Appointy lets you collect payment from customers at the time they book an appointment.

When prepayment is enabled, Appointy temporarily holds the selected time slot while the customer completes payment. The final appointment status depends on whether the payment succeeds, fails, or is abandoned.

Quick summary

A paid booking generally works like this:

1. The customer selects a service and time slot.
2. Appointy temporarily blocks that slot for about 5 minutes.
3. The customer is redirected to the connected payment gateway.
4. If payment succeeds, the appointment is confirmed according to your approval settings and can appear as Paid.
5. If payment fails or the customer leaves the payment page, the booking expires and the time slot becomes available again.
6. Failed bookings may still appear in the unapproved section so the admin can review them if necessary.

Step 1: Customer selects a service and time slot

The customer starts the booking process by selecting:

• Service
• Staff, if applicable
• Date
• Time slot

Once the customer proceeds toward payment, Appointy temporarily reserves the selected slot.

Step 2: Appointy temporarily blocks the slot

The selected appointment time is blocked for approximately 5 minutes while the customer completes payment.

During this time, another customer cannot book the same slot.

Appointy then redirects the customer to the connected payment gateway.

Step 3: Customer completes payment

The customer enters the required payment information in the payment gateway.

If payment is successful, the payment gateway sends a confirmation back to Appointy.

The appointment is then updated according to your Customer Booking Rules and approval settings.

If the booking is eligible for automatic approval, it will be confirmed and shown with the appropriate Paid status in the calendar.

What happens if the payment fails?

A paid booking can fail for several reasons.

Common examples include:

• The customer's card is declined
• Insufficient funds
• The bank blocks the transaction
• Incorrect card or billing information
• The customer changes their mind
• The customer closes the payment window
• The customer leaves the payment page without completing payment
• The payment gateway does not complete the transaction
• A browser or session issue interrupts the payment process

If payment is not completed, the booking expires and the temporarily blocked time slot becomes available to other customers again.

Why can a failed booking still appear in Appointy?

A failed booking may still appear in the unapproved appointments section.

This allows the admin to review the booking before taking further action.

In some cases, the payment gateway may successfully collect the payment but fail to send the final payment confirmation back to Appointy.

This is especially important when using PayPal, where the payment confirmation is communicated through IPN — Instant Payment Notification.

Special case: PayPal payment completed but booking still shows as failed

If you use PayPal and the customer says the payment was completed but the appointment still appears as failed or unapproved, the issue may be related to PayPal IPN (Instant Payment Notification).

PayPal uses IPN to notify Appointy that a payment has been completed successfully. If PayPal receives the payment but the IPN notification does not reach Appointy correctly, the customer may have been charged while the appointment remains failed or unapproved.

Before asking the customer to pay again:

1. Check the transaction directly in your PayPal account.
2. Confirm whether the payment was actually received.
3. If the payment was successful but Appointy did not receive the confirmation, follow the troubleshooting steps in How to troubleshoot IPN notifications from PayPal.
4. If the issue continues, initiate a live chat with the Appointy Support team and share your Appointy username and relevant PayPal transaction details.

Important: Do not ask the customer to make another payment until you have verified the original transaction. This helps prevent duplicate charges.

And update the FAQ to:

What if a PayPal payment is successful but the appointment shows as failed?

This can happen when PayPal IPN (Instant Payment Notification) does not successfully send the payment confirmation to Appointy.

First, verify the transaction directly in PayPal. If the payment was successfully received, do not charge the customer again.

Follow the troubleshooting guide: How to troubleshoot IPN notifications from PayPal.

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What does the Approve button mean?

If your account is configured for compulsory prepayment, you may see an Approve option against a failed or unapproved booking.

Do not approve the appointment only because the customer says they attempted payment.

First verify whether the payment was actually received.

If the payment was not received and you manually approve the booking, you may need to collect the payment separately.

What should you do if only one customer cannot pay?

If only one customer, or a small number of customers, reports a payment problem, the issue may be related to their card, bank, browser, or payment method rather than Appointy itself.

