Cancellations are a routine part of solo practice. Your job is to have a clear policy, communicate it once at booking, and apply it consistently when situations come up. ApptOnly handles the mechanics if you tell it the rules.
Setting your policy
Under Settings, Booking, Cancellation policy, you configure:
- Notice window — how much warning you require before a cancellation is "on time" rather than "late." Common windows are 24 or 48 hours.
- Late cancellation fee — what happens if a client cancels inside the window. Options are no fee, a flat fee, or a percentage of the service price.
- No-show fee — what happens when a client just does not show up. Usually higher than a late cancellation fee.
The policy text the client agreed to at booking is stored with the booking, so you can always see what was in effect at the time of that specific appointment, even if you change the policy later.
What the client sees
At booking, the policy is shown in the consent section before the client confirms. The reminder emails include a one-line summary ("Cancel by Tuesday 6 PM to avoid a fee"). If a client tries to cancel through the manage-booking page, the page shows what fee will apply, if any, before they confirm.
Processing a cancellation
When a cancellation comes in:
- Within the notice window — ApptOnly cancels the booking and processes the refund automatically. The slot reopens.
- Outside the window — ApptOnly cancels the booking, marks it as a late cancellation, and applies the fee (deposit kept, late fee charged, or card-on-file charged, depending on your policy and the booking's payment state).
- Outside the window, but you want to make an exception — open the booking detail, click "Override policy" and choose to refund anyway. The booking goes back to a normal canceled state and the refund is processed.
You can also cancel a booking yourself on the client's behalf from the booking detail. ApptOnly will email them the cancellation notice.
Processing a refund
Refunds happen in three scenarios:
- Automatic — a within-window cancellation triggers a full refund.
- Manual full refund — you decide to refund a charge that would not normally be refunded. From the booking detail, click "Refund" and confirm.
- Partial refund — you want to return part of a charge. From the booking detail's payment row, click "Partial refund" and enter the amount.
All refunds flow through Stripe back to the client's original card. The refund takes 5 to 10 business days to land on the client's statement, set by their bank, not by Stripe.
Stripe's processing fee on refunds
When you refund a charge, Stripe refunds the principal but keeps its original processing fee. On a $100 service that was refunded in full, you do not lose the $100 (it goes back to the client), but you do not get back the $3.20 Stripe took to process the original charge. This is industry standard.
If your refund volume is high, the fees add up. The biggest lever is reducing avoidable refunds: cleaner intake, better cancellation policy enforcement, fewer accidental bookings.
Handling disputes
If a client charges back with their card issuer instead of asking you for a refund, Stripe handles the dispute mechanics. You will see the dispute in your Stripe dashboard and in ApptOnly's booking detail. ApptOnly automatically gathers the relevant evidence (booking record, policy consent, communication log) and surfaces it so you can submit it to Stripe.
A disputed charge results in a $15 dispute fee from Stripe (waived if you win the dispute), regardless of whether the original charge was a service payment or a fee.
Sample policies
If you do not have one, two starting points that work for most solo practices:
Loose: "Cancellations more than 12 hours before your appointment are refunded in full. Cancellations inside 12 hours are charged a $25 fee. No-shows are charged the full session price."
Tighter: "Cancellations more than 24 hours before your appointment are refunded in full. Cancellations inside 24 hours are charged 50% of the service price. No-shows are charged the full session price."
Tighter policies reduce no-shows but raise booking friction. Pick the one that fits your client base.