An invoice can be changed until it is paid. Finalise Invoice moves the appointment to Ready to Pay, and a payment moves it to Paid. A part payment, including Pay on Arrival at check-in, is recorded against the invoice without changing the status; once the parts cover the balance, check-out settles it as Paid. A card payment that fails leaves it Payment Declined until a retry succeeds, a refund makes it Refund Granted or Partially Refunded, and voiding an unpaid invoice makes it Invoice Amount Void.

Each pet has its own lines on the invoice: the service, the quantity, the price, the discount and the line total.

You can change the lines in every status except Paid, Cancelled and Refund Granted, including after the invoice is finalised. Discount takes a whole percentage from 0 to 100, or an amount off the whole line. Select % or $ inside the field to switch between them. The quantity of a pet's main service cannot be changed.

The appointment page has no control to swap a line for another service. To change the service, select Manage, then Edit, and change it in Services for. See Using the Booking Form.

Each pet must keep at least one service. If a pet would have none left, set that service's price to $0 instead, or remove the pet from the booking.

Add products such as food, toys and accessories, an add-on, or a fee or surcharge.

The item is added to the invoice. Petboost has no tip field. Do not add a tip as a line item: it would count towards the GST and, when you pass the booking fee on, towards that fee.

Add Item is a charge only. It does not create a time on the calendar or a Trips stop. If the item is a mobile pick-up, a taxi or another timed service that should appear on the calendar or the run, select Manage, then Edit, and add it in Services for instead.

If the owner has a package with uses left, you can spend one credit on a line, and the line's price becomes $0.00.

The line shows Redeem 1x Package Credit. On a recurring visit, the credit applies to this visit only and detaches the appointment from the series.

To charge for a line that is on a credit, select Remove credit on that line. The line takes the catalogue price, and the credit goes back to the pack when you save.

The invoice shows:

A multi-pet discount applies by itself when you have set one.

Select % or $ inside the field to switch between them.

A message shows on the invoice PDF, in the email and in the customer's portal. Use it for a thank you, special instructions, a reminder about the next visit or an offer.

Petboost takes secure payments through Stripe. Three methods collect payment with little or no work from you: a card on file that is charged after each service, a payment link texted to the customer, and a Stripe card reader at the counter. You can also pre-authorise a card for no-show protection, and take cash or a bank transfer for customers who prefer to pay that way.

All payments come with a branded invoice with your logo, colours and ABN. For your accounting, connect Xero's Stripe bank feed in Xero and your card payments reach Xero each day. Cash and bank transfers are entered in Xero by hand.

Under Payment Method on the invoice, choose one of:

A Pre-pay in Full booking the client paid by card in the booking form, without saving the card, shows as Paid online. A refund goes back to that card.

If you take payment on a booking days before the visit, Paying in full now locks the booking explains what happens: you cannot move the date or change the services, and the customer gets no more reminders. Choose one of these before you go ahead:

The card on file is the quickest method: nothing to type, a declined charge can be retried, and it works with Automatic Actions.

The payment goes through straight away, and Petboost emails the customer a receipt if Email the customer: booking updates is on. The card must be valid, not expired, and have the funds. The charge is offered once the appointment has started, or when it is Ready to Review, Ready to Pay or Payment Declined, and only while there is a balance to pay. To retry a declined charge, select Retry Charging Card in the invoice's Manage menu.

Cash suits walk-in customers, customers with no card on file, and places that prefer cash.

Petboost cannot refund cash for you: return the money yourself.

If the booking is still Pending, Petboost asks you to confirm in Mark as paid first. Petboost has no separate option for a payment made elsewhere: use Other EFTPOS for your own terminal. For a visit you are not charging for, use Void Invoice once the invoice is Ready to Pay.

A bank transfer suits large invoices, corporate clients, customers who prefer transfers and international payments. It needs you to check the transfer has arrived.

Request bank transfer emails the customer the invoice with your bank details, and the invoice number is the reference they quote. It marks the appointment as awaiting payment, not paid. Afterwards you can Download updated PDF invoice or Resend bank transfer request.

You need a Stripe card reader connected to your Petboost account and to the internet over Wi-Fi. It takes Visa, Mastercard, American Express and eftpos cards, and mobile wallets, by tap or chip.

Petboost marks the appointment paid when Terminal Payment shows Payment Complete. If the card is declined, the dialog says Payment Failed and nothing is recorded. If the reader does not answer within 45 seconds, the dialog says Payment status unconfirmed: the payment may still go through, and the appointment updates by itself if it does, so check before taking it again. For a receipt, select Download Receipt. If the reader freezes, the customer changes their mind, the amount is wrong or you need another method, select Cancel Reader Action in the payment dialog: the reader goes back to ready, and you can choose another method or try the reader again. For setting up a reader, see Card Reader Setup.

