Start with your core offerings (5-15 services). You can always add more later. Consider:

Recommended approach:

Yes, all service settings can be modified at any time. Changes don't affect existing appointments - only future bookings use updated settings.

Safe to change:

Nothing. Existing appointments retain their original details (price, duration, team member, resource). Only new bookings use updated service settings.

To update existing appointment:
Must manually edit the specific appointment.

Important: If you change a service's price (for example, from $100 to $110), every appointment already on the books keeps the original $100 price. Customers who booked at the old rate are not affected. Only appointments created after the price change use the new $110 rate. If you need to update the price on a specific existing appointment, open that appointment and edit its price directly.

Yes, but only if it has no historical appointments. If service has been used:

These are two different actions with very different outcomes:

Disabling (Recommended for most cases):

What happens: The service is hidden from your public booking page. Customers cannot see or book it online. Staff can still create bookings manually. All historical data, reporting, and existing appointments are preserved. You can re-enable it at any time.

Deleting:

What happens: The service is permanently removed. This only works if the service has zero historical appointments. If appointments exist, Petboost blocks deletion to protect your data.

When to delete vs disable:

Rule of thumb: If in doubt, disable rather than delete. You lose nothing by disabling, but deletion is permanent.

Services have two visibility states controlled by the "Self-Service Booking" toggle:

Self-Service Booking ENABLED:

Self-Service Booking DISABLED:

How to toggle visibility:

Use cases for disabled self-service:

Note: Unlike customer/pet profiles, services don't have a formal "draft" status. All services are immediately available for staff booking once created. The self-service toggle only controls customer visibility.

Yes. Open Services, then Sort & Group, choose Reorder, drag the list, and select Done. Full steps: Change the order of services.

Yes. This is exactly what the self-service booking toggle is designed for. When you disable self-service booking on a service, it becomes an "internal-only" service:

What stays the same:

What changes:

How to set up:

Common uses:

For a full walkthrough, see the Internal-Only Services guide.

When creating multiple similar services (e.g., size variants of the same groom), you can copy settings from an existing service to save time:

This is particularly useful when:

What gets copied:

What you should change after copying:

Initial:

Regular:

Petboost has six service types, each designed for a specific purpose. The three most commonly confused are:

Initial services gate access to Regular services. Until a pet completes their Initial service, they cannot book the linked Regular service. This is tracked per pet, not per customer. Example: a "Daycare Assessment" must be completed before a pet can book "Full Day Daycare".

Regular services are your bread-and-butter appointment types. They can be booked repeatedly, support variable or fixed pricing, multi-pet discounts, and recurrence patterns.

Add-on services are revenue boosters that cannot be booked standalone. They appear during the booking flow after a customer selects a base service (like extras on a food delivery app). Industry research shows upselling increases revenue by 10-30%.

The other types:

For full details, see the Service Types Guide.

No. Those are courses.

Do not use Services → Add New → New Service. A Regular or Lesson service created by hand is not a course. Staff will not find it in the New Appointment Services picker as a course, because that form does not list courses.

Use a Regular service for a single appointment, including 1:1 training. See Courses versus services.

Use Add-ons for optional extras that cannot be booked alone. Customers can add extras during the booking flow, the same pattern as Uber Eats. Industry research shows upselling increases revenue by 10-30% (Accenture).

Good Add-on Examples:

Should be Regular (not Add-on):

Want it both ways (standalone and as an extra)? Create two services. Keep the existing Add-on (for example Nail Clip) so it still appears during a groom. Create a new Regular service (for example Drop in Nail Clip) with the same price, duration, category, and self-service setting, and publish it. Clients can book the Regular on its own, and still add the Add-on while they are there. Service type cannot be changed after you create the service, so do not try to convert the Add-on into a Regular.

See the dedicated Add-Ons Guide for complete setup instructions and best practices.

After selecting a base service (like "Full Groom"), customers see relevant add-ons they can tap to add. The price updates instantly, just like ordering extras on a food delivery app. This self-service upselling happens without any effort from you.

Customers get two opportunities to add extras:

On the calendar, appointments with add-ons show the add-ons icon, and Mission Control cards name each add-on. Open the appointment and select the Add-ons badge to see each pet's add-ons.

Yes! Staff can add or remove add-ons at any point before finalising the appointment. Great for when a customer requests something extra at drop-off.

