view. Stripe cannot refund payments older than 180 days.