You're charged a fee when a customer books using a Daily Deal or a Vera Fill My Books deal. Vagaro takes the fee from the deposit your customer pays when they book online. You collect the remaining balance at checkout.
There's no monthly subscription, and you're not charged for bookings or purchases that don't use a deal. Daily Deal fees apply even if you never turn on Fill My Books.
|
Deal |
New Customer |
Existing Customer |
|---|---|---|
|
Daily Deal you create |
20% |
5% |
|
Fill My Books: Get New Customers |
20% |
Not offered |
|
Fill My Books: Fill Last-Minute Calendar Openings |
20% |
5% |
Note
In the United Kingdom, a 20% new customer fee applies to all new customer bookings. Because of this, businesses won't also be charged Daily Deal or Vera Fill My Books Fees on those bookings. See New Customer Fees for Businesses in the United Kingdom to learn more.
Your fee for a Daily Deal or Fill My Books booking depends on whether the customer has visited your business before:
-
New customer: Has never visited your business. The fee is 20%.
-
Existing customer: Has visited your business at least once. The fee is 5%.
Vera's Get New Customers deals are shown only to new customers, so those bookings always have the 20% fee.
Here's how Vagaro tells them apart:
-
Vagaro checks your customer list: If the customer is already on your list and has visited before, they're an existing customer.
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Returning customers with a different account: If a returning customer books with a different email or account, Vagaro asks whether they've visited your business before. If they answer yes, you aren't charged the 20% new customer fee.
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Form and Connect contacts: A customer who fills out a form or messages you on Connect by Vagaro is added to your customer list but still counts as new until their first visit. The 20% fee applies to their first booking.
Bookings that don't use a deal never have a fee, whether the customer is new or existing.
Daily Deals and Fill My Books are available to every business, including businesses that don't use Vagaro Credit Card Processing. When a customer uses a deal to book or buy online, Vagaro collects the fee as a deposit. Here's how it works:
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The customer pays a deposit equal to the fee: 20% for a new customer or 5% for an existing customer.
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Vagaro keeps the deposit as its fee.
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You collect the remaining balance at checkout.
If you already require a deposit, Vagaro works with your deposit instead of adding a second one:
|
Your Deposit Setting |
What Happens |
|---|---|
|
No deposit, or a deposit lower than the fee |
Vagaro collects a deposit equal to the fee (20% or 5%) and keeps it. |
|
A deposit higher than the fee (for example, 50%) |
Your deposit applies. The customer pays the amount you set, and Vagaro takes its fee from that deposit. |
Customers can't use gift cards or points to pay the deposit.
Vagaro calculates the fee from the price the customer pays after discounts. Once a customer uses a deal, the fee applies to their whole cart, including items not part of the deal and team members not included in the deal.
-
Included: Services, classes, memberships, and packages in the cart.
-
Not included: Products, taxes, tips, and gift cards. Gift cards are included only if you added them to the deal.
For example, a new customer uses your deal for a massage, then adds a facial and a package. The 20% fee is calculated from all three items.
Whether the fee is refunded depends on when the appointment is canceled:
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At least 24 hours before the appointment: Vagaro refunds the fee to the customer.
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If your cancellation policy requires more notice: Your policy's window applies instead. For example, if your policy requires 36 hours' notice, the customer must cancel at least 36 hours ahead to get the fee back.
-
Late cancellations and no-shows: The fee isn't refunded.
If you refund a customer after you check them out, you're responsible for refunding the 20% or 5% fee to them.
Daily Deals and Vera Fill My Books deals get the same marketing:
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Sponsored on the Marketplace: Your business appears in the list of sponsored businesses on the Vagaro Marketplace home page for people in your area.
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Higher in search results: Your business ranks higher when people in your area search for services and classes that match what you offer.
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Emails to nearby Vagaro users: Your deals are emailed to Vagaro users within 25 miles of your business who haven't visited you before.
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Push notifications and emails to your customers: If you create a deal or campaign for existing customers, they'll get push notifications and emails about it.
The difference is who creates the deals. You create your own Daily Deals. With Fill My Books, Vera creates Daily Deals for you using the discount you set.
Emails for Daily Deals and Fill My Books are included at no extra cost and don't count toward your Email Marketing plan.
Use the Vera Dashboard to see the benefits your Daily Deals and Fill My Books deals bring your business, including the customers and bookings they bring in. These are customers who found you through a deal, so you can compare what you pay in fees with the new business you get.
You only pay a fee when a customer books using a deal. If a customer books without a Daily Deal or a Fill My Books deal, there's no fee.
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To offer an online discount without a fee, create a promo code: Customers enter the code when they book online, and you aren't charged a deal fee. Promo codes aren't promoted on the Marketplace or by email, so customers need to get the code from you.
