Pillar
Payments, pricing and profit
What you charge, how you get paid, and what is left after the card fee.
Lessons
9
Recipes
16
Tracks
49
Decision guides
7
Product guides
24
Lessons
Each one shows the screen it is about, running on demo data.
7. Pricing that runs itself: size bands, special-day rates, multi-pet and long staysA price nobody expected is nearly always a rule somebody set once. Three of them cover most of it: the size of the pet, the day it falls on, and how much of you the booking uses.Lesson4 min read · Owner17. Checkout, receipts, refunds and creditsThe method you pick at checkout decides how you undo it later. A card charge refunds, a payment you marked yourself un-marks, and an unpaid invoice voids.Lesson3 min read · Owner or front desk18. Getting paid: Stripe, the card reader and your payoutsStripe is not optional on a paid plan, and the payments page does nothing until it is connected. The reader, the payout report and the two fee lines all hang off it.Lesson3 min read · Owner19. Deposits, holds and card on file: which one do you wantA deposit is charged when a booking is made, online or by your team. A hold is placed 72 hours before and charged after, which is why it reaches clients who pay you in person.Lesson4 min read · Owner20. Packages: sell one, spend the credits, fix a balanceA package balance is held on the owner's account and stamped with the location that sold it. Those two facts settle most package questions.Lesson4 min read · Owner or front desk21. Memberships: build the plan, enrol someone, pause or cancelA membership is an agreement at a plan's price, and the plan holds every rule that follows. That is also why there is no plan change: to move someone, you cancel and enrol them again.Lesson6 min read · Owner29. Your Petboost bill, and why it changedYour plan is one line. Power-ups are billed on top of it and cancelled separately, and messages are counted by what sent them.Lesson2 min read · Owner102. Coat condition and matting, priced at the booking rather than at the doorA matted dog takes longer and costs more, and both of those can be on the booking before it is made. An attribute with properties does it; a tag cannot.Lesson3 min read · Owner104. One stay, booked and priced end to endNineteen nights over Christmas, from the check-in time to the number on the invoice. One worked stay, in the order the screens come at you.Lesson3 min read · Owner or front desk
Recipes
One task, one screen, no introduction.
Build your vehicle log book for the BASPick the quarter, build it, add your cents-per-km rate, export the CSV.Recipe90 sCharge a cancellation feeThe choice only appears once the booking is past its notice period, and the amount comes from the service's policy.Recipe90 sCopy a payment link instead of texting itAll three channels make the same link against the same booking. Only SMS spends an SMS credit.Recipe90 sExport your books, and where GST sitsExport Your Data hands you the CSVs. The accounting platform, not Petboost, is the source of truth for tax.Recipe90 sLeave an overpayment as credit on the client's fileThere is no cash balance on a client's file. Credit means package credits, granted at no charge so nothing is taken twice.Recipe90 sMake an attribute add time or money to a bookingA booking property set attaches to an attribute and changes the price, the duration, or how many pets carrying it can be in at once.Recipe90 sMark a booking paid by cash or bank transferPick the method first and the button changes to match. Bank Transfer has two of them, and only one marks the booking paid.Recipe90 sMove future bookings to your new pricesRaising a price leaves the diary alone. Update Existing Bookings is the screen that brings confirmed bookings up to the current catalogue.Recipe90 sRead a client's wallet and credit balanceThe Wallet tab holds money that moved. Credits they are owed sit on the Packages sub-tab beside it.Recipe90 sRefund part of a paymentPartial Refund opens an amount field capped at what was actually paid. A cancellation fee refunds on its own.Recipe90 sRelease or cancel a pre-authorisation holdA hold is not a charge. Releasing it hands the money back, and the client's bank clears it inside a day.Recipe90 sSend a client a link to update their cardThe action is on the Wallet tab of their profile, and it reads Text card update when a card is already saved.Recipe90 sSettle the day in three minutesDay View holds what the day was worth, what has been taken, and how the takings split by method.Recipe90 sTake a card payment away from the counterIn-Person Payments sits inside Advanced options on Pricing & Payments, and the reader it pairs with travels.Recipe90 sText or email a receiptThe email sends itself the moment a payment is captured. There is no SMS receipt, and the PDF is two clicks away.Recipe90 sUndo a checkout, or send Ready to Pay back to ConfirmedTwo different undos. One reverses a payment you marked yourself, the other reverses the check out that never took one.Recipe90 s
Tracks
A run of lessons that answers one whole job, in the order to take them.