A payment link suits customers with no card on file, one-off purchases such as packages, products and services, and taking payment remotely. The customer pays on their own device, on a secure page hosted by Stripe, and Petboost marks the appointment paid when the payment comes in. The customer needs a phone number on file, and your business needs the Business Pro, Business Flex or Business Max plan.

If this customer has another visit ready to pay, the send screen lists it as Include [pet name]'s visit, off until you tick it. One link then covers this visit and every ticked visit, and paying it marks each visit paid for its own amount. A refund of one of those visits returns only that visit's amount, and the other visits stay paid.

Email sends the link by email instead, and Copy Link gives you the link to share however you like, with no text sent. After the first text, the button reads Resend Payment Link by SMS.

Send a payment link when the customer is ready to pay. The customer does not log in to Petboost. The link opens a Stripe checkout for the amount at that moment, the same way a charge sent to a card machine is set when you send it. Changing the price afterwards does not change a checkout already sent. Resend Payment Link by SMS, Email and Copy Link send that same checkout again. Petboost emails the customer a receipt when they pay if Email the customer: booking updates is on.

If the customer opens a link that was cancelled or replaced by a newer one, the page reads This payment link has closed and asks them to contact you. Send them a new link. A link with nothing left to pay reads Already paid. If the page cannot load, it reads This payment page did not open, and the customer can open the link again a moment later.

The customer receives a text with your business name, what the payment is for, the link and the amount:

The text ends in (no-reply) when your business has no active dedicated number.

The fees on a payment link:

When the customer is standing in front of you, they can scan the link instead of waiting for a text.

The screen changes to Payment received by itself once they have paid. Magic QR Scan sends no text and uses no SMS credit.

A payment link pays toward the appointment total. While a deposit is still due, the link panel shows This link pays toward the appointment total and points you to the Deposit due banner, where Secure Payment Link sends a link labelled as the deposit. See Take a deposit or send a card request.

If a customer has no card on file and still owes money on a booking at your premises, the pick-up text can carry the payment link, so they get one text instead of two. The text reads as usual, with Pay securely: and the link added above your sign-off.

Include payment link shows only when all of these are true: the booking is not a mobile service, the customer has no valid card on file, the invoice total is over $0 and there is still something to pay. It starts off, and Petboost remembers your last choice in this browser. The link is the same Stripe checkout as Send a payment link, for the amount still to pay when you send the text, and needs the same plan. If Petboost cannot create the link, it sends the usual pick-up text without it and shows Payment link not added.

When Pre-hold funds is on, under Pricing & Payments, Petboost places a hold on the card on file 72 hours before the appointment. The hold reserves the money without charging it, which reduces no-shows and makes sure the money is there at checkout.

If the booking is not charged in time, the hold is released back to the customer, and a cancelled booking releases it too. When the hold failed, the booking shows Pre-authorisation declined: select Retry Card Pre-auth in the invoice's Manage menu, or ask for another card. To let a hold go early, choose to release it and confirm Release hold in Release pre-authorisation?. The money is back on the card within 1 to 24 hours, depending on the card issuer.

The invoice has its own Manage menu, separate from the one at the top of the page. It holds the money actions, and shows only what applies to the status and how the booking was paid.

Refund promptly once you have decided, record the reason, and tell the customer.

A card refund goes back to the original payment method straight away in Petboost, and how long it takes to reach the customer's account depends on their bank. Until then they may see it as pending on their statement. After a partial refund, the rest of the invoice stays paid. Cash, bank transfer and Other EFTPOS payments are not refunded through Petboost: use Un-mark as Paid & Re-process, or return the money yourself.

A partial refund suits a service that was only partly done, one pet of several cancelled, an adjustment for a problem, or a refund less a cancellation fee. A paid booking cannot be cancelled, so when a customer cancels after paying, refund here instead. On a booking with a deposit, a refund comes from the later payments first and the deposit last, so a partial refund of exactly the balance you took keeps the deposit. After a refund the appointment reads Refund Granted for a full refund or Partially Refunded for a partial one. The Activity Log, the invoice and the receipt all show the refund.

