Questions salon owners actually ask.
Money first, because that is what everybody wants to know and most websites hide it. Then setting up, taking bookings, getting paid, your data, and who answers when something breaks.
Money
What it costs, who pays it, and what ends up in your bank account.
What does this cost me?
Nothing every month. No monthly bill, no setup fee, and we take none of your takings. It is paid for by a $2.99 booking fee added to your client's payment at checkout, which they see on the receipt before they pay. You keep paying your normal card fee, the same as you do on your card machine today.
So the client pays instead of me. Is that not the same thing?
Fair question. The difference is that it is disclosed. A booking platform that charges you $99 a month is money you make back by pricing your services higher, which your client pays without ever being told. Two dollars ninety nine on the receipt is a smaller number and an honest one.
Can I pay the fee myself instead of my clients?
Not yet. Today there is one plan: you pay nothing and a $2.99 booking fee sits on your client's payment. A plan where you cover the software yourself and your clients see no fee is something we are working on, so tell us if that is what you want and we will come back to you when it is ready.
Will you start charging me later?
The free plan is free for good, not a trial. If that ever changed for new salons it would not change under your feet, and you could download your client list either way.
Do you take a cut of tips?
No.
Setup and your services
How long it takes, and what happens if you are not good with computers.
How long does it take to get going?
About half an hour if you hand us your price list, and up to an hour if you type a long one in yourself. Most salons are taking bookings the same week. Putting the services in is the longest bit and we will do it for you if you send us what you have. You can also put your five most-booked services up, go live, and finish the rest later.
I am not technical. Is that a problem?
No. Putting your services in means typing names, prices and durations into a form, or uploading a spreadsheet. If you would rather not do any of that, send us your price list and we will do it.
Do I need a new register or tablet?
No new register, and no tablet unless you want one. Bookings arrive as an email, so the phone or laptop you already own is a complete setup you can finish tonight. What we recommend on top is a tablet on a stand at the front desk showing nothing but the day - use a spare tablet if you have one, or the pair we recommend is about $75 from Amazon, bought by you at Amazon's price. We do not resell them and make nothing on them. The tablet runs your dashboard in a browser today, and a free Android app for it is coming.
How do I get the tablet, and what does it cost?
A tablet on a stand at the front desk is the setup we recommend, and if you already have a spare tablet or an old iPad it costs you nothing - the dashboard is a website, so it opens on whatever you point at it. If you have nothing spare, the how it works page links the exact two we recommend on Amazon, about $75 for the pair, at Amazon's price. You buy them yourself; we do not resell them and make nothing on them. None of it is required: bookings arrive as an email whatever you do, so the phone in your pocket is a complete setup. Once a tablet is set up you sign in on it once and it shows your day. There is no app to download, because it runs the website version. Free apps for iPhone and Android are being built too, and the website version stays the whole product either way.
Is there an app?
Not today. Your appointment board is a website rather than something you install, which is why it works on whatever you already own. Free apps for iPhone and Android are being built. We are not putting a date on it, and nothing you sign up for today changes when it arrives.
Can I use my own domain?
Yes. If you own a web address you can point it at your page, and then that is the only address your clients ever see. Until you do, you get one on ours.
How do clients find my page?
You put your link where they already look. Your Google listing, which then shows a Book Online button. Your Instagram bio. A QR code at the front desk and on your card. This takes ten minutes and it is the step that makes all the others worth doing.
Appointments and clients
What happens day to day once bookings start coming in.
How do bookings reach me?
They show up on your screen as they come in, with the service, the time, who is doing it, any note the client left, the deposit paid and what is left to collect. Your client gets a page with their appointment on it the moment they pay, so they are not calling you to check.
What if somebody does not turn up?
You mark them a no-show and you keep the deposit. That is the whole reason the deposit is taken at booking rather than promised for later.
Can I stop taking bookings when the day is full?
Only the times somebody is actually free are ever offered, so a full day offers nothing. You can also close a day, block an afternoon, or set how much notice you need before a booking can be made.
What do I actually get about a client?
A name and a phone number from every appointment, and what they have booked before. You can download the lot to a spreadsheet whenever you want.
Do you contact my clients?
Only about their own appointment, so the confirmation and the reminders, all by email. We never advertise to your list, and we do not sell it or share it. The list is yours: you can export it from your dashboard whenever you like, as a spreadsheet, and reach them from your own tools. There are no text messages anywhere in the product.
Payments and payouts
Where the money goes, and whose bank account it lands in.
Who holds the money?
You do. Card payments run through your own Stripe account and go to your bank the way they already do. The money never sits with us, so you are never waiting on us to hand it over.
Do I have to change card processors?
No. If you already use Stripe, you connect the account you have. If you do not, signing up is part of the setup and takes about ten minutes.
How do refunds work?
You refund from the appointment on your screen, in whole or in part. It goes back to your client's card from your account. You also choose whether the booking fee goes back with it, and when you are the one canceling, it should.
Can I take the whole payment in the chair?
Yes, and most salons do. Only the deposit is taken online, and you set how much that is per service, including nothing at all. The balance is collected however you already take payment. A service with no deposit still carries the booking fee, because that is what pays for the software.
Your data, and leaving
The questions worth asking before you start, not after.
Can I leave, and can I take my client list with me?
Yes to both, any time, with no notice and no phone call to cancel. Download the list to a spreadsheet and go. Keeping it from you would make no sense, since the whole point is that it is yours.
Who owns the client data?
You do. We only use it to run your booking page. We do not sell it, we do not give it to other salons, and we do not advertise to it.
What happens to my page if I stop?
It stops taking bookings. You can still download your data while the account exists, and if you want the account deleted you ask us and we do it.
Is there a contract?
No. Nothing to sign, and on the free plan there is not even a bill to stop.
Support
Who answers, and how fast.
Who do I talk to when something breaks?
The person who builds it. No call center, no ticket number bouncing between departments. Once you have an account there is a Support tab on your screen, and anything you send from there arrives with your salon, services and bookings attached.
Can I talk to somebody before I sign up?
Yes. Send a message from the contact page and a real person reads it. If you would rather talk, you can book a short call on the same page.
What if I need something the product does not do?
Tell us. Small salons asking for the same thing is most of how this gets built, and you are talking to the person who can actually change it.
Not answered here?
Send it over. A real person reads every message, and if other owners are asking the same thing it ends up on this page.
Ask your questionStart taking your own orders.
No subscription, no cut of your sales, and nothing off what you make. Create the account, add your menu, put the link on your Google listing.