How to Take Deposits for Large Services
For a ₹25,000 bridal makeup booking or a ₹40,000 home shoot, nobody wants to pay the full amount from a reel. But a slot held with no money is a slot that gets cancelled the week before. A deposit solves both problems. Viralyze takes it upfront on the booking page, holds the slot, and handles refunds according to a rule you set once.
This article covers how to price the deposit, how to word the service so clients understand it, how to set cancellation rules, and how to collect the balance.
How much should the deposit be?
Enough that cancelling hurts, not so much that booking does. For most large services that is somewhere between a fifth and a third of the total.
The deposit should also cover what you lose if the client vanishes: materials bought, travel booked, a date turned away from another client. For a wedding photographer, a deposit that covers one day's lost work is a reasonable starting point.
How do I set up a deposit on a booking page?
Make the service's price the deposit, and say so in the name. In the Viralyze app:
1. Open Bookings and add a service named clearly, for example "Bridal makeup, deposit ₹5,000 (total ₹25,000)". 2. Set the duration to the real duration so the day is blocked in Google Calendar. For bridal work, that might be 4 hours. 3. Set the format to in person. 4. Switch on payment upfront. The client pays ₹5,000 by UPI or card to confirm. 5. Set the cancellation rule: whether clients can cancel themselves, and until when. 6. Add buffers if you travel between bookings.
The client sees the deposit amount, pays it, and the date is held. The confirmation page shows what they paid.
Should the deposit be refundable?
Make it refundable until a date you can still rebook the slot, then not. The booking page enforces this: before the cut-off the client can cancel from their confirmation page and the deposit returns automatically; after the cut-off, the cancel option is gone.
For a bridal makeup artist, "cancel free until 30 days before" is common. For a studio shoot that needs no outside bookings, 7 days might be enough. Put the rule in the service description so there is no argument later.
How do I collect the balance?
On the day, by any method you like, or by a second checkout page sent ahead of time. If you want it digital, create a product in the shop called "Balance payment, bridal makeup, ₹20,000" and send its checkout link by DM a few days before the event. Shop checkouts run at 0% platform fee with weekly payouts to your bank.
Because the client is already in your contacts list with the original booking, you can see who has paid the deposit and who still owes a balance. Export to CSV if you manage events in a spreadsheet.
A concrete example: a mehendi artist's booking flow
Rukhsar posts bridal mehendi reels with the keyword "BRIDAL". The Auto-DM says: "Here is my bridal booking page. A ₹3,000 deposit holds your date; the balance of ₹12,000 is due on the day. Free cancellation until 21 days before."
Her booking page lists "Bridal mehendi, deposit ₹3,000, 3 hours" plus add-ons for the groom and two family members. Google Calendar blocks the whole afternoon. Three days before each wedding she sends the balance checkout link from the shop. Her home screen in Viralyze shows deposits and balances together as revenue over the month.
Frequently asked questions
**Does the deposit refund go back to the client's UPI or card automatically?** Yes. If the cancellation is within the window you allowed, the refund is processed automatically to the original payment method.
**Can I take different deposits for different services?** Yes. Each service has its own price, so a trial session can have a small deposit while a full wedding booking has a larger one.
**What if the client wants to pay the full amount upfront?** Create a second service with the full price, for example "Bridal makeup, full payment ₹25,000", and let the client choose on the booking page.
Start your 7-day free trial of Viralyze, no card needed, and hold your next big booking with a deposit.