If add-on services aren't saving or are behaving unexpectedly, work through this diagnostic checklist:

1. Check the service type is set to "Add-on":

2. Check which services the add-on pairs with:

3. Check pricing and duration are set:

4. Check Publish Changes was clicked:

5. Check browser cache:

6. Check team member assignment:

If the issue persists after all these checks, contact Petboost support with:

Stay is for overnight or multi-day services:

Features:

Stay services are purpose-built for overnight boarding and multi-day stays. They work differently from Regular services because they handle check-in/check-out times, nightly pricing, capacity across multiple nights, and optional transport.

Step 1: Create the service

Step 2: Configure pricing

Open Pricing & Payments and set Pricing Mode:

Any mode can add Extended Stay Discounts so longer stays cost less.

If you do not pick a mode, the service uses Duration-based. See the Service Pricing Guide.

Step 3: Set check-in and check-out windows

Staff New Stay pre-fills the windows and stays editable. Windows do not add a late fee. See Stay Check-in and Check-out Windows.

Step 4: Configure capacity

Step 5: Add stay-specific add-ons

Create add-on services for boarding extras:

Step 6: Consider linking an Initial service

For first-time boarders, create a "Boarding Trial Night" Initial service that must be completed before booking extended stays.

Individual services are standalone appointments booked and paid for one at a time. Packages are prepaid bundles of services sold at a volume discount.

When to use individual services:

When to use packages:

Setting up a package:

Package features:

Revenue impact: Package customers typically have 30-50% higher lifetime value. Prepaid cash flow arrives before services are delivered, and package holders book more frequently.

For full details, see the Packages Guide.

For detailed pricing documentation including complete stay pricing examples, see the Pricing Guide.

Fixed Pricing - Use when:

Variable Pricing ("from $X") - Use when:

Option 1: Separate Services (Recommended)

Benefits: Clear pricing, accurate duration, better eligibility controls

Option 2: Variable Pricing

Benefits: Fewer services to manage, flexibility

Recommendation: Use separate services if pricing and duration differ significantly. With separate services you can also set weight restrictions on each variant so that only pets of the correct size can book. For example, set "Full Groom (Small)" to 0-10kg, "Full Groom (Medium)" to 10.01-20kg, and so on.

To set up size-based services efficiently, create the first variant, then use the Copy Settings feature to duplicate it for each size. Adjust the name, price, duration, and weight restrictions on each copy.

Create separate services for each tier with clear naming and value differentiation:

Example structure:

Setup tips:

Use service categories to group tiers together on your booking page for easy comparison.

Yes. Use the Pricing Assistant.

Full steps for the other wizards: Pricing Assistant.

Petboost provides a bulk actions feature on the services list:

Bulk actions available:

Tips for effective bulk updates:

For more granular control, edit each service individually. The bulk feature is best for broad, uniform changes across many services.

Yes. Use Bulk Edit Grid on a desktop. Open Services, open the settings menu, select Bulk Edit Grid, edit Service Name, then select Publish Changes. Bulk Update cannot change names. Full steps: Edit many services in a grid. To set the same field on many services (not names), see Update many services at once.

Yes. Petboost offers a built-in deposit and card-on-file pre-authorisation, and you choose which one applies to each service.

Deposits

Set your business default in Settings -> Pricing & Payments under Deposits, then override it per service in Services -> [Service Name] -> Pricing & Payments. Three modes are available:

The amount paid up front reduces the balance owed, so only the remainder is charged at the end.

When the pet owner books online, Petboost takes the deposit at that moment. They must have a card on file and the charge must succeed, or the booking is refused.

When you create the booking yourself, Petboost takes the deposit if the owner has a card on file. If they do not, the booking still lands and stays Pending while the owner is asked to add a card. The appointment then shows a blue Deposit due banner:

When the owner books several dates in one pass, Petboost takes the deposit for each date, not one deposit for the set. Recurring bookings do not take a deposit.

If you decline the booking request, the deposit is refunded in full. If the customer cancels later than your cancellation period allows, you keep your cancellation-fee percentage of the deposit already paid and the rest is refunded. Refunds are issued automatically, and the customer is refunded in full. Banks still take 5-10 business days to show the money back on their card. Stripe does not return its own processing fee on the original charge to you.

Card on File + Pre-Authorisation (nothing charged up front)

When to use each

Only one applies to a booking. If a deposit is taken, Petboost does not also pre-authorise the balance on top of it.

For high-value or boarding bookings, combine either approach with a longer cancellation period (e.g., 72 hours or more). This protects you against last-minute cancellations.

Yes. Both deposits and pre-authorisation are configured per service, so one service can require payment up front while the rest do not.

Per-service deposit:

The badge beside the setting shows whether the service Matches Default or is Different to Default, and opens to show the business default without leaving the service.