The Discount on an invoice line is a whole percentage, such as 10 or 25, or a dollar amount off the whole line, such as $10. A percentage follows the price when the price changes; a dollar amount stays the same and never takes the line below $0. Switching converts the discount you already have, so 10% off a $75 line becomes $7.50 off. On a new sale, a dollar amount is for a single item: set the quantity to 1 first. A multi-pet discount applies by itself when you have set one. A discount code the booking holds shows as a badge on the line, with the Discount code field under the lines to apply or remove one. Discount codes are being switched on business by business.

Common uses:

Automatic payment steps save manual status changes.

A service can keep its own value on its Automatic Actions tab, under Manage on Services, and the service's value wins. The badge under each switch shows how many services use their own setting.

A common way to start is in three steps: first Instant confirmation and Pre-hold funds, then add Auto-start and Auto-complete, and finally all of them, for trusted customers and simple services.

At the end of the day, settle what was taken against what the day was worth.

On Appointments, the Paid tab lists the paid appointments and their total, and an Owner Admin or Admin can export the calendar as a CSV for accounting. The Payment Declined tab lists failed payments to retry, chase or cancel: expired cards tend to show up monthly, low funds around weekends and month end, and a wrong security code or postcode from data entry. The Refund Granted and Partially Refunded tabs list refunds, so you can spot patterns such as service issues or cancellations.

Take part of the balance now and the rest later, with any mix of methods, when a customer wants to pay half by card and half in cash, or two people are paying part each. Each part is recorded against the invoice, and the appointment is Paid once the parts cover the balance.

A bank transfer part is recorded with Mark paid by bank transfer once the money arrives. Request bank transfer always asks for the whole balance, so it is not offered for a part.

Each part is listed under the invoice totals with the method, the date and who recorded it, and Paid so far shows the running total against the invoice; fees passed on and refunds are not counted in it. The booking carries a Partially paid badge until it is settled.

When Pay on Arrival is on for the booking, paying the whole balance on a checked-in visit that is more than 30 minutes from its booked end keeps the pet checked in. A customer who pays at drop-off can leave while someone else collects. The Invoice says so under the payment button, the customer gets their receipt with the payment, and the booking carries a green Paid, still here badge until check-out settles it as Paid. The payment marks the booking Paid instead when Pay on Arrival is off, when the visit is at or past its booked end, when the booking holds a card pre-authorisation, or when less than $0.50 is owing. A payment taken before the visit, while the booking is still Confirmed, marks it Paid whether or not Pay on Arrival is on.

When you pass the booking fee on to the customer, a card part adds that fee on top of the amount you enter, and the invoice's own fee lines are dropped once a part payment exists. A part can be at most the balance before that fee; a payment that keeps the pet checked in takes that balance, so a card is charged the amount shown on the invoice and the price is recorded against the visit. A card part needs at least $0.50; the final part can be any amount.

A cash, bank transfer or Other EFTPOS part recorded by mistake can be removed with Remove beside it, then Remove payment, while the appointment is unpaid. The amount goes back on the balance due. A card part is refunded with Refund payment, which refunds the most recent card parts first. The invoice total cannot be lowered below what has already been paid, so refund or remove a part first.

Un-mark as Paid & Re-process is offered when every part was cash, bank transfer or Other EFTPOS, and clears them all.

A deposit cannot be taken once a part payment exists. Quick sales and package purchases can be split the same way: see Split a sale across methods and Split a package purchase across methods.

Invoice the appointment to one owner and take each person's share as its own part, as above. On a quick sale or a package purchase, take each person's share as its own part in the same way.

A membership charge and a cancellation fee are each taken in one payment with one method. There is no Split this payment on them. A package purchase can be split, and its credits are added once it is paid in full.

Void an invoice when no payment was taken and you want to close it without any money moving. Void Invoice is offered while the appointment is Ready to Pay or Payment Declined, and greyed out otherwise.

Every line is set to $0.00, the appointment reads Invoice Amount Void, and no money moves.

When an appointment is cancelled with a cancellation fee, the fee may fail to charge because the card is declined, expired or missing. You can still collect it without waiving it and raising a new invoice, and without asking the customer to add a card first.

Failed fees show on Mission Control among the items needing attention, as a banner on the cancelled appointment, and in the invoice with the reason it failed: no card on file, a declined or expired card, low funds, or a processing error.

The status updates by itself. If the retry fails again, ask the customer to add or update their card, consider waiving the fee if they are responsive, and note what happened in the appointment notes.

When the customer paid a deposit larger than the fee, Petboost refunds the rest of the deposit to their card. If that refund fails, the cancelled booking shows Deposit Refund Failed with the amount and the reason. Select Retry refund to try again.

If you marked a visit paid by Cash, Bank Transfer or Other EFTPOS by mistake, you can send it back to Ready to Pay. This is not available for card, payment link or card reader payments.

