Take Card Payments When Clients Book, With Your Own Stripe Account

The clients who show up most reliably are the ones who have already paid. Taking payment at booking also ends the awkward end-of-session 'so, how would you like to pay?' and the invoices you forget to send.

Getting paid at booking takes the awkward ask out of the session, so the end of the hour is about the client, not the invoice.

Here's how card payments at booking work in Schedulera, including the parts people usually ask about: fees, refunds, and where the money goes.

How it works

• •You connect your own Stripe account from your dashboard. If you don't have one, Stripe walks you through creating it.
• •You set a price on any session type. Free session types stay free.
• •When a client books a priced session, they pay by card before the booking is confirmed.
• •The money is paid into your Stripe account and out to your bank on Stripe's normal schedule.

Because it's your Stripe account, you see every payment in your own Stripe dashboard, your clients' statements show your business, and you can leave Schedulera without losing your payment history.

What it costs

Schedulera doesn't add a fee on top of your card payments. You pay Stripe's standard processing fees, the same as if you used Stripe anywhere else. Taking payments is part of the free plan, not an upgrade.

Cancellations and refunds

When a client cancels through the link in their confirmation, a card payment is refunded in full automatically. That's the friendly default, and it means paying up front stops silent no-shows without trapping anyone's money.

It also means payment at booking doesn't, by itself, charge for late cancellations. Two settings close most of that gap: a minimum notice so nobody books into a slot that starts in an hour, and a written policy in the session description with a required checkbox on the form. Our cancellation policy templates have wording you can copy.

Which sessions to charge for

• •Charge for: your core paid sessions, long sessions where a no-show costs you a half day, and group classes where a seat is a seat.
• •Keep free: intro calls, consults, and assessments. The goal is commitment to paid work, not a toll on first conversations.

If some clients prefer Venmo, Zelle, or cash, you can offer direct payments alongside cards and let them choose.

Set it up

Why the free plan includes payments:

The free plan has no catch: no trial, no booking cap, no credit card, and no Schedulera fee on top of Stripe. That's a deliberate choice.

Create your free booking page, open Payments in your dashboard, connect Stripe, and add a price to your first session type. A test booking with your own card is the quickest way to see what clients see.