Taking money on your website, and holding it fairly. The articles cover the payment methods worth offering, charging at the moment of booking rather than on arrival, and the deposit questions that come up in rentals: how much to hold, when to take it, and how to explain it so customers do not read it as a hidden charge.
Deposits fix the bookings that were never going to happen. They also cost you the ones that were. The difference is which appointments you apply them to.
Delivery is the harder business and most places start with it anyway. What each one actually costs you, the settings that decide whether either works, and why collection is usually the one to switch on first.
A Friday to Monday hire is three days on the calendar and one weekend to the customer. How to price hire periods that people actually book.
The deposit is the number that decides whether a first-time hirer books or rings around. How to set one that protects the kit without losing the job.
Cards are not the only way to take money online, and for some businesses they are not the first one. Four methods, what each costs you, and which suits an order, a booking or a hire.
A donate button is the easy part. Suggested amounts, funds, recurring giving, covering the fee and the receipt are what decide how much actually arrives.
A deposit is an authorised hold, not a charge, so it carries no platform fee. How to set, collect and explain one without losing the booking.
No-shows and late cancellations are inevitable; having no policy is not. What to include, and how a deposit at booking does the enforcing.
A booking is only real once money changes hands. How online deposits and payments win car rental bookings and cut no-shows.