Payments
Whoopa lets you take a deposit or full payment when a client books, and charge a no-show fee when someone doesn't turn up. Payments are powered by Stripe and go directly to your own Stripe account — Whoopa never holds your money.
Who can use payments
Payments are available on the Pro plan. On Pro, you'll find Settings → Payments in your dashboard. On other plans the page shows an upgrade prompt — upgrade any time and payments unlock instantly.
Connect your Stripe account
Go to Settings → Payments and click Connect with Stripe. Stripe walks you through a short onboarding — your business details and the bank account you want payouts sent to. If you already have a Stripe account, you simply sign in and link it.
Once connected, every payment your clients make goes directly to your Stripe account, and Stripe pays it out to your bank on its normal payout schedule. Whoopa never touches or holds your funds.
Deposits and full payment at booking
In Settings → Payments you choose what clients pay when they book:
- No payment — bookings work exactly as before.
- Deposit — clients pay part of the service price upfront. Set it as a fixed dollar amount or a percentage of the service price.
- Full payment — clients pay the whole service price when they book.
The payment step appears right on your booking form — clients pay by card through Stripe's secure checkout before the booking is confirmed. Any remaining balance on a deposit is settled in person, however you normally take payment.
No-show fees
You can also set a no-show fee — a fixed amount or a percentage of the service price — together with a free-cancellation window. Clients can cancel freely inside that window; if they miss the appointment or cancel too late, your staff can charge the fee when marking the booking as a no-show or late cancellation. You always see the exact amount and confirm before anything is charged — nothing happens automatically.
Refunds
Your refund policy is set on the same page — full refund or partial refund when a client cancels a paid booking in time. Staff can also issue a manual refund on any paid booking directly from the dashboard, and it's processed back to the client's card through Stripe.
What it costs — Stripe's fees, not ours
Whoopa does not charge anything for payments. No commission, no percentage of your sales, no per-transaction fee — taking payments is included in your Pro subscription, in line with our no-per-booking-fees promise.
Stripe, as the payment processor, charges its standard card-processing fee on each transaction — this is deducted automatically before the money reaches your account, the same as with any card terminal or payment provider. Stripe sets these rates, not Whoopa; see stripe.com/au/pricing for the current rates in Australia.
Is it secure?
Yes. Card details are entered into Stripe's own secure payment fields and never touch Whoopa's servers. Stripe is a certified PCI Level 1 provider — the highest level of payment security — and processes payments for millions of businesses worldwide.