Per-service pre-authorisation:

How it works for specific services:

See also: No-Show Protection and Upfront Payments

Yes. You set three kinds of date-based rate and Petboost charges them automatically:

Each rate is a percentage or a fixed amount, carries a label in your own words, and can apply to every service or only the services you select. Boarding (Stay) services are selectable. Stays charge the rate per night; the checkout night is never charged.

While they book, pet owners see marked dates on Regular and Stay date pickers, the system rate wording under the grid (and your label when you advertise it), and the named lines plus the same total on the stay date step and at review.

You do not need a separate seasonal service, a manual price change, or an add-on to charge these rates.

See Holiday and weekday pricing and Business hours.

Option 1: Create Package Services

Option 2: Manual Discount at Booking

Option 3: Use Packages Feature (if available)

Duration should include:

Duration should NOT include:

Formula:
​Service Duration = Average Service Time + Minor Buffer
​Buffer Time = Setup Before + Cleanup After

Example:

Service Duration:

Buffer Time:

Example:

Buffer time adds a gap before and/or after each appointment for setup, cleanup, or transitions. It is not visible to customers but prevents back-to-back scheduling conflicts.

How to configure:

The buffer is automatically added to the calendar block:

Recommended buffer times:

Common issue: If your appointments consistently run over time, increase the buffer after rather than the service duration. This preserves accurate time reporting while giving you a realistic schedule.

Common causes:

Solutions:

Set Booking Notice Period under Booking Notice on the service's Duration & Timing tab:

Balance:

The Booking Notice Period setting controls how much lead time is required before a customer can book. This prevents last-minute bookings that you cannot accommodate.

How to configure:

Common configurations:

Same-day booking restrictions:

If you want to prevent same-day bookings entirely, set the minimum notice to 24 hours. This means a customer booking at 9am on Monday can book for Tuesday at the earliest.

If you want to allow same-day bookings but with reasonable lead time, set it to 2-4 hours. A customer booking at 9am can book for 11am or 1pm the same day.

Important: This setting applies per service. You can allow same-day bookings for dog walking (2-hour notice) while requiring 48-hour notice for grooming.

Tip: If you find you are getting too many last-minute bookings that disrupt your schedule, increase the notice period. If you are losing bookings because customers want shorter lead times, reduce it.

No, only assign team members if:

Leave unassigned if:

Required:

Optional:

Example:

Yes. You can assign specific team members to a service and mark the assignment as Required, ensuring only qualified staff can deliver that service.

How to configure:

What this means:

Use cases:

Tip: If you want to track which team member performed a service but do not want to restrict who can be booked, set the assignment to Optional instead of Required. This gives you reporting data without limiting availability.

Result: Maximum 3 simultaneous grooming appointments (one per table).

Yes, for most services. Enable self-service unless:

Benefits of self-service:

Instant confirmation for 95% of services.

Manual approval only if:

Downsides of manual approval:

Toggle Enable Self-Service Booking off in the Booking Settings tab:

What this does:

Use cases:

Note: There is no separate "active/inactive" or "deactivate" toggle. The self-service booking toggle is the only visibility control for services. See Internal-Only Services for more detail on managing services without online booking.

System behaviour:

Yes:

System behaviour:

Best for:

Option 1: Eligibility Restrictions (Recommended)

Note: Breeds must be selected individually by searching and adding one at a time. There is no bulk selection by coat type or breed group. Once you've set up restrictions on one service, use that as a reference list when configuring similar services.

Option 2: Service Naming

Option 3: Weight/Size Restrictions

Multi-pet discounts use rate-per-pet tiers. When customers book multiple pets for the same service, the system finds the matching tier and applies that per-pet rate to ALL pets:

System behaviour:

Important: The rate you configure is the price per individual pet, not the total. Total = rate per pet x number of pets.

Example:

The rate automatically applies at booking.

Best for:

Not recommended for:

Yes, but the per-pet rate applies to the service price before package credits are used.

Example:

Yes! Each service can have its own multi-pet rate tiers.

Example:

This is the most commonly misunderstood pricing model. For complete documentation with examples, see the Pricing Guide.

Each Stay service bills by one Pricing Mode on Pricing & Payments.

Number of nights: midnights crossed × Rate per night. Friday 16:00 to Monday 09:00 is 3 nights. A same-day visit uses Daycare rate (same-day stays) when you set one.

Number of days: every calendar day the pet is on site, arrival and departure days both charged. Friday to Monday is 4 days.

Duration-based: hours from check-in to check-out, split into 24-hour periods plus leftover hours.

Example for Duration-based, Monday 10:00 to Saturday 18:00:

Tiers apply to those periods if you configured them. If you do not pick a mode, the service uses Duration-based.

