Taking deposits

A deposit is a card payment you ask a caller for before the work starts. You send it as a link, they tap and pay, and the money lands in your own Stripe account. You need card payments set up before you can request one: if Stripe is not connected yet you will see “Finish setting up card payments (Stripe) before requesting deposits.”

Deposits sit on the job, not on your calendar. Taking one does not move the job along by itself: the job stays where you put it until you move it.

Deposits live in Settings, in the Deposits card. It appears for businesses that run the job pipeline. Everything starts switched off, so nothing changes for you or your callers until you deliberately turn it on.

Deposits is the master switch. With it on you choose either a fixed amount or a percentage of the quote, and a “Request deposit” action appears on each job.

Require the deposit before booking holds the job out of your diary until the deposit is paid. Off by default.

Let Mia offer it on calls lets Mia raise a deposit with the caller herself. Off by default.

Switching the master switch off switches both of the other two off with it. The most a single deposit can be is $10,000.

One text, from your own business number, reading: Your deposit link: $120.00. Tap to pay securely,then the link. The link opens a plain payment page carrying your business name, with a “Pay by card” button. They never see a raw Stripe address.

The amount shown is the amount charged. There is no card surcharge added to the caller.

This is the switch most people ask about, so it is worth being precise. Mia will not mention a deposit unless you turn “Let Mia offer it on calls” on.It is off for every business until its owner turns it on, it is checked on the server on every single call, and a caller who asks Mia for a deposit while it is off is simply told: “Sorry, we don’t take deposits over the phone.”

With it on, Mia asks the caller first and only texts the link if they agree. She then tells them: “Done, I’ve just texted you a deposit link. Tap it to pay and you’re locked in.”

With Require the deposit before booking on, a job cannot move to Bookeduntil the deposit invoice is actually paid. Try it and you get: “Collect the deposit first, this job needs its deposit paid before it can be booked in.” The gate covers the booking action and the stage dropdown alike, so there is no way around it by hand.

It blocks only the move to Booked. Quoting, messaging and everything else carry on as normal.

Withdrawing a deposit does not unblock the booking

Withdrawing a deposit link cancels it, so the payment page goes dead and you can send a fresh one. It does not waive the requirement. Neither does a refund. Once you have asked for a deposit before booking, only a paid deposit opens that gate, full stop. If you need to book the customer in without one, turn the requirement off in Settings first.

You cannot withdraw a deposit that has already been paid. You get “the deposit has been paid, refund it instead.”

• A notification appears in your dashboard bell, titled “Invoice paid”, and takes you to the invoice.
• You also get a text, if you have a notification number saved and payment texts switched on.
• The job does not move stage on its own. Paying a deposit unlocks the booking gate, it does not book anybody in.
• The job shows “Deposit paid”, with a Refund action next to it.

A refund is always your decision and never happens automatically. Nothing in the product refunds a deposit for you: not cancelling, not closing the job. You refund it yourself from the job, and only a paid deposit can be refunded.

Ready to switch deposits on?