Ask the customer to:

1. Try another credit or debit card.
2. Check with their bank to confirm the transaction is not being blocked.
3. Try the booking again in an Incognito or Private browsing window.
4. If it works in Incognito mode, clear the browser cache and cookies before trying again in the normal browser.

Ask the customer to try another card

A card can be declined for reasons such as:

• Insufficient funds
• Expired card
• Online transactions disabled
• International transactions disabled
• Bank security checks
• Transaction limit reached
• Card temporarily blocked
• Merchant or recurring-payment restrictions

If another card works, the issue is likely related to the original card or issuer.

Ask the customer to try Incognito mode

Browser cache or cookies can sometimes interfere with the payment flow.

Ask the customer to try:

• Chrome Incognito
• Safari Private Browsing
• Edge InPrivate
• Firefox Private Window

If the payment works in private browsing, ask the customer to clear the browser cache and cookies before trying again normally.

How to check whether payments are working for other customers

Before contacting Appointy Support to report that payments are not working, review whether other customers have successfully completed paid bookings.

A useful way to check this is to review the Appointment Report for approximately the last week and filter by booking date.

Look at how many customers successfully completed paid bookings during that period.

If several other customers have paid successfully, this usually indicates that the payment setup is working and the issue may be specific to:

• A particular customer's card
• Their bank
• Their payment method
• Their browser or device

Example

Suppose 10 customers attempted to book during the week:

• 8 successfully paid
• 1 customer's card was declined
• 1 customer closed the payment page before completing payment

In this case, the payment setup is likely working correctly.

The two failed bookings should be investigated individually rather than assuming there is a system-wide payment issue.

What if the customer was charged but the booking failed?

If the customer says the payment was charged but Appointy shows the appointment as failed or unapproved:

1. Verify the payment directly in the connected payment gateway.
2. Do not immediately ask the customer to pay again.
3. Confirm whether the transaction was actually successful.
4. If the gateway shows a successful payment but Appointy did not receive the confirmation, contact Appointy Support.

This helps prevent duplicate charges.

For PayPal, also review whether an IPN notification issue may be involved.

When should you contact Appointy Support?

Contact Appointy Support if:

• Multiple customers are unable to pay
• Payments that previously worked suddenly start failing for many customers
• Customers confirm that their payment was successful but Appointy still shows the booking as failed
• You suspect a payment gateway notification problem
• A PayPal payment succeeded but the appointment was not updated because of a possible IPN issue

Before contacting Support, keep the following information ready:

• Appointy username
• Customer booking date and time
• Service name
• Payment gateway used
• Whether the customer was actually charged
• Approximate payment attempt time
• Relevant gateway transaction details
• Results from checking recent successful paid bookings

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does Appointy hold a time slot during payment?

Appointy temporarily blocks the selected slot for approximately 5 minutes while the customer completes payment.

What happens if the customer does not complete payment?

The booking expires and the time slot becomes available again.

What happens if the customer's card is declined?

The payment does not complete and the booking can fail. Ask the customer to check with their bank or try another card.

What if the customer closes the payment page?

The booking can fail if the customer leaves or closes the payment window without completing the transaction.

Why does a failed appointment appear under unapproved appointments?

This allows the admin to review the booking in case the payment gateway processed the payment but did not successfully send the final confirmation back to Appointy.

What if a PayPal payment is successful but the appointment shows as failed?

This may happen if PayPal IPN — Instant Payment Notification does not successfully notify Appointy about the completed payment.

Verify the transaction in PayPal first. If the payment is successful, do not charge the customer again. Review the IPN issue or contact Appointy Support.

Should I manually approve every failed paid booking?

No. First verify whether the payment was actually received.

What should I ask a customer to try if payment is not working?

Ask them to:

• Try another card
• Contact their bank
• Try Incognito or Private browsing
• Clear browser cache and cookies if Incognito works

How can I tell whether the problem affects everyone?

Review the recent Appointment Report by booking date and check whether other customers have successfully completed paid bookings.

If other payments are succeeding, the problem is likely specific to the individual customer, card, bank, browser, or payment method.

What if the customer was charged but the appointment failed?

Verify the transaction in the payment gateway before taking further action. Do not collect another payment until the original transaction status is confirmed.