1. Extended Stay Discounts (every mode)

2. Short-Stay & Spillover Rates (Duration-based only)

When a stay exceeds a tier's minimum duration, that tier's rate unlocks and applies to ALL full 24-hour periods.

Example:

A 5-day stay unlocks the "2-7 days" tier at $73/day. The customer pays:

5 x $73 = $365 total (not $117 for the first 2 days + $73 for the rest)

The same tiers work on Number of nights and Number of days, counting nights or calendar days. A same-day visit on Number of nights always uses Daycare rate (same-day stays) or Rate per night, never a tier.

Spillover rates handle the hours remaining after full 24-hour periods.

Example: A stay of 6 days and 8 hours:

Without spillover rates, those 8 hours would be charged at the full daily rate ($73), which would be unfair to the customer.

To keep Duration-based but charge one flat daily rate, set the base price and skip Extended Stay Discounts (or add one tier covering all durations).

The service is on Duration-based (the default). That mode bills hours, not midnights.

Same night count, different hours. Duration-based charges the difference. Switch Pricing Mode to Number of nights if every one-night stay should cost the same.

If spillover hours fall between tier boundaries (e.g., you have 0-8h and 12-24h but not 8-12h), the hours in that gap use the per-day rate as a fallback.

Solution: Ensure your spillover tiers cover the full 0-24 hour range with no gaps.

This appears when a tier crosses the 24-hour boundary (e.g., min: 12h, max: 2d). Such tiers cause incorrect pricing calculations.

Fix: Click "Fix Automatically" to split the misconfigured tier into proper sub-24h and per-day tiers, or manually delete and recreate the tiers correctly.

Only when Pricing Mode is Duration-based. Extra hours can add a spillover charge or another 24-hour period.

Number of nights does not add a late fee when someone arrives early or leaves late. Windows restrict the times pet owners can pick. They do not add a fee. Extra $ is an invoice line or an add-on.

If you use Number of nights: "We charge $X per night, counted from each midnight you stay."

If you use Duration-based: "We charge per 24-hour period from check-in. Remaining hours use our partial-day rate."

For detailed customer-facing explanations, consider:

Petboost includes built-in AI to help generate professional service descriptions.

Available for:

How to use:

Benefits:

Yes! The AI provides a starting point. You should:

Badges displayed on services to highlight them to customers.

Common labels:

Best practices:

Examples:

Yes! Add YouTube or Vimeo links:

Best practices:

Forces customers to complete an introductory "Initial" service before booking regular services.

Use case:
Your business requires first-time assessments before ongoing services.

Example:

When they try to book a regular service requiring initial completion:

No - only new customers who haven't completed the initial service.

Behaviour:

Automated workflows that reduce manual tasks throughout the appointment lifecycle.

Six automation types:

It depends on your service type and business needs.

Fully automated (all 6):

Partial automation (1-4 only):

Minimal automation (instant confirmation only):

Yes! Each service has its own Automatic Actions configuration.

Example:

You can manually override automation behaviour on individual appointments.

Example scenarios:

Staff can always intervene at any stage.

No - Auto-Pay requires customers to have a payment method on file.

Without stored payment:

Best practice:

System logs the failure and notifies staff.

Common failures:

Fallback:

Overrides how duration appears to customers.

Default display:

Custom display:

When to use:

How to set:

Customers see a clock time unless the service uses A message instead of a time on Times customers see. A session name or Fixed start times does not hide the clock.

To hide the clock:

Do not select A window. That shows a clock window.

If Show on booking page is on for the session, customers still see 9:00 AM plus the session name. Leave it off if the goal is to hide the clock. See Setting up your sessions.

A message instead of a time changes what customers see. It does not change how many slots exist. To offer one start per run, turn on Fixed start times on the session.

If the customer books this service with another service on the same booking, the time list follows the first service on the slot. A message instead of a time on the second service does not hide the first service's times.

These sit on the service, under Duration & Timing → Times customers see (previously Service Windows) → Customers see. They change the booking page and reminders. They do not change capacity.

Staff still see the scheduled times when they open the appointment.

No. One service carries one window, and Petboost applies it to each booking's own time.

A Group Dog Walking service set to show a window from the booked time to 45 minutes after it prints 8:00-8:45am on an 8:00 booking, 10:30-11:15am on a 10:30 booking, and 2-2:45pm on a 2:00 booking. Create separate services when the price, duration or staffing differs, not to get different windows.

Changing the times on a service applies to new bookings. Visits already booked keep the time the customer was told until you update them.

