Booking deposits
Add a deposit to the treatments that need one. Patients pay it on Stripe's secure payment page straight after they book, and the rest is paid at your clinic.
Hold your time with a deposit
Laser hair removal, full legs
Sat 20 · 11:30 AM · Anyone available
Your time is held for about an hour while you pay.
Card payment on Stripe's secure page
Most med spas already ask for deposits on some treatments. The trouble is collecting them without a phone call, a payment link and a spreadsheet.
A patient books a 90-minute laser session and doesn't show up. The practitioner's time is gone, and so is the patient who would have taken it.
Your front desk sends a payment link, waits, checks the payments app, then updates the schedule by hand. It happens between patients, so it slips.
Without a rule for unpaid deposits, the slot stays blocked while nobody pays for it. Someone has to remember to release it.
How it works
The deposit is part of your online booking, on your own website. There's no separate invoice to send and nothing to reconcile by hand.
In Services, add a deposit to the treatments that need one, such as long laser sessions or high-value injectables. Treatments without a deposit book exactly as before.
They choose the treatment, a practitioner and a time from your real availability, then enter their details as usual.
Straight after booking they're taken to Stripe Checkout. Card details go to Stripe, never to your website.
The slot is held for about an hour. If the deposit isn't paid in that time, the slot is released automatically and becomes bookable again.
With instant confirmation the booking confirms as soon as the deposit is paid. With manual confirmation it waits for your team, already paid.
Hold your time with a deposit
Laser hair removal, full legs
Sat 20 · 11:30 AM · Anyone available
Your time is held for about an hour while you pay.
Card payment on Stripe's secure page
A deposit is set per treatment, so you decide exactly where it applies. A 20-minute consultation can stay free to book while a full-legs laser session or a filler appointment carries a deposit.
The treatment page on your website shows the deposit alongside the price, duration and downtime, so patients know before they start booking. Nobody meets a surprise charge at the last step.
Every booking has a private manage page. Once the deposit is paid it shows as paid there, next to the appointment details, the add-to-calendar link and directions.
The rest of the treatment price is paid at your clinic, however you already take payment. Velvet Lead doesn't collect the balance online.
If a patient closes the payment page before paying, the manage page lets them pay a deposit that's still due while their time is held.
An automatic email can remind them that the deposit is due. If the hold runs out first, the slot is released, so your schedule never keeps a time for someone who didn't pay.
Occasionally a deposit arrives after its slot was already released. When that happens, the Velvet Lead team is alerted so your clinic can refund the patient or rebook them, rather than finding out when they walk in.
Refunds are made in your own Stripe account, where you already see every payment. Velvet Lead doesn't issue refunds from the admin panel.
In Bookings, each appointment shows whether its deposit is paid or still due, next to the booking's status and internal notes. There's no need to cross-check a separate payments app to know who is committed.
Deposits work together with appointment reminders and the self-cancel link from online booking, which frees a slot a patient can't use. Together they are the practical side of reducing no-shows.
Deposits run through your clinic's own Stripe account, so the money goes straight to you. Stripe charges its standard processing fees on each deposit, paid by your clinic. Velvet Lead doesn't add a fee on top of Stripe's.
Honest limits
Deposits are deliberately narrow. Here's where they stop.
FAQ
Straight after booking, they're taken to Stripe Checkout, Stripe's secure payment page. Card details go to Stripe and never touch your website.
Their time is held for about an hour. If the deposit isn't paid by then, the slot is released automatically and other patients can book it.
Yes. Deposits are set per treatment in Services, so a consultation can stay free while longer or higher-value treatments carry a deposit.
Your clinic does, in its own Stripe account. If a deposit arrives after its slot was released, the Velvet Lead team is alerted so you can refund or rebook the patient.
No. Online payment covers the deposit only. The rest is paid at your clinic, however you already take payment.
Stripe's standard processing fees apply to each deposit and are paid by your clinic. Velvet Lead doesn't add a fee on top.
Yes. A missed appointment or a late cancellation records a fee on the visit, and a deposit already paid can be kept against it simply by not refunding it. Nothing is charged to a card afterward. See no-show fees.
Book a 15-minute demo and we'll show you a deposit booking on our demo clinic, from booking to paid.