Paid bookings

With paid bookings, buyers pay online when they request a booking, and your marketplace takes its commission. The buyer’s card is held, not charged, when they send the request. It is charged only when the seller accepts, and the hold is released if they decline. Two days after the booking ends, the seller is paid through Stripe, minus your commission.

It’s the same flow buyers know from holiday rental sites, and it means no more chasing payments or no-shows.

Paid bookings come with the Marketplace plan and use Stripe Connect. They build on bookings, which must be set up first.

Before you start

You need:

• Bookings switched on, with the categories for rentals ticked.
• Stripe Connect set up with your own Stripe keys in Add-ons › Stripe. Your commission on bookings is worked out as on sales, including any rates by category or seller: see Commission and service fees.
• Sellers who have set up payouts with Stripe (Get paid for your sales in their profile).

A listing takes payment online only when it has a price, its currency is one Stripe accepts, and its seller has set up payouts. Every other bookable listing keeps working as a request without payment, as before.

Switch paid bookings on

1. In the admin panel, go to Add-ons and open Bookings.
2. Under Paid bookings, tick Take payments online for bookings.
3. Choose the settings below.
4. Click Save changes in the bar at the bottom.

Paid bookings are off until you switch them on. If Stripe Connect isn’t ready yet, the page says so, and bookings stay requests without payment until it is.

Setting	What it does
Take payments online for bookings	Buyers pay by card when they request a booking.
Sellers can ask for a deposit	Off by default. Each seller can then choose a percentage of the price that is paid online; the buyer pays the rest to the seller directly.
Sellers can ask for a refundable security deposit	Off by default. Each seller can add a security deposit that buyers pay with the booking and get back afterwards (see Security deposits).
Days a paid request waits for the seller	1 to 6 days, 6 by default. An unanswered request expires after this many days, and the hold on the buyer’s card is released.
Days after the end before the security deposit goes back	1 to 30 days, 3 by default: the seller’s time to claim for damage.
Cancellation policy	What a buyer gets back if they cancel an accepted booking (see below). Flexible is the default.
Sellers may choose instead	The policies sellers may pick for their own listings. Leave them all unticked to give every listing your policy.
Buyer service fee	A percentage and/or a fixed amount added on top of what the buyer pays online, kept by you. 0 for none. The percentage can be up to 50%. It is separate from the service fee on sales.

A new request waits for the number of days you set. Requests already sent keep the time they were given.

Cancellation policies

Policy	The buyer cancels an accepted booking…
Flexible	Full refund up to 24 hours before the start.
Moderate	Full refund up to 5 days before the start.
Strict	No refund once the seller accepts.
Flexible with partial refund	Full refund up to 24 hours before the start, then 50% until the start.
Moderate with partial refund	Full refund up to 5 days before the start, then 50% until 24 hours before.
Strict with partial refund	50% refund up to 7 days before the start, then none.

With the first three policies, a refund is all or nothing. The partial policies add a step where the buyer gets half of the booking price paid online back; the service fee isn’t refunded then. Your commission goes down in proportion, so the seller and you each give back your share.

A cancellation by the seller, or by you, always refunds the buyer in full. Each booking keeps the policy it was made under, so changing a policy only affects new bookings.

Let sellers choose their policy

A city flat and a remote cabin may need different rules. Under Sellers may choose instead, tick the policies sellers can pick from. Each seller then sees Cancellation policy in a listing’s booking settings, with your policy (The site’s) first and then the ones you ticked. Listings where the seller chose nothing keep your policy. The listing tells buyers which policy applies before they book.

Deposits

With Sellers can ask for a deposit on, sellers see Deposit paid online in a listing’s booking settings: the part of the price, in percent, that buyers pay online. They pay the rest to the seller directly. 0 or 100 means the whole price is paid online.

Your commission and the service fee are worked out on the amount paid online.

Security deposits

A security deposit covers damage: a scratched car, a broken lamp, lost keys. It isn’t part of the price, unlike the deposit above.

With Sellers can ask for a refundable security deposit on, sellers see Security deposit in a listing’s booking settings, where they enter an amount. Buyers see it on the payment page and pay it together with the booking.

• The security deposit is held on the card with the booking and charged when the seller accepts. It stays on your Stripe account: it is never part of the seller’s payout, and you take no commission on it.
• It goes back to the buyer in full a few days after the booking ends: 3 by default, or the Days after the end before the security deposit goes back you set.
• If the request is declined, withdrawn or expires, or the booking is cancelled, the security deposit goes back (or is never charged) straight away.

