Set a Custom Cancellation Policy with Square Appointments
Protect against no-shows with a customised cancellation policy. You can require that clients add their payment card when requesting an appointment with you online. If your client doesn’t show up, or cancels outside of your cancellation window, you can choose to enforce your cancellation policy.
Cancellation Policy Setup
First, you’ll need to set a cut-off time for cancellations:
Head to the Settings tab of your Appointments dashboard > click Calendar & Booking.
Scroll down to Cut-off time for allowing clients to cancel or reschedule > set a cut-off window.
Click Save.
Note: Your cancellation policy will show in your online booking flow and at the bottom of the confirmation emails your clients receive.
Hold Card for No-Show Protection
When you enable this feature, your clients will be required to add a payment card to complete their booking. This card can be charged if your client violates your cancellation policy. If you want to save your client’s card on file for future payments, you will need to ask them to select Save Card when booking the appointment.
You can also enable No-Show Protection when creating an appointment from your calendar on Dashboard. You can use your client’s card on file or manually input a card. Note that this feature is not yet available in the Appointments app.
Note: If you are not activated to accept card payments with Square, you will be required to verify your identity before you can enable this feature. This process should be completed by the account holder. Learn more about what’s required to sign up for Square Point of Sale.
You’ll have two options with No-Show Protection: choose to either charge per service or charge a flat fee per appointment.
Note: Clients have the option to cancel an appointment at anytime while the appointment is still pending.
Note on Per-Service No-Show Protection
From the Appointments app:
- Tap the three horizontal lines > tap Items & Services.
- Tap Create Service.
- Fill out the service details and tap Cancellation Fee. Enter the amount and tap Save.
Note: At the moment, there isn’t a way to charge a percentage based No-Show Protection fee across all of your services.
If you create a service from your Appointments dashboard, you’ll see the option to enter the per-service Cancellation Fee. For items created on the Appointments dashboard, the per-service fee will default to $0. To update, just enter in the amount to charge your customers from the Services tab in the event they cancel or reschedule outside of the allotted window.
Enable No-Show Protection
When enabling no-show protection, cards are held for a single appointment only and not saved on file for future charges. You can charge a cancellation fee up to 14 days after the appointment. There is a $500 limit if you set your cancellation fee per appointment. At the moment, there isn’t a way to charge a percentage based No-Show Protection fee across all of your services.
- From your Appointments Dashboard, click Settings > Payments & Cancellations.
- Select Booking with No-Show Protection.
- Set a flat cancellation fee per individual service or per appointment. Note: When No-Show Protection is enabled for individual services, the cancellation fee will default to $0 for services.
- Click Save.
You can change your cut-off time settings from the Calendar & Booking section of your Square Appointments dashboard. To make changes to the cancellation fee, head to the Payments & Cancellations section.
At this point, customers will need to enter payment details in order to complete booking their appointment. Their billing information will be held solely for No-Show Protection and will not be saved for payment or future bookings.
Note: customers will not be allowed to use a prepaid debit card as their payment method, even if the prepaid debit card is saved as Card on File. You can override this block by using a prepaid debit card as the no-show payment card when you book an appointment on Dashboard.
Visit Square’s blog for tips on reducing no-show appointments.
Update Cancellation Fee Per Service
If you choose to charge a cancellation fee for each service, there will not be a No-Show fee charged or card collected for No-Show Protection. You can update the cancellation fee at any time.
To do so from your online Square Dashboard:
Navigate to Service Library.
Click on the service to update.
Under Price and Duration, enter in your new Cancellation Fee.
Click Save.
Cancelling Appointments and No-shows
If a client requests to cancel or modify an appointment outside of your cancellation window, you’ll be given the option to enforce your cancellation policy.
Even if you have a cancellation policy enabled, policy enforcement will be at your discretion. You have two weeks (14 calendar days) to choose to charge your customer. If you do so, they will receive an email notification, including any note you add, informing them of the appointment cancellation and any resulting fee. Your client will also be reminded of your policy if they attempt to cancel outside of your cancellation window.
Payment cards are charged when you choose to enforce your cancellation policy. Should the card be declined, you’ll need to contact your customer for a new payment method.
A processing fee of 2.2% per transaction will be applied to no-show, cancellation, and prepayment transactions. Funds will be transferred to your linked bank account according to your deposit schedule.
Note: Cancelled appointments are labelled in grey and appointments marked no-show are labelled in red in the client’s record.