Appointments & bookings

Customers call or message to ask "Can I come at 3?". With Appointments your team has one calendar: you book customers at the counter, customers can book online by themselves, you can ask for a deposit, send a reminder the day before, and when the visit is done you complete it — LiteShop makes the sale and uses the deposit.

Every booking has a number like AP-000001. Appointments are on Plus and up.

#How it works

1. Set up: your services (how long, the price), your opening hours and who takes bookings.
2. Book: tap a free time in the calendar, or share your booking link so customers book online.
3. Deposit (optional): take it at the counter, or the customer pays by a payment link. The time is held until it is paid.
4. Remind: the day before, send each customer a reminder by Viber, Telegram, Messenger or SMS.
5. Visit: mark Arrived, then Complete & take payment — the sale is made and the deposit is used.

#Turn Appointments on

Appointments is off until you turn it on, so shops that don't take bookings never see it.

1. Open Settings → Features.
2. Turn on Appointments & bookings (Plus and up; on Free you see the Plus badge).

New shops answer Do customers book a time with you? when they set up LiteShop. Once it is on, Appointments appears in the menu right after Checkout (on phones: tap More).

#Settings

Open Settings → Appointments:

• Online booking page: on or off. Your booking page is your website address + /book (for example glowsalon.liteshop.app/book). Publish your online store first. Copy link or Share it on Facebook, Messenger or Viber.
• Online bookings are: Confirmed instantly (when the time is free) or I approve each (the customer's time is held while you confirm or decline).
• Ask for a deposit: none, an amount (for example 5,000 Ks) or a percent of the price (for example 20%).
• Hold the time for the deposit: how many minutes an unpaid deposit holds the time (default 30). Not paid by then → the time is free again.
• Customers can cancel or move online: until how many hours before the time (default 24).
• Deposit of a no-show or late cancel: what LiteShop suggests — keep it as a fee, or pay it back. An owner or manager decides each time.
• Start times every 15 minutes (or 5, 10, 20, 30, 60), book at least … minutes ahead, up to … days ahead.
• Limits per phone number: online bookings a day and bookings waiting at a time. They stop fake or prank bookings.
• Opening hours for each day. Add a lunch break by splitting the day: 09:00-12:00, 13:00-18:00. Closed days for holidays.

#Services

Under Services, tap Add service and write:

• Name (for example "Haircut", "Facial", "Dress fitting"), Takes (minutes) and Clean-up after (minutes kept free after it).
• Price. Optional: Sell as an item — the service then sells that item (its tax applies and its stock goes down).
• Who can do it (none picked = everyone), a colour for the calendar, Customers can book it online, Bookable.

#Who takes bookings

Under Who takes bookings, turn on the team members customers can book (add them in Team first — you can add yourself). Tap the clock to give someone own working hours (for example 10:00-19:00) and days off / leave. Nobody turned on = the shop takes bookings as one calendar.

#The calendar

Open Appointments:

• Day: one column per team member (on phones: one person at a time — tap a name). Grey = closed or not working. The red line is now. Tap an empty time to book it.
• Week: the week's bookings per day; tap a day to open it.
• List: Today, Tomorrow, Upcoming, Requests, Waiting for deposit, No-shows, Cancelled, and a team member filter.

Tap a booking to open it: Confirm / Decline (a request), Arrived, Complete & take payment, Move, Take deposit, Send deposit link, Send reminder, Share booking page, No-show, Cancel booking.

#New booking

1. Tap New booking (or an empty time in the calendar).
2. Pick the Customer, or tap New customer and type the name and phone (saved as a new customer).
3. Pick the Services, Who (or Anyone free) and the day. LiteShop shows only the free times.
4. Optional: a Note and the Deposit: None, Take now (cash, QR …) or Send link (the customer pays online; the time is held).
5. Tap Book.

#Online booking

Customers open your booking link (or Book a time on your website), pick a service, who (or Anyone), a day and a free time, then type their name and phone. No sign-in.

• They get their own booking page: the time, the deposit (with Pay the deposit), Add to calendar, and Cancel or Change the time until your cancel window closes.
• They only see first names of your team, never other customers or phone numbers.
• A customer with the same phone number as a customer in LiteShop is linked to them.
• You get an alert for each online booking (and for each request to approve, in I approve each mode).

#Deposits

A deposit is the customer's money until the visit — not a sale yet (a customer deposit, like layaway and repair deposits).

• At the counter: Take deposit — cash goes into the open drawer; QR with the photo check like at checkout.
• By link: the customer pays by a payment link; tap Payment received in the link when you see the money. The booking turns Confirmed.
• Not paid in time: after the hold time the booking is cancelled, the link stops working, the time is free again, and you get an alert.

#Reminders

Open Appointments → List → Tomorrow and tap Send reminder on each booking. Your phone's share menu opens with a ready text ("Hi …, a reminder of your booking for … at …") and the customer's booking page — send it by Viber, Telegram, Messenger or SMS. LiteShop doesn't pay for SMS; you send it from your phone.

#Complete and take payment

When the visit is done, open the booking and tap Complete & take payment. LiteShop:

1. prices the services like a sale at the register;
2. uses the deposit first (the Booking deposit payment on the receipt);
3. asks for the rest (cash, QR, card, … or on credit).

The sale shows in Transactions with the booking number. If the deposit was more than the price, the rest is paid back (owners and managers). A completed booking can't be voided — refund the sale instead.

#No-shows and late cancels

• No-show: the customer didn't come. Tap No-show.
• Cancel booking: the shop or the customer cancels.

If a deposit was paid, an owner or manager decides: Keep it as a fee (it counts as other income in Reports → Profit and the daily report) or Pay it back in cash. A cashier is asked for the manager passcode. When a customer cancels online, the booking shows Deposit to settle until you decide.

#Alerts

Alerts shows one Appointments card: new online bookings, requests to approve, bookings cancelled by customers, deposits not paid in time, and past bookings to close (completed or no-show). With instant alerts you also get push and Telegram messages.

#Reports

Reports → Sales has an Appointments card for the period: bookings, completed, no-shows (and the no-show rate), cancelled, and sales by service and by team member. Completed bookings are normal sales, so they are already in your sales totals. The customer's card shows their bookings and how many times they didn't come.

#Money

Deposits you hold are customer deposits (money you owe back until the visit): they show in the daily report (Booking deposits), and in Business finance under customer deposits. Kept no-show deposits are other income.

#Plans

Appointments are on Plus and up. If a shop goes back to Free, bookings already made can still be completed, cancelled or marked no-show, but no new bookings can be made and the online booking page is closed.