Cards on file
Let customers leave their card when they pay a deposit, then take the rest of the price, or a no-show's balance, from the booking with one button.
A deposit stops people booking and not turning up, but it leaves you chasing the rest of the price. Cards on file closes that gap. When a customer pays a deposit online they can tick a box to leave their card with you. After the appointment, or after a no-show, you take what is still owed from the booking with one button. They do not need to be there.
The card itself is held by Booked Payments, never on your website. Booked keeps a reference to it, the card type, the last four digits and the expiry date, with a record of the exact words the customer agreed to and when.
Before you start
- Booked Payments must be live. The Cards on file card only appears on the Payments screen once your account is verified. Cards are never kept on a provider of your own, your own Stripe included. See Setting up payments.
- The service needs a deposit. The tick box sits on the card step, and the card step only appears when something is due up front. See Deposits. If a service takes the full price up front, there is nothing left to charge later.
- The customer has to tick the box. You cannot add a card for someone from the admin, and nothing is ticked for them.
- It is not an add-on. Cards on file is not tied to a plan.
Switch it on
- Open PaymentsIt is under System in the left-hand menu. Scroll down past Apple Pay & Google Pay to the Cards on file card.
- Turn on "Let customers leave a card to settle the balance afterwards"The pill on the card changes from Off to On.
- Press SaveThis switch waits for Save at the top of the screen. Leave without saving and nothing changes.
When somebody pays a deposit they can tick a box to leave their card with you. After the appointment you take the rest in one click from the booking, without them being there.
The Cards on file card on the Payments screen, switched on but not yet saved.
- 1On / Off — follows the switch the moment you flip it, before anything is saved, so it is not proof that the change stuck.
- 2Let customers leave a card to settle the balance afterwards — the one switch. It is the same setting as Saved cards on the Features screen.
- 3Save — nothing is stored until you press it. The bar at the foot of the screen, "You have unsaved changes.", offers Save changes as well.
You can also switch it from Features, where it is called Saved cards, under Taking money. That switch saves the moment you flip it. Set up opens a short panel with a Payment settings → link back to this card. The Features switch does not check whether Booked Payments is live, so it can read On while no card can be kept.
What your customer sees
On the card step, under the card fields, a box reads: "Keep my card so Meridian Pharmacy can charge the rest of what I owe for this appointment. I can remove it at any time from my account." Leave it unticked and the booking goes through exactly as before.
Deposit due today: £15.00
Payments are secured by Booked. Your card details never touch this site.
The card step for a £15.00 deposit on a £45.00 appointment, with the box ticked.
- 1Deposit due today — what the card is charged now. The rest of the price is the balance you can take later.
- 2The tick box — always starts unticked, and only the customer can tick it. The name in it is your business name from Settings › Company details.
- 3Pay £15.00 — the card is kept only once this payment goes through. If they give up here, nothing is kept.
Booked stores the exact wording with the card. If you rename your business later, what the customer agreed to stays as it was.
Only a card typed into the card fields is kept. A payment made with Apple Pay or Google Pay is not set up to be charged again, so those customers leave no card on file, even if they tick the box. Booked sends nothing extra about the card: the customer gets their usual confirmation, then the Payment receipt for the deposit.
Take the balance
Open the appointment from Bookings or the Diary. Whenever a deposit was paid online and money is still owed, the Payment section shows a box with what is left and the card you can charge.
- Check the figure"£30.00 still to pay" is the price less Amount paid. If you have changed the price, press Save booking first. The charge uses the saved price, not the figure in the box.
- Press Take the remaining £30.00Booked asks: "Charge £30.00 to the card ending 4242? The customer is not here to approve it, so only do this if they are expecting it." Press OK to go ahead.
- Wait for the messageThe button reads Taking payment…, then the section says "Taken. The booking is now paid in full." The booking’s activity log records the charge and the card’s last four digits.
Deposit paid
Refunds return the amount, and your processing fee, to the customer. To change the payment, refund it here — the status can’t be edited by hand.
The Payment section of a booking with a £15.00 deposit paid and a card on file.
- 1Amount paid — what has been taken so far: the deposit.