Set up right, onceThe configuration that decides whether anyone can book you. Hours and sessions, capacity, the service menu, and the launch itself. Most no-availability calls come back to one of these.Track9 lessonsPrices changed and bookings did notYou raised your prices and the bookings already in the calendar kept the old ones. What a price change actually touches, and how to move the existing bookings across.Track2 lessonsFront Desk in a morningThe eleven things a front desk actually does between opening and lunch, in the order they come up. Take a booking, change one, find a client, check them in, take the money.Track11 lessonsRunning the dayThe eight things a front desk does every day, from the morning board to the last checkout. Take it in order once and the rest of the week runs on muscle memory.Track8 lessonsMigrating inYour book is loaded. Here is what to check, what to fix, and what to leave alone, including the two things to switch off before a single client hears from you.Track7 lessonsGetting paidEvery way money comes in, and where it goes afterwards. Connect the account, take it at the counter or by link, then reconcile what landed in the bank.Track7 lessonsStop the no-showsDeposits, holds, reminders and a cancellation policy clients have actually accepted. Four settings and one report, which between them cover most of the empty slots.Track6 lessonsChristmas and peak readyPeak rates, closures, deposits and the book-now message, in the order to do them. Worth running in October, because most of it wants to be in place before the phone starts.Track6 lessonsThe Grooming trackLanes and size tiers first, because that is what a grooming book runs on, then the day itself and the record you leave behind on each dog.Track8 lessonsThe Daycare trackDrop-off sessions and capacity are where daycare goes wrong, so they lead. Then the passes and plans that turn a casual dog into a regular one.Track7 lessonsSee it before you sign upThe whole journey from the owner's side: sign up, upload a vaccination, sign the terms, book an assessment, get approved, buy a membership. What a prospect asks to be shown on a demo call.Track6 lessonsGrowingThe features that add revenue once the calendar is steady. Packages and plans first, because they change what a quiet week looks like.Track7 lessonsThe Owner's trackEverything an owner has to decide rather than delegate, in the order the decisions come up. Twelve lessons, and the account is set the way you meant it.Track12 lessonsThe Trainer's trackCourses and intakes first, because a trainer sells a plan rather than an hour. Then the forms, the credits and the messages that keep a cohort together.Track6 lessonsSoloOne person, one calendar, no front desk to hand anything to. The settings that matter when nobody is covering for you, and the phone shortcut that replaces the office.Track7 lessonsPremisesA shop front with a counter. The morning board, the check-in the client does themselves, and getting paid on the way out.Track4 lessonsFill the quiet daysFind who has stopped coming, message them, and give them a reason to book the Tuesday nobody wants. Five clips and a quiet week looks different.Track5 lessonsA price rise without the painChange the prices, decide what happens to the bookings already in the calendar, and tell clients before they find out at checkout.Track3 lessonsA payment went wrongRefund part of it, release the hold, or put the checkout back. The four ways a payment goes sideways and what each one needs.Track5 lessons15-minute Christmas prepBlock the closure, set the peak rates, and stop the messages going out while you move things around. The short version of the peak checklist.Track3 lessonsThe Boarding trackPer-night pricing and the multi-night stay, which is where boarding questions start and usually end. One stay worked through end to end, then the pens behind it and what has to be written down before she arrives.Track9 lessonsThe Daycare and Grooming trackTwo service lines sharing one floor and one calendar. It leads with the booking that is a day and a groom together, because building that one wrong costs a yard place every time.Track6 lessonsThe Training trackCourses are the spine of a training book, so they come first, then the intake and the money. Levels are the part people run by memory until the third intake, and that is where it stops working.Track7 lessonsThe Puppy School trackAn intake fills on what happens in it, so the template and its weekly titles lead. Then the age window, the forms and the reminders that get six owners into a hall on the same Wednesday.Track6 lessonsThe Walking trackThe run and the round it is built from. Trips first, then the suburbs you sell to, the recurring series behind the week, and the plan that turns a regular into a standing order.Track7 lessonsThe Concierge trackTwo visits a day and an overnight in somebody else's house are two different bookings, and mixing them is what makes an invoice unreadable. Then the proof of visit, and what holds a fortnight.Track8 lessonsThe Multi-service trackGrooming, boarding and daycare out of one book is one book with a category on every service. Categories first, because the calendar and the reporting both read them, then what each line is actually constrained by.Track6 lessonsMobile and vanA round works when the day's stops are near each other, so the suburb list comes before the pricing. Then the run itself, and taking the money at the kerb rather than chasing it afterwards.Track6 lessonsMulti-siteWhat a second location owns on its own, and what head office owns instead. Then the three things that stop at a location boundary: roles, package balances and capacity.Track4 lessonsDoing the booksFor whoever reconciles. What the day took, how a cash or bank-transfer booking gets marked off, the two ways money goes back, and what leaves for the accountant.Track7 lessonsEnd of day in 3 