Go live without Stripe, and choose what clients can change online

Plenty of businesses take payment in person: a card machine at the counter, cash, or a bank transfer. Until now, going live on Bookatu meant connecting Stripe first, even if you never take money online. That rule has changed.

When you still need Stripe

Stripe is how Bookatu takes card payments online. To go live, you now need it only if you take deposits or sell products online. Open Settings, Booking page. If Stripe is in the way, the panel lists what needs it, each with a link to switch it off:

• Deposits, when a service clients book online would actually be charged one. The link is Turn deposits off.
• Products clients can buy in your online shop. The link is Stop selling products online.

Turn these off and Stripe is no longer needed. If you would rather keep them, connect Stripe instead. One thing to check: new accounts start with Ask for a deposit to confirm a booking switched on. If you take payment in person and have not changed it, that is the one to turn off.

What your page needs without Stripe

Asking for Stripe also kept half-built pages off the web. Without it, Bookatu checks three things instead, so a client who opens your page finds something to book and a way to reach you. If any are missing, the panel lists them, each with a link to the right page:

• Add a service clients can book online
• Add a team member clients can book
• Add a phone number or email clients can reach you on

Your email also has to be confirmed. If it is not yet, the panel shows a Resend confirmation email button where the Publish button would be. When nothing is left in the way, press Publish booking page. The Private label changes to Published, and your page is live.

What clients see without Stripe

Clients book as normal and pay you in person. Your booking page does not ask them for a deposit. Paid group classes are the exception. Without Stripe, they cannot be booked online. When a client picks a paid class, the button reads Online payment unavailable, with a note asking them to contact you directly.

Gift cards, packages and memberships do not stop you going live, and neither do paid classes. Where gift cards, packages or memberships show, a client sees This business hasn't set up online payments yet instead of the button to buy or join. No money is taken online.

When you are ready to take deposits, connect Stripe and switch deposits on. Until you connect, Settings, Deposits & cancellations shows a Connect Stripe link just below the deposit switch. It also says plainly that clients book without paying a deposit.

Take payment the way you already do. Your booking page no longer makes you open an account you do not need.

Decide what clients can change online

Confirmation and reminder emails carry a link to the client's booking. That page has two buttons, Choose a new time and Cancel booking. Until now they were always there, right up to the start. The new section, Settings, Online changes by clients, lets you set the rules:

• Clients can cancel online. Switch it off and clients are asked to call or email you to cancel.
• Clients can move their booking online. Switch it off and they are asked to call or email you for a new time.
• Stop online changes before the start. A number of hours, up to 336, which is two weeks. 0 keeps changes open until the start.
• Most times one booking can be moved online. Up to 20. 0 means no limit.

Press Save online changes. The rules apply to every upcoming booking, including ones made before you saved. The defaults are what clients could always do, so nothing changes until you change it.

What your client sees

When a change is allowed, the buttons are there as before. If you set a cut-off, the Cancellation policy box tells the client until when they can make changes online. If you set a limit, it shows how many online moves that booking has left.

When a change is not allowed, its button is not shown at all. In its place, the client sees a short reason, such as This booking can't be moved online. Below it is a line asking them to contact you, with the phone number and email from your Business details, ready to tap.

Your email shows there even if Show on your storefront is off for it. Only someone with that booking's own link can open the page, and you have just asked them to get in touch.

The rules are checked again when the client presses a button, not only when the page loads. So a page left open past your cut-off still cannot make the change.

Three details worth knowing

• The cut-off is not your free cancellation window. The Free cancellation window under Deposits & cancellations decides whether a deposit is kept. Stop online changes before the start decides whether a change can be made online at all.
• Only moves a client makes online count towards the limit. Moves you make on the calendar never do.
• If you use Ask clients to confirm the day before, a client can still answer Can't make it, even after your cut-off or with online cancelling switched off. The slot is then freed. You asked the question, and an honest no is better than a no-show.

Where to find it

Both are in Settings, under Essentials: Booking page to go live, and Online changes by clients for the new rules. If your page is still private and you are not sure why, the help article Why my booking page is not live yet walks through each step.