- 2Still to pay — the price less Amount paid, and the card that will be charged. With no card that can be charged it reads "No card on file, so this has to be taken in person."
- 3Take the remaining £30.00 — always takes the whole balance. There is no box for a smaller amount.
- 4Refund payment — once a balance has been taken, this sends back the deposit only. See the warning further down.
Booked charges the newest card that was saved with the customer’s agreement and has not expired. You cannot pick a different one, and you cannot add a fee on top of the balance.
For a no-show, mark the appointment No-show as usual, then take the balance the same way. The button stays on no-show and cancelled bookings. What you can take is the balance of that appointment, which is what the customer agreed to. There is no separate no-show fee.
What the customer receives. Booked emails them a Payment receipt as soon as the balance is taken, since they were not there to see it: the amount, what it was for, the booking reference, when it was taken and “Card on file ending 4242”, then the total price, what they have paid so far and what is left to pay. Edit or switch it off under Messages › Email templates, in the Money group. The charge shows on their bank statement under your Bank statement name from the Payments screen. On your side it appears as its own line in the Payments list, with the same booking reference.
Anyone on your team who can edit bookings and see customers can press the button. See Team access to limit who that is.
When the charge does not go through
Nothing is taken, the booking stays as it was, and the reason appears under the button.
| Message | What to do |
|---|---|
| "Their bank wants them to approve this payment, so it cannot be taken without them." | Some banks insist the cardholder approves each payment. Take the balance from them in person. The message goes on to suggest sending a payment link, but Booked has no way to send one. |
| "The card was declined." or the bank’s own reason | No money, or a cancelled card. Ask them for another way to pay. |
| "Payments are currently paused for this account." | Card payments are paused on your Booked Payments account. The Payments screen says so. Contact support. |
Seeing and removing a card
On your side, open the customer from Customers. The Card on file card on the right lists each card they have left, with its expiry and a label saying whether it can be used.
On theirs, the customer signs in to their account and opens Payments, where Your card lists what you hold. That tab only appears when customer accounts are on and See receipts and what they have paid is switched on under Settings › Customer accounts. With either off, the customer cannot remove the card themselves, whatever the tick box promised. They will have to ask you.
The card itself is held by the payment provider, never by this site. Removing it here removes it there too, and cannot be undone.
You agreed we could keep this to settle the balance after an appointment. Remove it whenever you like.
The same card as you see it on the customer record, and as Finn sees it in his account.
- 1Can be charged — saved with the customer’s agreement and in date. The other labels are Expired and Not chargeable (kept without a recorded agreement). Neither can be used.
- 2Remove — on your side. It works straight away, with no “are you sure”, and it cannot be undone.
- 3Remove — on theirs. Cards that cannot be charged are listed here too, so the customer can clear them.
Removing a card from either side removes it from Booked Payments as well. Erase their data on a customer record removes their cards along with everything else.
Test payments
While test payments are on, deposits are charged to Booked’s own test account, not yours. A test booking never leaves a card you can charge.
The Take the remaining button does not know a booking was a test. If the customer on a test booking also has a real card on file (you booked as yourself, say), pressing it takes real money.
Limits and gotchas
- Switching it off hides the cards, it does not delete them. The button goes, customers lose Your card, and your customer records read "Keeping cards on file is switched off." Neither you nor your customers can then remove a card. Remove the cards you hold before you switch it off for good.
- After a refund, the whole price shows as owed. A refund from the booking sets Amount paid to zero. If the customer still has a card on file, the Payment section offers to take the full price. Do not press it unless you mean to charge them again.
- A saved card is not offered back at checkout. Each new booking asks for the card again. The Features screen mentions one-tap booking for returning customers, but a saved card is only ever used by you, for a balance.
- Only Booked Payments keeps cards. On your own Stripe or any other provider, deposits are taken as normal but no card is kept.
Refund payment on the booking sends back the deposit only, although its dialog shows the full amount paid. The Booking refunded email the customer gets names the deposit, which is what actually went back. The booking then reads Refunded while the balance stays with you. To give the balance back too, refund its own line on the Payments screen; that sends a second refund email, for the balance. See Refunds.