Deposits and card payments for Canadian salons, through your own Stripe
How a salon in Canada takes a deposit, a full prepayment or a no-show fee online, in Canadian dollars, paid straight into its own Stripe account and out to its own Canadian bank. Slotora takes no share of any of it; the only fee on a payment is Stripe's.
Create your salon accountConnecting Stripe in Canada
Allow ten minutes and have your bank details and photo ID beside you.
01
Open Payments & deposits and press Connect Stripe
You leave Slotora for Stripe's own onboarding. Stripe asks for the business type (a sole proprietor is common for an esthetician or a barber renting a chair), your legal name, a Canadian address, the last details it needs to verify you, and the Canadian bank account your payouts go to.
02
Expect Stripe's identity check
Card networks require it, and Stripe may ask for a photo of a driver's licence or passport. That goes to Stripe and is never stored by Slotora.
03
Come back and press Refresh status
If the page does not yet say you are connected, give Stripe's check a few minutes and press Refresh status. Until it does, nothing can be collected and the page tells you why.
04
Switch on Take card payments from clients
This is the switch that makes your booking page ask for money. Leave it off while you test, and nothing is ever taken from a guest.
Choosing what a guest pays when she books
Set once on Payments & deposits; a single service can have its own rule under Services.
No deposit
Guests book without paying. If you set a no-show or late-cancellation fee, their card is still saved by Stripe so the fee can be charged later.
Percentage of price
A share of the service price, charged in Canadian dollars as she books. Useful when your menu runs from a quick brow tint to a full set of extensions.
Fixed amount
The same deposit on every booking, for example C$25, whatever the service. Simple to explain on Instagram and in your policy.
Require full payment at booking
The whole price is paid online. Many lash and microblading artists use it for first-time clients.
No-show and late-cancellation fees
Set the fee as a fixed amount or a percentage, and for late cancellations the number of hours before the appointment that counts as late. Once you mark a booking “No-show”, the fee is charged to the saved card about an hour after the appointment should have ended, unless you switch off Charge these fees automatically and press Charge no-show fee on the booking yourself.
Every card network refuses a charge below its minimum, and Stripe refuses it outright. A small percentage of your cheapest service can fall under that line in Canadian dollars, and then nothing is ever collected. The Payments page compares each fee you set with your cheapest priced service and, if it falls short, tells you both figures.
Your cancellation policy is yours to write. Put it where guests read it before they book, so a charge is never a surprise; the booking form shows the fee before the guest confirms.
What Stripe charges in Canada
Stripe's own Canadian price page lists 2.9% + CA$0.30 for a domestic card paid online, with 0.8% more for an international card and 2% more when a currency has to be converted. That fee comes off each payment before it is paid out, and Slotora adds nothing to it.
In person, on a Stripe card reader, the page lists 2.7% + CA$0.05 for most cards and CA$0.15 for an Interac debit card. Interac, readers and refunds at the counter have a guide of their own.
Payouts go from Stripe to your Canadian bank account in Canadian dollars, on the schedule you pick in Stripe. Open Stripe dashboard on the Payments page shows every payment and payout.
When every stylist keeps her own takings
Many Canadian salons rent chairs or rooms to self-employed stylists and RMTs. Under Payments & deposits, choose Each team member keeps their own takings, and each person connects her own Stripe account with her own Canadian bank. Deposits for her bookings then land with her, never with the salon.
Gift cards and passes are still sold by the salon, so keep the salon's own Stripe account connected even if every stylist is self-employed. Refunds go back through whoever received the payment.
Refunding a payment taken online
Open the booking and press Refund payment, for the whole amount or a part. The money goes back to the guest's card through Stripe, and her bank decides how soon it shows on her statement. A deposit paid online is always a card payment, so it can be refunded this way; it is only an Interac debit card tapped or inserted in the salon that has to be refunded in person.
Before you switch deposits on
The parts that work differently from what the general guides describe.
- Memberships are not available in Canada
- Monthly memberships paid to your Stripe account are sold in the UK, Ireland and a few European countries. Canadian salons cannot sell them yet; passes paid up front work.
- Card fees are Stripe's standard ones
- Slotora does not negotiate a lower rate for you. Some processors that also sell their own booking software price in-person cards differently.
- Approval mode takes no money
- If you approve each booking request yourself, no deposit is taken with the request. Switch approval mode off if a deposit matters more.
- One switch on the page does nothing yet
- Also let clients choose to pay in person is saved when you tick it, but for now it does not change what guests see on your booking page.
Questions about deposits in Canada
Does Slotora take a percentage of my deposits?
No. Every payment goes into your own Stripe account, and Stripe charges its fee directly. Slotora's only charge in Canada is the monthly subscription.
Can I test deposits during the trial?
Yes. Everything is open for the 14 days, payments included. Connect Stripe, book yourself with a real card and refund it from the booking.
Which currency does a guest pay in?
Canadian dollars. A guest with a card from another country pays in CAD, and her bank converts it on her side.
Can a guest pay the deposit by Interac e-Transfer?
Not through the booking page. If she sends you an e-Transfer, record it on the booking as Bank transfer once it arrives.
What if a stylist has not finished her Stripe setup?
With per-person accounts, her bookings cannot take a card until she does, and the booking names who it is waiting on. Cash and payments you record by hand still work.
Sources
Stripe's card fees are quoted from Stripe's own Canadian page, read on the day shown. They are Stripe's to change.
- Stripe — Pricing (Canada) — https://stripe.com/en-ca/pricing · Read on
One deposit is enough to see it work
Connect Stripe, set a modest deposit and book yourself once. The payment appears on the booking and in your Stripe dashboard within seconds.