Charging is the moment all the day's logistics make sense: time spent, product sold, tip left. In BookHero, checkout is not an online payment page (there is no built-in terminal); it is the sale record, with the flexibility you need at the counter. You can charge an existing booking in 3 clicks, serve a walk-in who turned up without notice, or sell a single bottle of shampoo to a client who only came by for that.
This guide walks you from the 'Go to checkout' button to the issued receipt, including discount, tip, split payment and what changes everywhere else once you finalize. If you haven't created the booking by hand yet, see the guide on creating a manual booking in the calendar first.
The two paths into checkout
BookHero has two entry points and both are legitimate. The most common flow starts from an existing booking; the second one is for sales that never touched the calendar.
- From the calendar: open the booking (click on it) and the detail panel shows a 'Go to checkout' button. The cart is preloaded with the booking's services and the client is already attached. This is the recommended path when a booking exists.
- Directly at Checkout (in the side menu): opens an empty cart. Useful for walk-ins, product-only sales or sessions that happened offline and you want to record now. The 'To be charged' tab lists unpaid bookings from yesterday through next week: tap one and the cart fills up.
Anatomy of checkout: what you're looking at
The checkout page has three zones. On the left, the catalogue (with the tabs Services, Add-ons, Products and Custom amount). In the centre-right, the cart with totals. At the bottom, the green 'Select payment method' button that unlocks the payment view.
- Services: what you have defined in Business page. Prices come from the template (but are editable on the line).
- Add-ons and Products: store items (business products). Wax, shampoo, bottle, gift card. Fixed price per unit.
- Custom amount: free-text line with name and amount. Useful for 'special consultation', 'travel fee' or anything not in the catalogue.
- Popular items: quick chips at the top of the grid with the 6 most-used services, so you don't have to search.
Step by step: from cart to receipt
Open checkout
Click 'Go to checkout' from the booking in the calendar, or open Checkout in the side menu. If you came from a booking, the cart already has the services; otherwise it stays empty.
Confirm or tweak the cart
Each line shows name, quantity, unit price and total. Tap the line to edit quantity or price; use the X to remove. Add products or add-ons from the catalogue on the left if there is an extra sale.
Assign each item to a staff member
Every line needs an assignment (who performed the service or sold the product). This is what makes commissions and per-staff reports show up later. Tap the empty avatar on the line to pick.
(Optional) Apply a discount
The 'Discount' button opens a percentage numpad. The discount applies to the subtotal, before the tip. If you only want to discount one item, edit that line's price by hand instead of using the global discount.
Tap 'Select payment method'
Green button at the bottom of the cart. Opens the payment view, where you pick a method, set the tip and finalize. You can't proceed with an empty cart.
Pick method and tip (if any)
Three methods: Cash, Card, Split payment. The tip has 3 shortcuts (5%, 10%, custom) or 'No tip'. Everything is optional except the method.
Finalize the sale
'Finalize sale' button. The system records the transaction and marks the booking as paid in one go. The post-sale view appears with options to email the receipt or download the PDF.
Adding store products to a sale
When the client, at the end of the service, also takes a bottle of shampoo or a tin of wax, those items go into the cart as products. It's not a separate flow: everything closes in the same transaction.
- Products come from your list in Business page › Products. If you haven't created any, they won't show up (but you'll see the shortcut 'Create in Business page').
- Each product has a fixed price shown in €. To sell at a different price just this once, edit the price on the cart line.
- Quantity is adjustable (2 waxes, 3 samples). The line total updates automatically.
- Add-ons and products share the same UI but are conceptually different: an add-on is an optional service, a product is a physical thing.
