Choosing between deposit, full payment or patient choice

One setting decides what patients pay at online booking. You will find it in Settings > Clinic, under Online booking policy, labelled Payment at online booking.

The three modes

• Deposit only. Every booking takes the treatment's deposit (or your default deposit). The balance is settled in clinic.
• Full payment. The patient pays the whole treatment price up front. If a treatment has no price set, that booking falls back to taking a deposit instead.
• Patient chooses. At checkout the patient sees two options: Pay deposit now or Pay in full now, each with the amount shown, and picks one.

Things worth knowing

• Deposit amounts come from each treatment, with your default deposit as the fallback, so a deposit is always available to charge.
• Full payment uses the treatment's price. Treatments priced as from a starting amount still charge that listed amount online, so consider deposit mode for variable-price work.
• All modes need your Stripe account connected. Without it, payment cannot be collected online.

Which should you pick?

Deposit only is the safe default: it cuts no-shows without asking patients to commit the full amount to an unfamiliar checkout. Full payment suits low-cost, fixed-price services. Patient choice is a good middle ground once your regulars trust the page.