Durable allows you to define how you collect payments and manage cancellations for your booking services. You can set business-wide payment and cancellation policies that apply to all your services, which can then be overridden for individual services if needed.

Accessing Business-Wide Payment Settings

To configure your default payment and cancellation options for all your services:

From your Durable dashboard, navigate to Bookings.
Click on Settings.
Select the Payments tab.

Here, you can choose one of four payment options and customize its associated cancellation policy.

Understanding Payment Options and Cancellation Policies

No payment required

This option allows customers to book an appointment without making any payment upfront. You can then send an invoice manually after the service is rendered or at a later time.

Cancellation Policy for "No payment required"

Customers can cancel up to: Define the timeframe (e.g., 24 hours, 1 day, 7 days) before the appointment during which a customer can cancel without penalty.
Late cancellation refund: If you are handling payments elsewhere, you can set a refund policy that will be communicated to your customer. Note that no charges or refunds will be automatically processed through Durable with this option.

Invoicing

When you select "Invoicing," an invoice with a payment link is automatically sent to the customer after the appointment. This allows them to pay the invoice at their convenience, depending on your terms.

Cancellation Policy for "Invoicing"

Customers can cancel up to: Specify the period (e.g., 48 hours, 2 days) before the appointment when cancellations are permitted.
Late cancellation refund: Set a refund policy that will be communicated to your customer if they cancel after the allowed period. For example, you might specify a 50% refund for late cancellations. Note that no charges or refunds will be automatically processed through Durable with this option.

Require full prepayment

This option ensures that customers pay the full service price upfront to confirm their booking. This is ideal for services with a fixed price where you want to secure payment immediately.

Non-refundable fee for "Require full prepayment"

You have the option to add a non-refundable fee to cover payment processing charges. For instance, you can set a fee like 2.9% + $0.30, which will be clearly communicated to the customer during the booking process. It's important to note that this fee is retained by your payment processor even if you issue a full refund to the customer. For example, if a customer pays $100 for a service and then cancels, and you issue a 100% refund, you will still incur the payment processing fee (e.g., $3.20 for a $100 transaction). This means your business would be $3.20 in the negative for that transaction, as the fee is non-refundable to you.

Cancellation Policy for "Require full prepayment"

Customers can cancel up to: Determine the window (e.g., 12 hours, 3 days) during which a customer can cancel and receive a full refund (minus a non-refundable fee if set). See Payment Methods and Processing Fees for details.
Late cancellation refund: Set the percentage of the prepaid amount that will be refunded for cancellations made after the specified period. For example, you might offer a 75% refund for late cancellations, retaining a portion as a cancellation fee.

Pay after appointment

With this option, customers provide their payment card details during booking, and a charge authorization is made. The actual payment is captured automatically after the appointment is complete. This provides flexibility for both you and your customers.

Cancellation Policy for "Pay after appointment"

Customers can cancel up to: Define the timeframe (e.g., 24 hours, 5 days) before the appointment when a customer can cancel. Note that this cancellation cutoff is capped at 5 days.
Late cancellation refund: Specify the percentage of the authorized amount that will be refunded if a customer cancels after the allowed period. For example, you would set this to 0% if you want to retain the entire payment.

By setting these business-wide payment and cancellation policies, you establish clear expectations for your customers and streamline your booking management. Remember, these default settings can be customized further for individual services if your business requires different policies for specific offerings.