Set up Booked Payments
Turn on card payments and get your details verified.
Booked Payments takes deposits and payments for your bookings without a separate merchant account. You switch it on, enter your details once, and money reaches your bank automatically. Here is what you are asked for, and what happens while it is checked.
Before you start
Two things need to be true before the Payments tab will show you anything.
- Your licence must be active. Without one, Booked › Settings › Payments shows only "Activate your licence to take payments" and a Go to Your plan button. Paste your key on the Your plan tab first.
- You need to be an administrator. Only people who can manage Booked's settings see the payments area at all.
Have three things to hand, because the form asks for them in one sitting: your date of birth, your bank sort code and account number, and a photo of your passport or driving licence.
Turn on Booked Payments
Open Booked › Settings and pick Payments from the tab rail down the left. The Booked Payments card sits at the top of the panel.
Configure how Booked works.
Booked Payments
The fastest way to get paid — no separate account, no paperwork.
Processing fee: 2.7% + 20p per transaction, all-in.
Use a different provider instead (advanced)
Settings › Payments before anything is switched on.
- 1The Payments tab — sixth down the rail. Activation, your balance, payouts and disputes all live here.
- 2Processing fee — one all-in rate per transaction. Nothing is invoiced separately: the fee comes off each payment as it is taken.
- 3Activate — it's instant — chooses Booked Payments as your provider. The Set up payouts form opens immediately.
- 4Use a different provider instead (advanced) — for businesses running their own merchant account. Read the warning below first.
The advanced options let you record which account you use and save its keys, but Booked will not collect a card payment through them — the booking is created and no payment step appears. They still unlock the deposit settings, so it looks as though deposits are being taken when nothing is.
Fill in "Set up payouts"
This is the only form you fill in. Everything happens inside Booked — no other website to sign up to, and no second login to remember.
Enter your details once and we’ll set everything up.
Your details
Home address
Where to pay you
Verify your identity
Upload a clear photo of your ID — it is never shared.
When would you like to be paid?
The Set up payouts form, with a driving licence chosen as the ID.
- 1Your details — a person's, not the company's. Every account is registered as an individual, so name, date of birth and home address are yours even if you trade as a limited company.
- 2Country — it sits under "Home address", but on first submission it also sets the country your payments account itself is created in, and that is hard to change later.
- 3Where to pay you — the account your takings are sent to. Sort code formats itself as 00-00-00; Account number takes eight digits.
- 4Verify your identity — a passport needs one photo. Choose Driving licence and a second box, Licence — back, appears; both sides are required. PNG, JPEG or PDF, up to 8MB.
- 5When would you like to be paid? — the same four options as the Payout schedule card. Daily is the default.
- 6Submit & activate payouts — tick the terms box first, or you get "Please accept the terms to continue."
Closing this form — with Cancel, the cross, or by clicking the page behind it — throws away everything typed, including the ID photo. Finish it in one go. A photo rejected with "That file is too large (max 8MB)." is quietly not attached, so check its filename appears under the box.
Choose when you get paid
You can change this later on the Payout schedule card, which appears once you are verified.
| Schedule | What happens | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Daily | Paid out every working day, as soon as funds clear. | The default. Your first payout takes a few days longer. |
| Weekly | One payment a week on the day you choose. | Payout day offers Monday to Friday only. |
| Monthly | One payment a month on the date you choose. | Day of the month runs 1 to 31, where 31 reads "Last day of the month". |
| Manual | Money stays in your balance until you request a payout. | Nothing is sent on its own — your balance builds until you press Pay out now. |
While your details are being checked
Submitting does not make you live. The card shows a green Active chip — that only means Booked Payments is your chosen provider — while your identity and bank details are checked. Booked re-reads the status each time you open the tab.
Processing fee: 2.7% + 20p per transaction, all-in.
The Payments tab with the account chosen but not yet verified.
- 1Active — Booked Payments is switched on as your provider. That is not the same as being verified.
- 2Complete verification — reopens the same form, this time with a "Still needed:" list at the top.
Until the checks pass, the tab looks nearly empty: your balance, transactions, payout schedule and disputes are all hidden. The Deposits card on Settings › Booking rules also stays locked — with Booked Payments it unlocks only when verification finishes, not when you press Activate. Bookings carry on as normal meanwhile; they come through unpaid.
If something comes back rejected
If more is needed, the alert changes to "A little more information is needed to finish verifying your account." Press Complete verification and the form lists what is outstanding in plain English — "A clearer photo of your ID", "Your ID number", "Bank account", "Postcode" — with any reason underneath in red. Supply those items and submit again. A rejected ID photo is usually blurred, cropped or glared: take it flat, in daylight, with all four corners in frame.
The Save settings button still sits at the top, but nothing here is saved by it — the provider, payout schedule and bank details each save themselves as you use them. Deposits, booking references and your bank statement name do need it, and they live on the Bookings tab.
Once you are verified
The tab fills out with Your money, the transactions list, Payouts to your bank and the Payout schedule card showing your account under Paid into. Three things are worth doing next.
- Set your depositUnder Settings › Booking rules › Deposits, choose a percentage, a fixed amount or the full price, then press Save settings. Services and categories can override it.
- Set your bank statement nameAlso on that tab, Statement descriptor is what customers see on their statement — 5 to 22 characters. Something recognisable heads off "I don't recognise this charge" disputes. An invalid entry saves blank without warning, so check it afterwards.
- Decide how paid bookings arriveAuto-approve is off by default, so even a booking paid for online lands as Pending. Turn on Auto-approve new bookings under Booking rules to confirm them automatically.
Finally, the appointment is created before the card step appears. If a customer reaches the payment screen and closes the tab, a real booking stays in your diary marked unpaid, holding the slot. Watch the Pending filter in your first week.