Each booking in Bookings shows where its security deposit stands, for example returned or the seller claims …, the site team decides.

When the seller claims for damage

Between the end of the booking and the return of the security deposit, the seller sees Claim for damage next to the booking in Bookings › Requests received. They enter an Amount (up to the whole security deposit) and What happened, and click Send claim. The buyer is emailed about the claim, and the security deposit waits for your decision instead of going back.

You get an email, and Security deposit claims to decide appears under Needs your attention on your dashboard. It opens the Deposit claims page, which is also in the admin sidebar, under Orders, while security deposits are on:

1. Read the claim. If you need to, ask both sides in your messages.
2. Enter how much to Keep for the seller, and an optional Note to both.
3. Click Decide.

What you keep is paid to the seller, and the rest is refunded to the buyer. Both are emailed your decision. While the buyer has a dispute open with their bank about the payment, you can only decide once it is closed.

How buyers pay

1. The buyer picks their dates on the listing and clicks Request to book. The listing already tells them they pay online, that their card is only charged if the seller accepts, and which cancellation policy applies.
2. A payment page shows the dates, the Total, any Deposit paid online and Paid to the seller directly amounts, any Security deposit, the Service fee, and the amount Held on your card now.
3. The buyer enters their card and confirms. Their card is held, not charged.

Only then does the seller see the request and get the email. A buyer who leaves the payment page can come back with Finish payment in Bookings › My bookings within an hour; after that, the request is dropped.

What happens next

What happens	Payment
The seller accepts	The card is charged. If the charge fails, the request stays open and the seller can try again or decline.
The seller declines, or the buyer withdraws the request	The hold is released. Nothing is charged.
Nobody answers	The request expires after 6 days (or the number of days you set), or when the booking would start if that’s sooner, and the hold is released. Sellers see the deadline as Answer before in their requests.
The buyer cancels an accepted booking	Refunded according to the cancellation policy. The confirmation tells the buyer how much they get back.
The seller or you cancel an accepted booking	Refunded in full.
The booking ends	Two days later, the seller’s payout is sent through Stripe: the amount paid online minus your commission. Any security deposit goes back to the buyer once the time to claim is over.

With instant booking on a listing, the booking is accepted and the card charged as soon as the card is held.

Each booking in Bookings shows a Payment line, for example held on the card until the seller answers, paid online, refunded, or for the seller your payout of … is sent on …. You see every booking and its payment in the All bookings tab.

When something goes wrong

• If the buyer disputes the payment with their bank, the seller’s payout is put on hold.
• If a refund or a payout fails, the booking shows it and we email you at your Sender email (Settings › Email) so you can sort it out in your Stripe dashboard. Failed payouts aren’t retried automatically.
• If a buyer cancels too late for a refund, the seller is still paid.

Emails

On top of the booking emails, paid bookings send these email templates, which you can reword:

Template key	Sent to	When
booking-paid-request	The seller	A paid request arrives, once the buyer’s card is held.
booking-paid-request-sent	The buyer	Confirms the request and that their card is held.
booking-paid-accepted	The buyer	The seller accepts and the card is charged.
booking-expired	Buyer and seller	A paid request expired without an answer and the hold was released.
booking-refund	The buyer	Money was refunded after a cancellation.
booking-reminder	Buyer and seller	About a day before a paid booking starts.
booking-payout	The seller	Their payout for a booking was sent.

The emails about a security deposit claim and your decision aren’t templates: they’re written by the site, in the language of your site.

Good to know

• Buyers pay by card. Stripe holds a card for about 7 days, which is why requests expire after 6 days at most.
• Listings you post yourself as the site owner are paid into your own Stripe account, with no payout.
• Bookings made before you switched paid bookings on, and listings that don’t qualify, stay requests without payment.
• Stripe’s own fees come out of your share, as with Stripe Connect sales.
• A seller in vacation mode can’t be booked until they’re back.

Related guides

• Bookings and rentals — make listings bookable, opening hours, time slots, places and price rules.
• Stripe and Stripe Connect — connect Stripe and set your commission.
• Commission and service fees — your rates, by category or seller.
• Plans and billing — move to the Marketplace plan.
• Email templates — reword the payment emails.