minutesSettle what is outstanding, mark off anything paid in cash or by transfer, and send the receipt somebody asked for on the way out.Track3 lessonsSwitching from MoeGoWhere a MoeGo book lands once it is in: pet codes as attributes, discount codes still riding on the pet, and the credit, package and membership balances that have to survive the move.Track8 lessonsSwitching from GingrGingr icons become attributes, store credit and package credits stay apart, and you turn Gingr's own online booking off yourself on go-live day. Then the rest of the migrating-in run.Track8 lessonsSwitching from Revelation PetsThe customer export holds every customer and pet but no bookings, so those come out separately. Then what happens to tags, store credit, package credits and renewal dates on the way in.Track8 lessonsSwitching from PawPartnerPawPartner publishes no export steps, so the book is read out of your own account and that login has to stay alive. What lands where, then the go-live run.Track8 lessonsSwitching from Savvy Pet SpaYour one long grooming note comes apart into head and face, body and tail, and feet and legs. Then the credit, package and membership balances, and the rest of go-live week.Track8 lessonsSwitching from TimelyTimely keeps what you know about a dog in one notes field. Where the blade and comb numbers in it end up, and what happens to credit, packages and renewal dates.Track8 lessonsSwitching from Acuity SchedulingAcuity has no pet record, so the dog comes out of the client's name field and the owner list is the first thing to read. Then the credit, package and membership balances, and go-live.Track8 lessonsSwitching from Square AppointmentsOne Square customer with three dogs becomes one owner and three pets. What else moves, what stays behind, and the go-live run after it.Track8 lessonsSwitching from Pet ManagerWhat moves across from Pet Manager, and the household comparison afterwards that finds a pet entered twice. Then the rest of migrating in.Track8 lessonsSwitching from SHARCSHARC holds more clinical detail than a pet profile has fields for, so it lands on the timeline instead. Where everything else goes, then go-live week.Track8 lessonsSwitching from HalaxyHalaxy raises an invoice per appointment and counter payments never come back to it, so those balances are left behind on purpose. What does move, and the go-live run.Track8 lessonsSwitching from PetExecThe temperament test result and the treats and lunch nap flags come across on the pet's timeline. Then credit, packages, renewal dates and the rest of migrating in.Track8 lessonsSwitching from BusyPawsThe Customers CSV carries very little, so the pet detail is read off the profiles instead. Where segments, credit, packages and renewal dates land, then go-live.Track8 lessonsSwitching from Scout for PetsScout's weight field mixes pounds and kilograms, so no weight is written and the old figure waits on the timeline. Everything else that moves, then go-live week.Track8 lessonsSwitching from Pet PocketbookTags, store credit, package credits and membership renewal dates, and what each becomes on the way in. Then the go-live run that follows any migration.Track8 lessonsSwitching from FreshaFresha keeps a client and nothing for the dog, so the pet is read out of the client notes, and a client with no dog named gets a placeholder to rename. Then the go-live run.Track8 lessonsSwitching from VagaroVagaro keeps nothing for the dog and exports notes one customer at a time, so the pet is read out of those notes, and a customer with no dog named gets a placeholder to rename. Then the go-live run.Track8 lessonsSwitching from DaySmart PetNo single DaySmart Pet report lists every client, so the whole book comes from the backup. What maps across, what stays behind, then the rest of migrating in.Track8 lessons
Decision guides
Do casual daycare visits need a deposit, or do packages solve it?Packages solve it and deposits do not, because a prepaid credit is already paid before the dog arrives and a casual day is small enough that the deposit costs more goodwill than it protects.Decision guide4 min readShould groomers take a deposit, and how much?Take one on the bookings you cannot refill the same morning and leave the ordinary bath and tidy alone, because a grooming slot is refillable in a way a fortnight of boarding never is.Decision guide4 min readEnrolment deposit or full payment on a six-week course?Full payment at enrolment for anything starting inside a month, and a deposit only on the intake you are selling a long way ahead, because a seat lost in week two cannot be resold at any price.Decision guide4 min readShould you charge a travel fee, and where does the zone end?Build the travel into the price of a second service for the outer ring rather than adding a fee, and draw the zone as a list of suburbs, because Petboost has no distance calculation and no travel fee to switch on.Decision guide4 min readWhat holds a two-week house-sit over Easter?A deposit sized to the fortnight you cannot resell, plus a card you have checked is still valid on the day the sit runs, because a booking taken in January is usually held against a card that expires before Easter.Decision guide4 min readHow should a boarding cancellation policy work at peak?Run one ladder all year and tighten peak on a separate peak Stay service, because nothing in Petboost reads the date: the notice period, the fee and the deposit come from the business default or the service booked.Decision guide5 min readShould you take a deposit on a two-week boarding stay?Yes, and size it to the stay rather than to a slot, because a fortnight over Christmas is the hardest booking in your year to refill and the deposit is the part you keep.Decision guide5 min read
Product guides
Where to set it, once you have decided.
Keep reading
Longer pieces on petboost.com.au.
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