Hi Ladies,

If you get a booking for a tanning party do you take a deposit?

If so, how do you take it?......
Do you get the host to send you a cheque?
Pay by payal?

I think it may be a good idea to take a deposit just dont know how is best to accept.

Your advice is appreciated,

Kim x

I've been thinking about this too - I'm going to look at pay pal and how to add a link from my web site If they don't have a pay pal account they could just send a cheque.

Because there's normally a decent amount of money involved, I always think it's worth the effort with spray tan party deposits. I've done two recently - one host I collected the money from (she'd collected the money from her friends) and the other dropped it off at my house as she works up the road. I normally ask for £5 each. I've also been asking for deposits for "school prom week" and nobody's objecting in the slightest.

I would accept a cheque, as long as there's enough time for it to clear before the party date

xx

I am going to take deposits from now as I didn't and the last party I did only 4 turned up out of 7. I felt more sorry for the host as I have an offer on that if they have over 6 people the host gets theirs Free she was let down but wouldn't cancel thankfully. But I discussed it with her (as she has booked another & also is hosting a MINX party) and told her to collect £7 deposit off each person which is non refundable and if any dont turn up again I will still give her a free tan. iykwim.

I think it's a good idea but not sure how it would work in practise, I have had a lot of bookings where they tell me there will be X amount and then a few dont turn up or decide they cant afford it at the last minute. I will watch this thread with interest for someone's brainwave lol

I would deffo go for the deposit, had a recent wedding party booked for 8 the day b4 I called to confirm and she has forgot all about it then cancelled, strange thing to forget, but I had asked a friend to help and she had changed her working day. So from then on on any large party I always ask for a deposit.

I think Paypal is probably the way forward! Waiting for a cheque to arrive and clear is very time consuming. I have asked for cheques for 50% deposits for all of my pamper party/hen night things and it just takes so long to get and bank and clear and I admit I hadn't even thought of Paypal. I may see if I can organise people paying for normal treatments via paypal too so they can pay but card for retail and such (provided they have a computer!) Good plan everyone - now how does one set up paypal? *scratches head and goes off to look before she comes back here to ask a techie person* Lx

Thanks ladies, yeah I was thinking about a £5 deposit for each person too.

Think I will take paypal for this as most people have paypal accounts and at least its free for your customers for sending money.

Though we will have a small fee to pay for receiving payment but it will be less then petrol money for sure to collect it!

If anyone else has better ideas though, please share

Kim x

been thinking about this too....
looks like google checkout might be cheaper than paypal though....
anyone have any experiences of either to share?

Hi,

Make sure you do plenty of homework before using Paypal for this type of thing. Paypal has chargeback and claims policies where (I think) buyers could be able to get their payments refunded if they feel unfairly treated or disgruntled.

I'm also not sure how deposits would work in practice. If a party of six book in and you accept a £30 deposit (6X £5) what balance would you charge when you arrive and find that only three people have turned up?

Jes

I think a 50% deposit is reasonable,- balance at appointment.
Some choose to deposit in full, many business's require this.

Supply an account number they can deposit into, they have a record of it and so do you.

Print off your receipt and finalize totals at the booking, or email them a copy after the booking to save on paper
Decide on a cancellation policy ie: 24 or 48 hrs to cover both parties.

J

Hmmm good thinking 50% deposit...Liking that idea :-)