Stripe online payments let your customers (pet parents) pay for bookings by card: when they book online, through the payment link in their booking emails, or in the customer portal. You connect your Stripe account in Settings > Online Payment Setup, then decide how much has to be paid (the full price, a deposit or a set amount) for each service.
A quick Stripe overview
We chose Stripe as our payment provider for a number of reasons:
Stripe is one of the most secure payments platforms. It has been audited by a PCI-certified auditor and is certified as a PCI Service Provider Level 1, so your data and your customers' card details are kept secure. KennelBooker doesn't store your bank details or your customers' card details on our servers.
Payments are processed and paid directly into your own Stripe account. Your money never touches our accounts, and KennelBooker can't transfer money out of your Stripe account.
Stripe pays the money on to your bank account on a rolling schedule that depends on your country. You can see your payout schedule in your Stripe dashboard.
Where to find Stripe online payments
Settings > Online Payment Setup: connect Stripe and set all the payment rules. The page is headed Online payments and has quick links to its sections: Connect a provider, Payment settings, Per service and Fees.
Payments in the main menu: the payment requests sent to customers, with reminders and refunds. This menu item appears once Stripe is switched on.
Staff need the Settings permission to change Online Payment Setup, and the Online payments permission to open the Payments page. You give these in Settings > Staff Accounts, under What they can access.
Step 1: connect your Stripe account
Go to Settings > Online Payment Setup. If no payment provider is connected yet, you'll see the Setup Instructions.
Click the blue Connect with Stripe button. You're taken to Stripe in the same browser tab.
If you don't have a Stripe account yet, create one: Stripe asks for your email address, a password, some basic details about your business and your bank account details. Have your bank details to hand. Stripe will also ask you to verify your email address, and may ask you to confirm your identity.
If you already have a Stripe account, sign in to it.
Allow KennelBooker to connect. Stripe sends you back to KennelBooker, which shows Stripe Setup Complete and Stripe Account Created Successfully.
Click Configure Payments to go back to Online Payment Setup and set your payment rules (steps 2 and 3).
Connecting switches Stripe on (Enable Stripe). Your Stripe Account Id is shown at the top of the Online Payment Settings section.
Step 2: choose your Stripe payment settings
These options are in the Payment settings section of Settings > Online Payment Setup. Click Update Settings at the bottom of the section to save them.
Enable Stripe: turns the Stripe integration on or off.
Enable Online Payments & Email Payments: lets customers pay online for bookings, or through the link sent in the booking confirmation email. Switch this on to take payments.
Let customers make ad-hoc payments on the Online System: customers can make part payments online, while still paying deposits through the booking confirmation email.
Let customers pay for the full booking price if they wish: when a customer is asked for a deposit, they can choose to pay the full balance instead.
Make online payments optional: at the end of an online booking, customers can choose to pay online or just submit the booking request and pay on arrival.
Add Payment Link to Acknowledgement Emails: where a payment link can be created, it's added to the booking acknowledgement email. Your acknowledgement email template needs the [payment_info] placeholder for this to show.
Enable the use of the Stripe on premise 'WisePOS E' card terminal: take card payments in person on a Stripe WisePOS E reader, sent from the booking and check-out screens.
Full Payment Message and Deposit Payment Message: the wording shown on the online booking system when payment in full, or a deposit, is needed at the time of booking.
Require card for online bookings: customers must add card details when booking online. If they already have a card on file, this step is skipped.
Save customer cards in Stripe: saves customers' cards in your Stripe account. Tick Enable card to be added by staff to let staff add cards to customers' accounts on the internal system.
Disable refunds for deposits: removes the ability for staff to refund booking deposits.
Offer Bancontact as a payment method: a payment type used by some European customers.
MOTO (Mail Order & Telephone Orders) Enabled: for EU and UK customers. Switch this on only once MOTO is enabled on your Stripe account.
Passing card fees on to your customers
You can pass the card processing fees on to customers by adding the fee to the amount they pay. Make sure this complies with the laws that apply to your business and location; if you're unsure, check with your legal adviser.
Tick Pass on fees to customer when making card payments.
Choose the Pass on Fee Type: Both Percent and Fixed Fee (for example 2.9% + 30c) or Use Fixed Fee.
Enter Online Payments - Percentage Amount and, if you use a card terminal, Terminal Payments - Percentage Amount. The Online Payment Fees section at the bottom of the page lists, by country, the fees charged for processing card payments in KennelBooker. If more than one percentage is listed, use the domestic (local) card percentage.
Click Update Settings.
KennelBooker works out a total so that you still receive the full booking amount after the processing fee, which is charged on the whole amount, including the added fee. A percentage of 100 or more isn't accepted: the page shows "Percentage cannot be 100%, you will find the correct Stripe percentage from the table at the bottom of the page".
Step 3: set Stripe payment rules for each service
The Per service sections of Settings > Online Payment Setup set the rules for each service you offer (they use your own service names). Each has its own Update Settings button. Depending on the service, you'll see:
Payment Type: Full Price, Deposit / Partial Payment or Set Amount. With Deposit, enter the Percentage of the booking price (for example 20%). With Set Amount, enter the amount.
Require customers to pay online (for boarding: Require customers to pay booking costs when booked online): customers are asked to pay when they book online. For daycare, training, walks and drop-ins, customers who have credits on their account aren't asked to pay.
Do not accept online bookings unless payment is received: when on, an online booking is only added once the customer has paid. When off, a booking whose payment isn't completed is still added, labelled Provisional.
Auto confirm bookings if paid: when on, a booking is confirmed automatically once it's paid. When off, a paid booking stays Provisional until you confirm it.
Payment Due by: a number of days from the Payment Requested Date, Booking Start Date or Booking End Date.
Request balance in reminder email: adds a request to pay the outstanding balance to that service's booking reminder email (see "Asking for the balance" below).
Merge all bookings costs into one payment (drop-ins): for a series of drop-in bookings, the customer pays for the whole series in one payment instead of one payment per booking.
Product Sales (Online Portal): whether customers pay for products bought on the online booking portal.
Deposit reminder emails for boarding
In the boarding section, Boarding Deposit Reminder Email Scheduling sends reminder emails to customers who haven't paid their deposit yet. Tick Enable Scheduling and choose when the 1st Reminder sent, 2nd Reminder sent and 3rd Reminder sent go out, in days after the booking was created. Each reminder has its own email template that you can edit with your other email templates. Once the deposit is paid, the remaining reminders stop. This scheduling is for boarding only.
Sending payment reminders from the Payments page
Once a booking has a payment request (a deposit or the full amount), you can chase it from Payments in the main menu.
The tabs Not Paid, Paid, Cancelled and All Payments filter the payment requests. You can also search by customer, filter by booking status and change the sort order.
Click Send reminder on a payment request to email the customer the payment link again.
Click Cancel request to cancel a payment request you no longer need.
Asking for the booking balance in the reminder email
You can use the booking reminder email (the one sent a few days before check-in) to ask customers to pay what's left on their booking:
This works for every service that has online payments switched on.
In Settings > Online Payment Setup, tick Request balance in reminder email for each service you want it for, and click that section's Update Settings.
In Settings > Email Settings, section Reminders before check-in, make sure Send reminder emails is on for that service.
Make sure your reminder email template contains the [payment_info] placeholder. That's where the payment wording and link appear.
What Stripe online payments don't do
KennelBooker doesn't hold your money or decide when you're paid. Stripe pays out to your bank on its own schedule.
Once Stripe is connected, the Paystack option isn't offered on Online Payment Setup. Paystack (for some African countries) is switched on for your account by our support team; see the Paystack article.
Stripe online payments: frequently asked questions
Where do I set up Stripe in KennelBooker?
Stripe online payments are set up in Settings > Online Payment Setup. Click Connect with Stripe to connect your Stripe account, then set your rules in the Payment settings and Per service sections and click Update Settings.
Can I take a deposit instead of the full price with Stripe?
Yes. In Settings > Online Payment Setup, set the service's Payment Type to Deposit / Partial Payment and enter the percentage, or to Set Amount and enter the amount. Click that section's Update Settings.
Can customers pay on arrival instead of paying online?
Yes, if you switch on Make online payments optional in Settings > Online Payment Setup. Customers can then choose to pay online or just submit their booking request.
Can I stop online bookings coming in unless they're paid?
Yes. Switch on Do not accept online bookings unless payment is received in that service's section of Settings > Online Payment Setup. Unpaid online bookings are then not added. With it off, they're added as Provisional.
Do paid bookings get confirmed automatically?
Only if Auto confirm bookings if paid is on for that service in Settings > Online Payment Setup. Otherwise a paid booking stays Provisional until you confirm it.
When does the money from Stripe reach my bank?
Stripe pays the money from online payments into your bank account on a rolling schedule that depends on your country. Check your payout schedule in your Stripe dashboard. KennelBooker never holds the money.
Can I charge the card fee to my customers?
Yes. Tick Pass on fees to customer when making card payments in Settings > Online Payment Setup, choose the fee type and percentage, and click Update Settings. Check that passing on fees is allowed where you are.
What are the fees in the Online Payment Fees table?
The Online Payment Fees table at the bottom of Settings > Online Payment Setup shows the fees charged for processing card payments in KennelBooker, by country, for boarding and homestay bookings and for other booking types. Use the domestic card percentage from that table if you pass fees on to your customers.
Can I ask for the balance in the reminder email for every service?
Yes. Request balance in reminder email works for every service that has online payments switched on. Tick it in that service's section of Settings > Online Payment Setup, and make sure your reminder email template contains [payment_info].
How do I resend a payment link to a customer?
Go to Payments in the main menu, find the request on the Not Paid tab and click Send reminder. The customer gets an email with the payment link again.
Can I turn off Stripe payments for a while?
Yes. Switch off Enable Stripe (or Enable Online Payments & Email Payments) in Settings > Online Payment Setup and click Update Settings. Your Stripe account stays connected, and you can switch it back on at any time.
Stripe online payments: common problems
I can't find the Online Payments link in Settings
The settings page is now called Online Payment Setup in the Settings menu. Its page heading is Online payments.
There's no Configure Payments button
The Configure Payments button only appears on the Stripe Setup Complete page straight after you connect Stripe. At any other time, go straight to Settings > Online Payment Setup, where all the payment settings are.
Customers aren't being asked to pay when they book online
Check that Enable Stripe and Enable Online Payments & Email Payments are on, and that the service's Require customers to pay online setting is on, in Settings > Online Payment Setup. For daycare, training, walks and drop-ins, customers who have credits on their account aren't asked to pay.
The payment link isn't in my emails
The payment link appears where the email template contains the [payment_info] placeholder. Add it to the template (Settings > Email Settings > Email templates). For acknowledgement emails, also switch on Add Payment Link to Acknowledgement Emails; for reminder emails, tick Request balance in reminder email for the service.
"No Link" when I come back from Stripe
Stripe didn't complete the connection, for example because the sign-up wasn't finished. Go to Settings > Online Payment Setup and click Connect with Stripe again. If it happens again, contact support with a screenshot of the message.
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