Take Payments on Your Bookings: Deposits, Session Fees & In-Person Checkout

The fastest way to stop chasing payments is to collect them at the moment a client commits — when they book. This guide covers the three ways money comes in around an appointment: paying to book, paying after a visit, and paying in person. All of it runs on one Stripe connection.

One prerequisite: you'll need Stripe connected first. It's a two-minute setup (or hand it to us). Start with the Connect Your Stripe walkthrough if you haven't yet.

The two-calendar setup most practitioners use

A pattern that works beautifully for session-based practices: run two calendars.

• A free consultation calendar — no charge, low barrier, lets new clients meet you before committing.
• A paid session calendar — with a price attached, so booking and payment happen in the same step.

New clients start on the free consult; returning clients book and pay on the session calendar directly. You can embed either one anywhere on your website.

Attaching a price to a calendar

Open the calendar you want to charge for and go to Edit calendar → Advanced settings → Payments, then switch on Accept payments. Your connected Stripe account appears right there — the same one from the connection step.

From there you choose how much to collect:

• Full payment — the client pays the whole session fee to book. Best for established clients and virtual sessions.
• Deposit — the client pays a partial amount to hold the slot; you collect the balance at or after the appointment. Best for higher-ticket or in-person work.

Either way, the calendar won't confirm the booking until payment goes through — which is the single most effective no-show reducer there is.

Getting paid after a visit

Not every payment fits neatly at booking. For balances, add-ons, or walk-ups, you have two fast options:

• Text-to-pay — send a payment link by text or email and the client pays in a tap from their phone. Most people pay within minutes.
• Invoices & estimates — create a branded invoice, send it automatically after the appointment, and let them pay online. This is also the right tool before you've connected Stripe — you can invoice manually and switch to automatic collection later.

In-person payments: your phone is the terminal

For office visits, retreats, and trade shows, the LeadConnector mobile app turns your phone into a card reader:

• Tap-to-pay — accept contactless cards, Apple Pay, and Google Pay directly on your phone. No extra hardware to buy or charge.
• Take cards in person — at a booth or pop-up, tap a contactless card or phone, or key in the number by hand. (It's tap or type — there's no magstripe swipe.)
• It all reconciles itself — an in-person sale lands on the same client record as their bookings and messages, so you're not stitching together a separate POS dashboard at tax time.

If a card reader is the only reason you keep Square around, this is the feature that replaces it.

After you connect: dial in two settings

Once Stripe is linked, spend two minutes in Payments → Settings so every charge looks professional from the very first one:

• Receipts — turn on automatic sales receipts so clients get a clean, branded receipt the instant they pay. Set the "From" name and email to your practice so it doesn't come from a generic address.
• Taxes — if you charge tax on any service or product, add your rate here once and it's applied at checkout automatically.

Quick setup checklist

1. Connect Stripe (DIY or add us as admin).
2. Create your free consultation calendar.
3. Create your paid session calendar and attach a price (full or deposit).
4. Embed both calendars on your site.
5. Install the mobile app if you take any in-person payments, and enable tap-to-pay.
6. Turn on automatic invoices for balances and follow-ups.
7. In Payments → Settings, enable automatic receipts and set your tax rate.