The appointment becomes Ready to Pay, and you choose a payment method and take payment again. Un-mark as paid in the Manage menu at the top of the page does the same.

A Payment Declined appointment cannot be archived or deleted as it is. Void its invoice first, which makes it Invoice Amount Void, then delete it.

The invoice is set to $0, then the appointment is removed. This cannot be undone. A course booking is cancelled with Cancel Enrolment instead.

You can prepay later visits by adding their lines to this appointment. Petboost then sets the selected future bookings to $0.00. This is not available for a recurring series with no end date.

A sale made with New Additional Sale is separate from the appointment invoice and does not change the appointment's payment status.

After you save, the sale appears under Additional Sales.

Pay on Arrival takes a set percentage of the booking when the pet is checked in, from a live card hold when there is one, otherwise from the saved card. The visit stays In Progress and the customer gets a receipt for the part paid. Set it under Deposits & Pay on Arrival on Settings > Pricing & Payments, or per service; see Take a payment at check-in.

Before the check-in, the booking shows a Pay on Arrival badge with the amount, and most check-in buttons name what they will take, such as Check In · takes $50.00. On the calendar, which does not show the amount, it reads Check In · takes Pay on Arrival. Check in, pay at the end checks the pet in and leaves that amount on the bill for the end of the visit. The customer sees the amount due at check-in on the booking form, as Due at check-in (Pay on Arrival), on their booking in the pet owner app, as Pay on Arrival, taken at check-in, and in the booking confirmation SMS.

Pay on Arrival applies to every check-in once it is on, including bookings made before you turned it on. Those customers were not shown the amount when they booked, so tell them before their visit.

The check-in confirmation names what happened:

When nothing was taken, the booking lands in Pay on Arrival not taken under Unpaid on Mission Control, and the Invoice shows the amount to take. A check-in charge still unconfirmed after 10 minutes lands there too, as Pay on Arrival not confirmed, with nothing filled in: the charge may still have gone through, so check your Stripe payments before taking it again.

The part is recorded and the visit stays open. Check-out takes the rest as usual; when the parts already cover the balance, check-out settles the booking as Paid with no second receipt. Undo check out returns a settled booking to the status it had, keeping the payments.

A deposit and Pay on Arrival can both apply: the deposit is taken at booking and the arrival amount is capped at what is still owed. Cancelling a checked-in booking refunds the arrival payment through Refund payment, less any cancellation fee you apply.

If a deposit is due and has not been taken, the appointment shows Deposit due and the amount.

Send card request is hidden when the owner has no mobile number. Once the deposit is taken, the banner shows Deposit paid and the amount.

Staff can take a deposit by any method the business has set up. Open the method list on the deposit banner, or on the booking form when you create the appointment.

To create the booking as Pending and not record a payment, choose the method in Choose how to take and the deposit amount, on the booking form, before you create it.

Cash, Bank Transfer and Other EFTPOS mark the deposit paid as you create the booking. Card Reader takes it on the Stripe reader. With Instant confirmation on, recording the deposit also confirms the booking. On Lite, when a card is already saved, those are the only alternatives to Card on File, so that booking cannot be created with the deposit left unpaid.

To book one appointment or stay and not charge the deposit now, tick Skip for this customer under Choose how to take on the booking form. Keep this booking Pending until the deposit is paid? then appears.

Choose No to book with no deposit and no Pending hold. The notice reads Skipping and the amount, and No deposit will be taken for this booking. Petboost does not charge a card or record a payment, and the full price stays on the invoice.

Choose Yes to leave the booking at Pending until you take the deposit. Nothing is charged now. Accept stays blocked until the deposit is paid or you select Accept without deposit.

It applies to that booking only. The service still asks for a deposit next time, and customers booking online cannot skip it.

A booking already at Pending with Deposit due can be confirmed without a payment. Select Accept without deposit. The rest stays on the invoice, and the deposit is not marked paid.

Check with the customer, retry once, and ask for another card if it keeps failing.

The card did not have enough available credit. Ask for another card, or select Retry Card Pre-auth.

The refund has left Petboost. How long it takes to reach the customer depends on their bank, and they may see it as pending on their statement until then.

Provide the invoice PDF, the service notes and the receipt, and work with Stripe on the dispute.

A Paid, Cancelled or Refund Granted invoice cannot be changed. For a cash, bank transfer or Other EFTPOS payment, use Un-mark as Paid & Re-process first. Before payment, you can change the lines even after finalising.

Have questions about payments? See these commonly asked questions: