Guides · Updated 2026-10-29

How do I take payment when someone books an appointment?

How does taking payment at booking work?

You connect your own payment processor account to the scheduling tool, set a price on an event type, and the booking page adds a checkout step. The money goes to your Stripe, PayPal or Square account, not to the scheduling tool. Calendly’s help center, for example, says “Your Stripe account must be in live mode to accept real payments through Calendly” (Calendly: Stripe), and Google Calendar says “All payments and refunds are handled by Stripe” (Google Calendar help).

People ask this a lot. On Calendly’s own community forum, “Customer Payment Options” has 1,951 views, and two threads asking for discount codes have 7,746 and 5,325 views (counts checked in October 2026).

Which scheduling tools take payments, and on which plan?

Plan names change, so check each vendor’s pricing page before you buy, and see our pricing page for what each plan costs. Two details that catch people out:

• Calendly asks each user to connect their own Stripe or PayPal account for their personal event types, and shared or team event types use the organization owner’s Stripe account. PayPal needs a Business PayPal account (Calendly: PayPal).
• Zoho Bookings needs the currency set in Bookings to match the payment gateway’s currency (Zoho Bookings help). Calendly accepts payments in AUD, CAD, EUR, GBP and USD (Calendly: Stripe).

Can I take a deposit instead of full payment?

Some tools support deposits; others charge one full amount per event type.

• Acuity Scheduling lists “Accept payments and deposits through Stripe, Square, PayPal, or Venmo” on every plan (Acuity pricing).
• Zoho Bookings offers three payment types per event type: full payment, a deposit (“a partial amount is paid at booking, and the remainder is settled later”), or optional payment (Zoho Bookings help).
• Setmore says “Deposits are available on the Pro plan.” The deposit can be a percentage of the service price or a fixed amount, and it applies to all services on the Booking Page (Setmore: deposits). The free plan marks deposits “No” (Setmore pricing).
• Calendly, SavvyCal and Doodle describe one price per event type and no deposit option in their payment articles.

Can I save a card at booking and charge only if the client doesn’t show?

Cal.com describes this as held payments, or no-show fees, set up through its Stripe app. Payments are “held as security, specifically in case the booker doesn’t show up to the meeting,” and the booker won’t be charged “as long as the meeting attendee shows up or contacts you to cancel the event” (Cal.com blog). A Calendly community thread asking to “collect credit card info during booking but only charge after appointment” shows the same need.

What happens to the payment when a booking is cancelled?

In every tool whose docs cover it, the scheduling tool does not refund automatically. You refund the booker yourself, usually in the processor’s dashboard:

• Calendly: “refunds must be processed manually by the account holder” (Calendly: Stripe).
• SavvyCal: “SavvyCal never refunds payments automatically,” including when you decline a paid booking request (SavvyCal docs).
• Doodle: “refunds must be processed manually by the Stripe account holder” (Doodle help).
• Setmore: “Setmore does not automatically refund deposits” (Setmore: deposits).
• Google Calendar: organizers issue refunds from their Stripe dashboard (Google Calendar help).

Cal.com asks you to set a refund policy when you choose Stripe for an event type (Cal.com help). Calendly lets you add your own cancellation policy text to the payment terms. Write your policy on the booking page so clients see it before they pay.

Can clients use a coupon or discount code when they book?

Coupon codes are one of the most requested payment features. A 2023 Calendly community thread, “How can I allow invitees to apply discount codes…”, has 5,325 views and 57 replies. Support now differs by tool:

• Calendly supports coupon codes per event type with Stripe, as a percentage or fixed amount, with options for first-time use only, usage limits and expiry dates (Calendly: Stripe). “Calendly doesn’t currently support discount or promo codes with the PayPal integration” (Calendly: PayPal).
• SavvyCal can show a coupon field at checkout, where the booker enters “a promotion code you created in Stripe” (SavvyCal docs).
• Setmore says “Promo codes are available on the Pro plan only,” as a percentage or fixed amount, with an optional usage cap (Setmore: promo codes).
• Doodle says “We do not currently offer a coupon or discount code option with our Stripe integration,” and suggests a duplicate booking page with a lower price (Doodle help).

What fees do you pay: the scheduling tool’s or the processor’s?

There are two separate costs:

1. The payment processor’s fee on every payment. Stripe “charges a per-transaction fee depending on the payment method used by the end customer,” and when you refund, “payment processing, Connect and currency conversion fees from the original transaction are not returned” (Stripe pricing). SavvyCal reminds users that refunds “come with Stripe fees” (SavvyCal docs).
2. Any fee the scheduling tool adds. Doodle charges free-plan users a commission on Stripe transactions, while “Doodle Pro users are not assessed a commission or fee by Doodle” (Doodle help). Google Calendar says it does not “charge any platform fees” (Google Calendar help).

The tool’s own subscription is a third cost when payments need a paid plan; see pricing.

Do scheduling tools handle sales tax, VAT or invoices?

Mostly not. “Calendly does not calculate or collect VAT or sales tax,” so include tax in the price or the payment terms (Calendly: Stripe). Doodle’s “payment integrations do not collect VAT/sales tax” (Doodle help). SavvyCal is the exception in our checks: it can “Collect tax automatically” when Stripe Tax is set up, and can have Stripe “Generate a post-purchase invoice” for each payment (SavvyCal docs). For anything beyond that, ask your accountant and your processor.

Where to compare booking tools

• All scheduling tools compared
• Scheduling tools for taking payments, by the price of the first plan that includes payments
• Pricing for every plan

Questions