How to take deposits and collect the balance

With deposits, customers pay part of the price when they book and the rest (the balance) before the tour. The booking is confirmed as soon as the deposit is paid. Goiaba then reminds the customer, and can charge the card they used on the due date, so you do not have to chase payments.

How it works, in short

1. The customer books and, on the payment page, pays a deposit, for example 30%. They can also choose to pay everything now.
2. The booking is Confirmed straight away, and shows what is paid and what is still due.
3. 7 and 3 days before the due date, the customer gets a reminder with a link to pay early.
4. On the due date the balance is charged to their card automatically (Stripe cards), or they get a payment link.
5. If it still is not paid two days later, Goiaba emails you or cancels the booking, as you choose.

Turn on deposits

1. Go to Settings › Payment Settings and click Deposits (/admin/settings/payments/deposits).
2. Check Take a deposit at checkout.
3. Under Deposit, choose how it is worked out: % of the total, a Fixed amount per booking or a Fixed amount per person, and enter the Amount or %.
4. Set Balance due (days before the tour), for example 7. It is at least 3 days, so a declined card can be retried before the tour. Bookings made closer to the tour than this pay in full.
5. Leave Customers may pay everything now instead on if you want to offer both.
6. Choose how the balance is collected (next sections) and click Save.

Bookings already made keep the terms they were made with. Agent bookings always pay in full.

A different rule for one tour

Open the tour and scroll to Deposit. Choose Use my deposit settings, Take a deposit for this tour (with its own amount and due days) or Always full payment, then click Save deposit rule. For example: a 50% deposit on a multi-day trip and full payment on a short tour. How the balance is collected is the same for every tour.

What your customers see

• On the payment page: "Pay a deposit of … now" (selected) or "Pay the full … now", and a line such as "Pay €60 now · €140 due on 12 May · Total €200".
• When the balance will be charged to their card, the agreement: "We will charge the remaining … to this card on …". They accept it by paying.
• Their confirmation email shows what is paid, what is due and by when.
• Their booking page shows the amount due, the due date and a Pay the Balance button, so they can pay early at any time.

How the balance is collected

With Charge the balance to the customer's card on the due date on (it needs Stripe, see How to connect Stripe):

• The card used for the deposit is kept by Stripe and charged on the due date. You never see or store card details.
• If the card is declined, it is tried again every 24 hours, up to 3 times. You and the customer are emailed after the first failure; the customer's email has a link to pay with another card.
• Some declines stop at once, for example an expired or lost card, or a card that needs the customer to approve the payment. The customer gets the link instead.

When the card cannot be charged automatically (the setting is off, or the deposit was paid with MB WAY, PayPal or Revolut), the customer gets a payment link on the due date instead. When they pay the balance, they get a receipt.

If the balance is not paid

Choose under If the balance is still unpaid 2 days after the due date:

• Keep the booking and email me: you get an email, and the booking shows as overdue in Balances due. You decide what to do: call the customer, take the payment at the tour, or cancel.
• Cancel the booking: the booking is cancelled automatically and the seats go back on sale. The tour's cancellation policy decides how much of the deposit is refunded.

Follow up: Balances due

Bookings › Balances due (/admin/bookings/balances) lists every confirmed booking with a balance still to come: tour date, due date, paid, owed, whether it will be charged to a card or paid by link, and the last failed attempt with the next retry. Filter by Overdue, Card declined or Due in the next 7 days.

On a booking's page, Payments & Balance shows the deposit, the due date and how the balance will be collected. To take the balance in person, open the booking and use Add Payment. Recording the deposit or the full amount this way also confirms a booking that was waiting for payment.

Cancellations and refunds

Cancelling a deposit booking works like any other: the tour's cancellation policy decides the fee, and the refund is what was paid minus that fee, never more than was paid. There is no separate "non-refundable deposit" setting: if you want deposits to be kept, set the tour's cancellation policy accordingly. See How to manage, cancel and refund bookings.

Good to know

• Deposits apply to online checkouts. A gift card used at checkout counts towards the deposit.
• Only cards paid through Stripe can be charged later. MB WAY, Multibanco and Bizum work for the deposit, but the balance is then paid by link.
• A customer who wants to use a different card can pay the balance early from their booking page.
• The emails (payment reminder, payment needed, receipt, and your alerts) can be edited in Settings › Email Settings.