Taking deposits for appointments: by transfer or online

Taking a deposit, by bank transfer or online, makes sense for long or expensive services and for first visits, which is where a missed appointment costs you hours of your schedule. The usual amount is 20 to 30% of the price, and you should have your refund rule in writing before the first payment comes in. In Citauno, online deposits are an optional module with tpago, available only in Paraguay and switched on by request; everywhere else, the deposit is recorded on the booking and paid by bank transfer.

When it’s worth charging upfront

Not every service needs it. Asking for money upfront adds a step, and on a short, inexpensive service that step turns away more clients than it protects you from.

It makes sense in these cases:

• Long services. A full color, a tattoo session, microblading: if the person doesn’t show up, you lose half a day.
• Services with materials or a design prepared in advance. When you do work for that client beforehand, as with a tattoo design.
• First visits. With someone you don’t know yet, you have no way of telling whether they’ll turn up.
• High-demand dates. The holiday season, graduations, weddings: an empty slot on those days can’t be filled later.
• Clients who have missed appointments without warning. Asking them to pay something upfront next time is reasonable and easy to explain.

With regular clients and short services, an optional deposit, or none at all, is better for the relationship.

If the main problem is people forgetting, a good reminder helps more than a charge: start with the guide on reducing no-shows.

How much to ask for

• A percentage of 20 to 30% of the price is the most common. It’s enough for the person to commit without feeling they’re paying for everything before they see the result.
• A fixed amount works when your prices are similar or when the upfront payment has to cover something specific, like materials or design hours.
• Full payment puts people off booking, so use it sparingly: an event, a wedding hairstyle, a date you can’t afford to lose.

Always make it clear to clients that what they pay upfront comes off the total. It sounds obvious, but it’s one of the first questions you’ll get.

How to tell clients without scaring them off

A charge the client only finds out about at the end feels like a trap. Mention it early and everywhere people find you:

1. On your profile or in your bio, in one line: “For services over two hours, we ask for a deposit by bank transfer.”
2. In the description of the service that requires it, with the amount or the percentage.
3. In your message when you book someone over WhatsApp, with the amount, your payment details and the deadline.

Keep the tone simple and guilt-free. “We hold your slot with a 30% deposit by bank transfer, which comes off the total” works better than a paragraph about people who don’t show up.

Your refund rule, in writing

The next thing clients will ask is what happens if they cancel. Write the answer before the first payment comes in, because you’ll need it at the first cancellation. A good policy answers three things:

• How far ahead people can cancel and get their money back, for example 24 hours in advance.
• What happens if they cancel late: they lose it, or they can move it to another date once.
• How and how quickly you return the money, for example by bank transfer within two business days.

A possible wording: “If you cancel more than 24 hours in advance, we’ll return your deposit by bank transfer or move it to another date. With less notice, what you paid is not refunded.”

No online payment: deposits by bank transfer

It’s the simplest way, and it works in any country:

1. The client books and the booking stays pending.
2. You send them the amount and your bank details over WhatsApp.
3. When you see the payment, you confirm the booking.
4. If they don’t pay by the deadline you set, you free up the slot.

The downside is the manual work: checking your account, matching names and remembering to free up the slots nobody paid for. With a few bookings a day, it’s manageable.

And there are ways to protect your schedule without charging anything: confirm new clients’ bookings by hand, keep track of who doesn’t show up, and block clients who keep missing appointments.

How it works in Citauno

By bank transfer, in any country

With the Manual confirmation mode, which is the default, online bookings come in as pending. You arrange the deposit by bank transfer, keep the payment recorded in an internal note on the booking, and confirm it from your admin panel when you see the money arrive.

A pending booking waiting for your confirmation holds the slot until you confirm or reject it, so it’s worth checking pending bookings once a day from the Dashboard.

For everything else, each client’s profile shows how many times they didn’t show up, which is what Mark as no-show adds up. The owner can also block a client: that WhatsApp number can no longer book online.

Online deposits with tpago (Paraguay, module on request)

In Paraguay, Citauno can collect deposits online with tpago, through an optional module we switch on by request, at no extra cost from us. You ask for it from More features → Ask to turn on.

You need your own tpago merchant account, and the money goes straight into that account.

With the module turned on, in Settings → Online payments (deposit / prepay) you choose what is charged at booking:

With the module turned on, each service can follow that rule or have its own, such as a percentage, a fixed amount or No deposit. That way you can leave the general rule on Optional and ask for a deposit only on long services.

What happens next:

• When they finish booking, clients see the buttons to pay the requested amount or the total with tpago.
• Once they pay, the booking is confirmed automatically, even if your confirmation mode is manual.
• If they don’t pay, the booking stays pending and holds the slot. After 24 hours, Citauno rejects it, frees the slot and lets the client know by email. If you prefer, you can reject it sooner yourself.
• If they paid only part of it, the client can pay the balance online from their booking. Anything they pay in person, you track outside Citauno.
• Every payment shows up in Payments, so you can reconcile it with your tpago statement.

You write the policy in Settings, in the Cancellation policy field. It’s shown on your public profile and when a client cancels, but Citauno doesn’t enforce it or charge anything on its own: it’s the text that sets expectations.

The step-by-step setup for the module is in online payments with tpago, and what each status means (pending, confirmed, rejected) is in booking statuses.

An example

Picture a tattoo studio with two artists. Long sessions are booked weeks ahead and the design is prepared in advance. When someone didn’t show up, they lost the afternoon and the drawing hours too.

First they started asking for a deposit by bank transfer, only for sessions over three hours and for new clients. They said so in their bio, in the description of those services and in their cancellation policy, along with the refund rule.

In Citauno they left confirmation on Manual. When a long session comes in, they send their details for the bank transfer, keep the deposit recorded in an internal note on the booking and confirm it once the payment arrives. They no longer dig through chats looking for payment screenshots, and in the morning they reject the pending bookings nobody paid for. A studio in Paraguay could also ask us to switch on the optional tpago module, so that paying the deposit online confirms the booking.

Frequently asked questions

How much does the online deposit module cost?

Citauno charges nothing extra to turn on the module and takes no commission on payments. tpago charges its own per-transaction fee under your merchant contract. Keep in mind that the module only works in Paraguay.

Can I ask for a deposit by bank transfer outside Paraguay?

Yes. Online deposits through the tpago module only work in Paraguay. In other countries, the deposit is recorded on the booking and paid by bank transfer, and you confirm the booking by hand when you see the payment.

If a client cancels, does Citauno refund them?

No. Cancelling frees the slot, but you handle the refund yourself, from tpago or by bank transfer, according to the policy you wrote.

If you want to get deposits in order at your business, recorded on the booking and paid by transfer, or with the tpago module in Paraguay, try Citauno free for 15 days, no card required. See how scheduling for aesthetics clinics works or check the pricing.