Paid and prepaid bookings keep their current wording. Customers are not messaged unless you tick Send each customer an updated confirmation.

No. A session Label with Show on booking page on adds the session name as a badge next to 9:00 AM. The clock stays. The session badge also wins over a service A message instead of a time, so the clock comes back.

To hide the clock, use A message instead of a time on the service and leave Show on booking page off on the session.

Fixed start times on the session still shows a clock unless A message instead of a time is on.

The time list follows the first service on that slot.

If daycare is first and a mobile pickup is second, customers still see the daycare start times even when the pickup uses A message instead of a time.

To hide clocks on a pickup-only booking, set A message instead of a time on the pickup service. For a combined booking, set A message instead of a time on the first service as well, or accept that the first service's times will show.

A message instead of a time on Times customers see hides the duration badge and the clock. Price and other service details stay visible.

Staff still see the scheduled times and duration on the appointment.

A confirmation or reminder shows the booked minute or the window for that side, never both.

If you have not typed custom window labels, Petboost uses these defaults:

If the words do not match how you talk about that service, open the service → Duration & Timing → Times customers see and set a custom Wording.

A service with a Fixed Start Time on Duration & Timing can only start at that time. Each service has one fixed start time.

A group class that always starts at 9:00 AM is the usual case (not 9:15, 9:30). For several start times a day, create a separate service for each.

This still shows a clock unless A message instead of a time is also on.

Fixed start times on a session (under Schedules & Sessions) is a different control. It pins bookings to the session start. It also still shows a clock unless the service uses A message instead of a time.

Use a Fixed Start Time on each session service:

For more than one block a day, create a separate service for each:

If customers should see "Morning" instead of 8:00 AM, add A message instead of a time on Times customers see after the fixed start is set.

Suburb-based restrictions (not km radius):

Important: Petboost uses suburb boundaries, not "km as the crow flies" distance. This is more practical because:

For custom travel fees:

Travel fees aren't automatically calculated based on distance. Options:

Example:

The slot list is not the same as a successful book. If a time appears and then the booking does not go through, check config on that service, not a missing AM / PM feature.

Check these in order:

See Team & Resource Assignment.

View appointment → Add Item / Add-ons puts a charge on the invoice. It does not create a time slot or a trip stop.

To book it on the calendar or on Trips, open Edit on the appointment (or start a new booking) and add it in the Services field.

An add-on has no time. A mobile pickup, taxi, or other timed service belongs in Services, not on the invoice extras strip.

No, Petboost integrates exclusively with Stripe for card payments. However, you have zero-fee alternatives:

Zero-fee payment options:

Why Stripe is worth it:

What you lose without Stripe:

Most businesses find Stripe's automation saves $2,000+ per month in bookkeeping time, far exceeding the Stripe processing fee (1.7% + $0.30) and booking fee ({{BOOKING_FEE_RATE}} on Pro, {{FLEX_BOOKING_FEE}} on Flex, {{BUSINESS_MAX_BOOKING_FEE_RATE}} on Max). From 1 October 2026, card surcharging is banned in Australia on eftpos, Visa and Mastercard debit, prepaid and credit cards. See Build fees into your prices.

See also: Payment Settings

Two separate fees give you full control:

Who pays each fee: Pass Stripe fee to customer and Pass platform fee to customer, under Fee Configuration on Settings > Pricing & Payments, control whether each fee is added to card invoices. When a toggle is off, that fee comes out of your payout.

From 1 October 2026, card surcharging is banned in Australia on eftpos, Visa and Mastercard debit, prepaid and credit cards. Most businesses build their processing costs into their service prices. See Build fees into your prices.

Integrated payment methods:

Not supported: PayPal, Afterpay, EFTPOS machines from other providers (record those payments as Other EFTPOS)

Cancellation fees are configured per service:

How it works:

Industry standard: 50% fee with 24-hour notice period

Common reasons for failed cancellation fees:

How to identify failed cancellation fees:

To retry a failed cancellation fee:

Tip: Require card on file at booking to prevent this issue. Leave Allow booking without card off on Settings > Pricing & Payments.

Yes, staff can waive fees on a case-by-case basis:

Best practice: Create a written policy for when staff can waive fees to ensure consistency.

Yes, both use the same cancellation fee percentage.

Petboost applies a single Cancellation Fee Percentage for both:

How it works:

Industry standard recommendations:

Tip: If you want to charge 100% for no-shows but less for late cancellations, set the percentage to 100% and manually adjust the invoice for late cancellations where you want to be lenient.

Check:

Prevention:

If it happens:

Solutions:

If services run long:

If services finish early:

For more information, see: