Guide

Set your deposit and balance rules

Your deposit and balance rules decide how much a customer pays at booking and when the rest is due. This covers the deposit type, the pay-in-full window for last-minute bookings, and whether Glovebox charges the balance for you.

5 min read

This guide answers

  • How much deposit do I take?
  • When is the balance charged?
  • How do I take the full amount for last-minute bookings?
  • Can Glovebox charge the balance automatically?

Your deposit rule sets how much a customer pays when they book; the balance is the rest, due before pickup. Both are configured in one place and apply to every new booking.

Before you start

Connect a payment gateway first, or there is nothing to take the deposit with. See Connect a way to take payment.

All the amounts here are GST inclusive — a percentage deposit is a percentage of the GST-inclusive booking total, which is what the customer sees.

Where to find it

In the left sidebar, open Settings, then Booking policies (under the Business heading).

Steps

  1. Choose a Deposit type:
    • Percentage of total (incl. GST) — the usual choice. Set Deposit (%) (the default is 20).
    • Fixed amount (NZD) — a flat deposit regardless of hire value. Set Fixed deposit (NZD).
    • Full balance up front — the whole amount is taken at booking.
  2. If you use a percentage, you can set a Minimum deposit (NZD) so small hires still leave a worthwhile deposit. Leave it blank for no minimum.
  3. Set Charge balance (days before pickup) — how many days before pickup the balance is due. The default is 7.
  4. If you want last-minute bookings paid in full, set Pay in full within (days of pickup). When a booking's pickup is within this many days, the customer is charged 100% at booking. Leave it at 0 to switch this off.
  5. Leave Automatically charge the balance on the due date on if you want Glovebox to collect the balance without you doing anything.
  6. Click Save.

What you should see when it worked

A new test booking on your booking page shows the deposit you configured as "Deposit due today", with the balance noted as payable before pickup. A last-minute booking inside your pay-in-full window shows the full amount due at booking.

Things worth knowing

  • The deposit percentage is taken from the GST-inclusive total, not an ex-GST figure.
  • Whether the balance is actually collected automatically also depends on how much of the payment run you have automated. To have Glovebox charge saved cards on its own, see Automate balance payments and reminders.

If it did not work

  • Save does nothing and a field is red. A required amount is missing for the deposit type you chose (for example a fixed deposit with no amount). Fill it in and save again.
  • Connect a way to take payment Until you connect a payment gateway your booking page cannot take a deposit, so this is one of the first things to do. It covers connecting Stripe, using Windcave, and the one difference that matters: only Stripe can auto-charge for damage, fuel and over-mileage after a hire.
  • Set up and release bonds A bond is the security amount you hold against a hire. This covers the default amount, the difference between an authorisation hold and a capture, and how long after return the hold is released.
  • Automate balance payments and reminders Instead of clicking Request payment on every booking, Glovebox can send the money emails and, if you want, charge saved cards for you. This covers the three automation levels, the review queue, and the switches that are off until you turn them on.

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