Key Takeaways
- A complicated payment process can make customers leave their booking unfinished.
- Connecting Stripe with Picktime keeps booking and payment together in one simple flow.
- Businesses can choose deposits or full payments based on their booking needs.
- Picktime makes it easier to manage appointments and payment status together from one place.
A booking experience should feel simple and easy: choose a service → pick a time → pay → done. But if the process makes the client think “I’ll come back and finish this later,” there’s no guarantee that they will return. Payment should not add another step to your booking process. Otherwise, it can become frustrating quickly. The easier the journey will be, the less reason customers will have to say, “I’ll pay later.”
With Stripe booking in Picktime, businesses can allow customers to choose a service and pay easily during the booking process. Depending on your payment settings, you can require customers to pay the full amount, a percentage of the booking price, or a fixed fee during online booking. But to get that done, just connect your Stripe account 🤝 with Picktime. In this blog, we will show you how you can set it up in Picktime and also how you can check and fix the payment problems without unnecessary effort.
Table of Contents
Why Stripe Booking Works Well With Your Booking Page
Businesses that are already using Stripe to take online payments can connect it with Picktime. Thus, it benefits them by keeping booking and payment together in one simple booking flow. Customers choose a service and time through your Picktime booking page, then continue to payment based on your settings. Depending on the payment settings your business chooses, customers can be asked to pay the full amount, a percentage of the booking price, or a fixed fee during booking. If you collect only a deposit, your business will still need to collect the remaining balance later. And the plus point is that payment information is also updated within the appointment. As a result, your team can see the booking and its payment status together. For businesses dealing with no-shows, taking a deposit or payment upfront can encourage customers to stick to their appointments. Though it won’t guarantee they’ll show up. But it adds a little more commitment while keeping payment part of the booking process.
Step-by-Step: Enable Stripe Payments in Picktime
Setting up Stripe integrations for your business can only take a few minutes. You just need to follow these 👇 steps to connect your Stripe account with Picktime and start accepting online appointment payments without any conflict.
Step 1: Open Payments & Sales in Picktime
Log in to your Picktime account and select Payments & Sales from the left-side menu.
Step 2: Select Stripe
Open the Payment Gateways tab, select Stripe, and click Connect.
Step 3: Get your Stripe API keys
Open your Stripe Dashboard and go to API keys. Copy your publishable key and secret key.
Step 4: Add your Stripe keys to Picktime
Return to Picktime and enter both keys in the Stripe connection window. Then select Add Account.
Step 5: Check the connection
Once Stripe is connected, Picktime refreshes the page and shows a “Disconnect” option. This confirms that your Stripe account is connected.
Step 6: Set your payment options
Return to Payments & Sales and open the Settings tab. From these, choose whether you want your customers to pay the full amount, a percentage, or a fixed fee during online booking. Then save your settings. These payment settings apply to all bookings in your business.
Step 7: Let customers pay when they book
When online payment collection is enabled, customers who choose an available appointment time are directed to the payment step, where they can enter their card details.
Step 8: Check the booking and payment status
After the payment is completed successfully, the booking appears on the Picktime calendar with a Paid status, keeping the booking and its payment information together.
Note: Businesses on the Picktime Starter plan can connect Stripe to accept online payments.
Deposit vs. Full Payment: Which Should You Choose?
For some businesses, asking customers to pay the full amount at the time of booking may not make sense, especially for expensive services. Picktime’s Stripe Booking lets you choose whether customers pay the full amount, a percentage, or a fixed fee when booking online.
- Choose a deposit if your business offers expensive services, longer appointments, or bookings made well in advance.
- Go with a percentage if you want customers to pay a specific part of the service cost when they book. This can work well when your services have different prices, but you still want some payment in advance.
- Choose full payment if you want the appointment to be completely paid for before the customer arrives. Businesses that accept short-term services and appointments with a fixed cost and want customers to pay when they book can benefit from this.
Before choosing your payment option, think about your service and keep these points in mind: ☑️Average booking value ☑️Cancellation and no-show habits ☑️ How far in advance customers book ☑️ What payment option customers prefer is unknown. The important part is to make payment a natural process, not just to get paid as soon as possible.
Troubleshooting Common Stripe + Picktime Issues
Sometimes businesses may face Stripe payment issues. But you don’t have to worry about that. Just a few quick checks can help you find where things went wrong, and you can fix that in a go.
Stripe won’t connect: Check that you entered the correct publishable key and secret key. Also, make sure that you copy both keys correctly as they appear in Stripe. Even one missing character or an extra space can fail the connection.
Customers can’t complete payment: Open Payments & Sales → Settings and confirm that you have selected a payment collection option. Picktime lets you charge the full amount, a percentage of the booking price, or a fixed fee.
Successful payment but missed status: Find the booking in your Picktime calendar and check its payment status to confirm whether the customer has paid. If the booking still doesn’t show a paid status, contact Picktime support for help before making any changes to your Stripe connection.
Still having trouble? You can review Picktime’s setup instruction page, or if you need more assistance, you can also contact Picktime support.
Conclusion
As you have read so far, this guide has shown you that Stripe booking with Picktime is about more than just taking payments. It brings payments and your appointments together, so customers can choose a time and pay in one go. So now you can connect your Stripe account, choose how you want to collect payments, and Picktime will automatically update the payment details within the appointment. As a result, your team doesn’t have to check separate records and get a clear view of each customer’s payment.
If you are already using Stripe, give your payment settings a moment to check and make sure everything is rightly set. But if they haven’t connected? Connect Stripe to Picktime and give your customers a simpler way to book and pay.
FAQs
1. Do I need a Stripe account to accept payments in Picktime?
Yes. You need an active Stripe account to accept online payments through Picktime. During the setup, you connect your Stripe account by entering the publishable key and secret key from your Stripe dashboard. Once the connection is successful, you can configure your payment settings in Picktime and enable payment collection through your online booking page.
2. Are payments reflected in the Picktime calendar?
Yes. When a customer completes an online payment successfully, the booking appears in your Picktime calendar with a “Paid” status. This lets you see the appointment and its payment status together in Picktime rather than having to check a separate record for the booking.
3. Do customers need a Stripe account to pay?
No. Customers do not need their own Stripe account to make a payment. Once online payment collection is enabled in Picktime, customers can choose an available appointment, continue to the payment step, and enter their card details to complete the payment.
4. Can customers pay a deposit instead of the full amount?
Yes. Picktime gives you different payment options for online bookings. You can choose to collect the full amount, a percentage of the booking price, or a fixed fee when customers book. This gives you the flexibility to take a deposit or partial payment instead of collecting the full service price upfront.
5. Can I set different Stripe deposit amounts for different services?
Picktime’s payment collection setting applies to all bookings in your business. You can choose to collect the full amount, a percentage of the booking price, or a fixed fee, but the selected payment rule applies across your online bookings.
6. Can customers book without paying online through Stripe?
Yes, if your business enables Allow Skip Payments in Payments & Sales → Settings. Customers can then choose to pay online by card or skip the online payment and pay in person at their appointment