-
To stop fees on deals you're running now, deactivate your Daily Deals or turn off Fill My Books.
Comments
46 comments
Hello, I had someone purchase a Gift Card from my Vagao webpage and that transaction is showing up on the Vera Dashboard. Are gift cards now routing through Vera also? so that Vagaro can keep 20% of it? How can that be corrected? If it is, I am going to have to eliminate all of it. It feels like Vagaro turning into a Groupon and that is not desirable. We have had deals running on the platform and now the same deals are swept up into Vera and Vagaro gets to keep 5% and 20%, the company's profits increase and mine decrease. Not really feeling it. I certainly want to have a correction on this Gift Card situation.
Hi Rebecca, Vera only offers discounts for Services and Classes. However, if you have a Daily Deal that offers a Gift Card, then a fee will be charged. The solution here is to not add Gift Cards to Daily Deals.
Thanks,
Jamie
That's the thing. I do not have Gift Card daily deals. I have only one Daily deal, which is for new clients. However, that Gift Card transaction is showing up on the Vera dashboard as part of the revenue generated by the service. That gift card should not be there. I will call directly to support to understand that.
Separate subject: am I correct in understanding that the pre-existing Daily deal I had since June for new clients will not have a 20% fee when purchased through the website?
Hi Rebecca,
As of July 1st, all Daily Deals are subject to the fee, even if you created the deal before this update. So any new bookings coming from this deal will be charged a fee. Yes, I recommend contacting support as well to help resolve your issue. I took a look at your account, and I'm not seeing any fees charged on Gift Cards.
Thanks,
Jamie
If Vera doesn't use the current daily deals we've made, why would it charge a 20% commission on it for a new client? It doesn't sound like vera COULD have anything to do with that sale, so why am I giving it 20%?
Hi James,
The main difference is that Vera Fill My Books creates Daily Deals automatically on your behalf. Daily Deals are manually created; however, they're still marketed on the Vagaro Marketplace and promoted through customer emails. In that sense, Vera and Daily Deals are very similar.
If you'd like more control over your deals, I'd recommend creating your own Daily Deals instead. You'll get many of the same benefits, just keep in mind that the same commission structure applies either way.
Thanks,
Jamie
So if a customer books through a QR code I created, or an ad I launched, with a daily deal I also created that applies generally and does not need to be selected…I am still subject to paying Vagaro 20% or 5% of my booking? It doesn't seem like an accurate way to truly gauge how effective Vera actually is if any booking-no matter the source-is counted as a Vera acquired client.
With that in mind, if I wanted to still offer my summer discount rates, would I need to manually go into each of my services and adjust my pricing?
Hi Taylor, as long as the deal is used, a fee will apply. However, you can still manually create discounts on Vagaro that apply when you're in-house. There's no fee for these discounts, but they won't be advertised on your business page. You can make an advertisement letting customers know of the discounted pricing and how it'll be applied in-store.
Thanks,
Jamie
Gotta be honest, it sounds to me like Vagaro is going to be taking a lot of fees for services they didn't help book, and it's going to make a lot of people really cross. It's like having an executive assistant I have no control over and can't check their work.
Hi James,
Vera Fill My Books lets you control which services and employees are eligible for a discount. If you limit the discount to certain services, you still get all of Vera's marketing benefits, and the services you didn't select are never charged a fee if they're booked individually.
Vera is also completely optional. If you're not happy with the results, you can turn it off and go back to generating bookings with no fee.
Thanks,
Jamie
How do I turn off Vera? I don’t want it sending discounts to people I didn’t approve.
Hi Amanda, you can go to Vera Fill My Books settings and turn off Get New Customers and Fill Last-Minute Calendar Openings.
Thanks,
Jamie
I’m confused how to charge my VEERA bookings. Am I to deduct manually the discounted promotion? My example
-My new and existing clients book with a % offf offer
-My new and existing clients pay a deposited
-At checkout there is a deducted price set for them to pay.
-if I add the deposit plus the price VAGARO sets in CHECKOUT it equals a full price.
(If this is the case I think VEERA should be able to display actually discounted price minus deposit. If it cannot it isn’t a reliable option for me)
Thank you
Hi Starla,
The price shown at checkout should include the discount as well. If you can clarify, I'd be more than happy to help. If you're having any issues, I recommend reaching out to support.
Thanks,
Jamie
So I Cancelled Vera Fill my Books because I have never and will never charge a deposit to require a card on file. It does not work for my demographic. My plan was to keep my daily deals. Is this saying that the deposit will be required for daily deals as well?
Hi Toni, yes, a deposit will be required for Daily Deals.
Thanks, Jamie
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