Hold a card at booking, charge it only if you decide to

Card on file starts with the deposit

In FurSlot, the card on file comes from the deposit. A client booking on your page pays the deposit you set on Stripe's checkout page, and Stripe saves that card to your Stripe account for a later charge. FurSlot puts the appointment on your calendar only after the payment goes through.

You take the deposit as a real charge instead of a hold on the card, because card holds expire after about a week and clients book weeks or months ahead, so a hold would be gone before the dog arrived. Under your booking policy, the deposit counts as part of the groom price, paid early.

Stripe saves no card in two cases. If you set your deposit to zero, clients book without paying. Until you connect Stripe, your booking page shows a demo card field labelled “demo, nothing is charged”, and no money moves.

Stripe keeps the card

On a connected shop your booking page has no card field at all. It sends the client to Stripe's hosted checkout, where the client types the card number, expiry date and security code. FurSlot's pages do not load Stripe's card form either, so the card number does not pass through FurSlot.

Stripe saves the card on your Stripe account, because that is the account your charges run on, and the deposit shows in your own Stripe dashboard for the same reason. For the technical side, see Stripe's own guide to saving a card during a payment, and how your own Stripe account works with FurSlot.

Card details on your screen and in FurSlot's database

• You see the last four digits of the card, on the client's record and on the no-show prompt, plus the payment itself in your Stripe dashboard.
• FurSlot keeps only those four digits and Stripe's reference numbers for the client, the card and the payment.
• FurSlot staff do not see the full card number, the expiry date or the security code. FurSlot's database holds none of the three.
• Your data export shows the card as masked digits only.

Our privacy policy covers what else FurSlot stores and why.

Charging a no-show fee to the card

Marking a no-show charges a card only if you set it up to. You pick the setting for new clients in Settings, and you can give any one client a different setting from your client list.

Ask me every time

Your shop starts on this setting. FurSlot records the no-show and shows you the fee, the client's name, the last four digits and any deposit paid. You charge the fee or waive it, and you can have FurSlot remember that choice for this client.

Never charge

FurSlot records the no-show and charges no fee, which suits long-time regulars. A deposit the client paid at booking stays where it is until you refund it.

Charge automatically

FurSlot puts the fee on the card the moment you mark the no-show, without asking you. It is the fastest setting and the easiest way to surprise a regular, so FurSlot does not make it the default.

Whichever setting you use, FurSlot charges only what the deposit did not cover. If the deposit was smaller than your fee, FurSlot charges the card the difference, and if the deposit covers the fee, it charges nothing more. The client gets an emailed receipt when you have their address. For setting the amounts, see deposits and no-show fees.

Refunding a deposit

You refund the deposit to the client's card with one button on the appointment. In most cases Stripe returns it within five to ten business days, and pressing the button twice does not refund twice.

FurSlot will not refund from that button in two cases. If you already charged a no-show fee, the deposit is now part of that fee, so you refund from your Stripe dashboard, where you can return both payments together. The other case is a booking from before you connected Stripe, which has no real money to give back.

If someone else books the slot while a client is still on the checkout page, FurSlot refunds that client's payment on its own instead of double-booking your table.

Card-on-file limits

• Charge the rest of the groom. You record the final price when you mark a groom complete, and FurSlot does not put the balance on the card on file. You take payment at pickup the way you do now.
• Take tips or run a card reader at the table.
• Work out the deposit as a share of the price. Your deposit is one flat dollar amount you set.
• Use any processor but Stripe. FurSlot does not connect to Square, PayPal or any other processor.
• Fight chargebacks for you. A client’s dispute goes to your Stripe account, and your best defense there is the booking policy the client agreed to.

Who sees the card, and what charging it costs

Why do groomers ask for a card before the appointment?

A booking with nothing at stake is easy for a client to forget. A client who has paid a deposit has a reason to turn up or cancel in time, and if they do not, you can charge the no-show fee they agreed to instead of chasing them for it. Asking for the card also shows the client your policy before they book.

Do you see my client's card number?

No. Your client types the card on Stripe's checkout page, so only Stripe gets the full number, and FurSlot keeps just the last four digits and Stripe's reference numbers. Your dashboard, client list and data export show those four digits and nothing more.

What if I don't want to charge the fee this time?

Then waive it. With the default setting, FurSlot asks you first when you mark a no-show, and you can charge or waive right there. If you put that client on automatic charging, switch them back to asking first on your client list before you mark the no-show. Waiving the fee leaves any deposit where it is, and you can refund the deposit as a separate step if you want to.

Does it cost more to charge a card already on file?

Not from FurSlot. We add nothing to any charge and take no percentage of a deposit or a fee. The charge runs on your own Stripe account, so you pay Stripe's processing fee to Stripe, at whatever rate Stripe sets for your account. FurSlot has no say in Stripe's rates and earns nothing from them.