Connect payouts and take deposits at each location

Payouts are how money your clients pay by card reaches your own bank account. You connect a payout account for each location (branch) once. After that, that location can ask clients for a deposit before an appointment is confirmed, and the card payment is held on the appointment so it can later be applied to the service, kept as a cancellation or no-show fee, or returned to the client, who chooses a refund or account credit.

Three things are worth knowing up front:

• Your location is the merchant. Client card payments are made to your location's own connected payout account, not to Zelun. Zelun does not hold your funds. Money that is captured settles to your account through the payment processor, shown in the screens as Stripe.
• A platform fee applies. Zelun applies a platform fee to captured payments, separate from the payment processor's own fees. The fee is set by Zelun, not by you, and it is not editable on these screens.
• Zelun never stores full card numbers. The appointment keeps only a payment reference and a status, such as held or captured.

Deposits are off by default. Nothing changes for your clients until you turn a deposit on.

Online client payments depend on the country of the location. Where they are not offered yet, the payments screen says Online payments aren't available in your country yet. Bookings, cash and manual card payments keep working. Deposits, gifts and package renewals are then not offered to clients at that location.

1. Someone who is allowed to change payments for the company. The Payments section lives on the company screen, under My business. If you are sent to a Forbidden page, ask the account owner to do these steps.
2. The identity and bank details the payment processor will ask for during onboarding. You enter them in the processor's own onboarding, not in Zelun.
3. Each payout account can belong to one location only. If you have several locations, each one connects its own account.
4. For OXXO and bank transfer (SPEI) deposits: your company's default currency must be Mexican pesos (MXN). Otherwise those methods are not available.

Connect payouts for a location

1. Open My business and find the Payments section under Billing. Each location has its own card with its name.
2. Read the status line. Payouts not connected. Deposits cannot be enabled yet. means the location is not connected.
3. Press Connect payouts. The processor's onboarding opens inside the screen. Fill it in.
4. If it says the in-app onboarding is not available, or a step cannot be completed there, press Continue on Stripe to finish on the processor's own page. Press Close to leave the in-app form.
5. When you come back, the status line reads Payouts connected. This location is merchant of record. A location counts as connected only once the processor confirms it can both charge cards and pay out. If you stop halfway, the location stays not connected and no deposit can be turned on.
6. If you ever need to redo it, a connected location shows Reconnect payouts.

Turn on a deposit for a location

1. On that location's card, type Deposit percent (1–100). The deposit is that share of the appointment's service total.
2. Under the methods, tick Card. If your currency is MXN you can also tick OXXO and SPEI, and set OXXO voucher expires after (hours) and SPEI transfer expires after (hours). The screen says OXXO and SPEI are only available for accounts with MXN as the default currency, and refuses to save it otherwise.
3. Press Require deposit. The status line reads Deposit on: followed by the percent. The fields and the button stay greyed out until the location is connected.
4. To stop asking for deposits, press Deposit off. The status line reads Deposit is off for this branch.

Collect a deposit for an appointment at the desk

1. For a client with an unconfirmed appointment at a connected location, open that client under Clients and press Collect deposit.
2. Enter the Payment intent id the screen asks for and confirm. If the location is not connected, the screen says so and does not charge anything.

Use what was held

When you check the appointment out, the deposit shows on the receipt as Deposit applied and the Balance due is what is left. If the client cancels late or does not show up, the same held payment is where the fee comes from, and anything left goes back to the client to choose a refund or credit. See the articles about cancellation and no-show fees and about what happens to a deposit.

• On your booking page, when the deposit is on, the booking step shows what is Due today, what is due at the location, and a Pay & book button. The text tells them their deposit counts toward the cost of the service.
• The appointment is confirmed only when the payment succeeds. If the payment does not succeed, the booking is not confirmed.
• If you enabled OXXO, the client chooses between card and OXXO cash, and needs to give an email address for the voucher or receipt. The appointment is created as waiting for payment and the time slot is held for them. If they pay in time, it is confirmed. If the voucher window runs out first, the slot is released and the booking page tells them the hold expired.
• The platform fee is never shown to your clients. They pay the amount of the deposit.
• A group booking takes one deposit for the whole group, paid by the person who books it.

• Expecting online payments in every country. They depend on the location's country. Booking and recording cash or card payments at the desk work everywhere.

• Trying to turn on a deposit before connecting. The deposit controls stay unavailable, and the system refuses to save a deposit for a location that is not connected.
• Stopping onboarding halfway. The location stays not connected until the processor reports it can charge and pay out. Finish it, or press Reconnect payouts later.
• Expecting one payout account to cover several locations. Each account belongs to one location only.
• Turning on OXXO with a currency other than MXN. It is refused.
• If you enabled SPEI, the client chooses bank transfer, and needs to give an email address. They get the account number (CLABE) to transfer to, and the payment goes straight to your own connected account. The slot is held until the transfer arrives; if the transfer window runs out first, it is released.
• Expecting to set the platform fee yourself. Zelun sets it. It is separate from the processor's own fees, and you do not edit it here.
• Mixing this up with your Zelun subscription. The screen itself says Zelun subscription billing is a separate section. That is covered in the plans and billing article.
• Expecting a cash voucher to be refunded to a card. The booking page tells clients that OXXO deposits are credited to the service and can only be refunded in cash at the location.

The articles below cover the fees charged from a held payment, risk-based deposits, what happens to a deposit, account credit, saved cards, card disputes, and your Zelun subscription.