Discount and tip: where they fit in the maths
The two are optional and independent. The discount applies in the cart; the tip is set later, in the payment step. Both have a clear order in the calculation: first the subtotal is reduced by the discount, then the tip is added on top.
| Component | How it's calculated | Where it appears |
|---|---|---|
| Subtotal | Sum of cart lines (qty × unit price) | Top of the totals view |
| Discount | % of the subtotal (e.g. 10% of €25 = -€2.50) | 'Discount' button in the cart |
| Tip | Fixed € or % of the discounted subtotal | Payment view, before finalizing |
| Total to pay | Subtotal - discount + tip | Highlighted 'Total' line |
Splitting the payment (cash + card)
When the client wants to pay part in cash and part on card, pick 'Split payment' as the method. Two fields appear: how much in cash, how much on card. The sum has to match the total exactly, otherwise the 'Finalize sale' button stays disabled until the reconciliation is right.
| Single (cash or card) | Split | |
|---|---|---|
| When to use | Client pays the whole amount in one method. | Client wants part in cash, part on card. |
| Required fields | Just the method. | Cash value + card value. They must add up exactly to the total. |
| Shows on receipt | 'Paid by Cash' or 'Paid by Card'. | 'Paid by Cash: €X · Card: €Y'. |
| In reports | Counts as 1 sale in that method. | Counts as 1 'split' sale with both amounts stored. |
Informational receipt vs tax invoice with VAT/tax ID
This is the point that confuses most people coming from other practice management software. BookHero has two different documents for the same sale record, and they serve distinct purposes.
What happens when you tap 'Finalize sale'
Behind the green button, BookHero does two things in sequence. It's worth knowing, because it helps you understand where the sale shows up afterwards.
- Marks the booking as paid (if there is one): stores the paid total, the tip and the method; flips the status to 'completed'. From here on, it disappears from pending bookings in the reports.
- Creates a transaction: one row in 'business_transactions' with the header (client, total, method, receipt number) and as many child rows as there are cart lines. That's where the 'Transactions' tab reads from.
- Generates the sequential receipt number (incremental, no gaps): receipt_number. Handy for manual reconciliation.
- Pre-populates the post-sale view with the receipt PDF, the option to email it and a 'Generate invoice' button (if you want to issue a tax invoice).
Frequently asked questions
Can I edit a service's price for this sale only, without touching the template?
Yes. Tap the cart line and the numpad opens. Change the price there and the change only applies to this transaction. The base service price stays untouched for future sales. Useful for one-off discounts or services that took longer than usual.
The client wants to pay half today and half on the next visit. Does that work?
Not as a split payment. BookHero's 'Split' is cash + card in the same session only. For real instalments, the current recommendation is to record what they pay now as a 'Custom amount' line (description 'Deposit') and close the full sale only when the rest is paid. Native deposit support is on the roadmap.
I forgot to add the tip before finalizing. How do I fix it?
In the 'Transactions' tab, open the sale and use 'Edit'. You can adjust lines, tip, method and the system updates the linked booking at the same time (if there is one). Only the receipt number is immutable: editing is a correction, not a re-issue of the document.
The client has no email. Can I still give them the receipt?
Yes. On the post-sale view, use 'Download PDF' or open the receipt on screen and show it directly. Email sending is optional; if the client has no email on file, BookHero won't send automatically, only if you type an address in the send modal.
I assigned the service to the wrong staff member by accident. How does this affect commissions?
The line assignment is what counts for per-staff reports (and for commissions, if you have those on). In 'Transactions', open the sale, edit the line and change the staff member. The report recalculates on the next refresh.
Can I void a sale after finalizing it?
You can delete the transaction in the 'Transactions' tab (delete button). That returns the booking to its previous state (back to 'paid_at: null'), removes the sale from reports and from the client's history. There's no automatic 'voided sale with credit note': if a tax invoice has already been issued, that workflow needs a manual credit note.
Day-to-day best practices
- Always assign the line to a staff member, even when the owner is the one performing: per-person reports stay consistent.
- For one-off sales (a client who only bought a product), create them as a quick client instead of leaving as walk-in: six months from now you'll be glad you know who bought what.
- Use 'Custom amount' sparingly: if a line of that kind shows up every week, it's a sign it should become a real service or product in the catalogue.
- Before closing the day, open 'Transactions' and confirm the total matches the physical till (especially for splits: cash received = cash logged).
- For business clients who always ask for an invoice with their tax ID, save the tax ID on the client profile once: on the next sale, the invoice modal already comes pre-filled.