Get paid when the appointment is booked, not weeks later.
If you sell consultations, sessions or workshops, Zoho Bookings can take payment as part of the booking itself. The client chooses a slot, pays in full or leaves a deposit, and gets a confirmation and invoice by email. You stop chasing payments after the meeting and see fewer no-shows from people who never intended to turn up. This guide covers how payments work, the options for each service and how to connect payments to your accounting. It is part of our Zoho Bookings guide.
Zoho Bookings collects payments through Zoho Checkout, using gateways such as Stripe, PayPal and Razorpay depending on your region. For each service you choose full payment, a deposit or optional payment. Clients pay on the booking page and receive an invoice by email.
Payments run through Zoho Checkout. When you set up a Checkout organization, Bookings lists the payment gateways available in your region, and you connect the ones you want. If more than one gateway is connected, clients can choose how to pay. Once Checkout is set up, its organization details are view-only inside Bookings and any changes you make in Checkout sync across.
| Option | What the client pays at booking | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Full payment | The whole price | Fixed-price consultations, assessments and workshops |
| Deposit | Part of the price, with the balance paid later | Longer or higher-value services where a commitment fee reduces no-shows |
| Optional | Nothing required upfront | Free discovery calls, or clients you invoice later |
You can also take one payment for a multi-session service. A ten-session workshop, for example, can be priced as a single package and paid in full at the first booking.
| Situation | Recommended option | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Short, fixed-price session such as a one-hour consultation | Full payment | Simple for the client, nothing to collect later |
| Long or high-value engagement | Deposit | Secures the slot without asking for the full amount before you have met |
| Price depends on the scope agreed in the meeting | Deposit or optional | Final amount is invoiced once scope is clear |
| Free discovery or sales call | Optional | No payment screen in the way of a new lead |
| Multi-session course or workshop | Full payment upfront | One booking and one payment for the whole package |
They choose a service and time on your booking page, with the price shown next to the service.
They fill in the booking form.
They pick a payment method if you have connected more than one gateway, and pay the full amount or the deposit.
They land on a booking summary page and receive a confirmation and an invoice by email.
Keep this flow short. Every extra field or unclear price between choosing a slot and paying increases the chance a client leaves without booking.
The gateways you can connect depend on your region, and you need your own account with each one. Each gateway sets its own transaction fees and payout schedule, so compare them before you choose.
In Zoho Bookings, open the payment integration settings and create or connect your Zoho Checkout organization.
You need an existing account with each gateway, such as Stripe or PayPal.
Open each paid service and set its price and currency.
For deposits, set the amount.
Update the booking confirmation message with your cancellation and refund policy.
Make a real test booking with a small amount, then check the confirmation, the invoice and the payment in your gateway.
Zoho's payment help article shows the current screens.
Here is how a consultant might set up a paid session from start to finish. The amounts are an illustration; use your own prices.
The client commits with a small payment, you know every booked slot is serious, and the accounting stays tidy because the deposit and the balance meet in the same invoice.
Workshops, classes and webinars can be sold as group sessions, where several clients book and pay for the same slot. Group bookings are part of the higher Zoho Bookings plan. For courses that run over several dates, price the whole programme as one service and take full payment at the first booking, so clients commit to the full series.
Clients receive an invoice by email through Zoho Checkout once the appointment is booked. If you use Zoho Books, the Bookings and Books integration can map payment details from each appointment to the matching invoice, which suits deposits: take the deposit in Bookings and invoice the balance in Books. For other accounting software, Zoho Flow, Zapier or the Bookings API can pass appointment and payment data across.
Zoho Bookings includes revenue reports for the payments you collect with appointments, alongside appointment reports such as upcoming, completed, no-show and cancelled bookings. Review them monthly to see which services earn the most, how many booked clients fail to attend and whether deposits are reducing no-shows. Pair them with your accounting reports in Zoho Books to confirm that every booking payment has been reconciled.
Payments change how you handle schedule changes, so decide your rules before the first paid booking and put them in writing on the booking page and in the confirmation email.
Clear rules protect your time and make conversations with clients easier, because the policy was agreed at the moment of booking.
Zoho Bookings collects payments through Zoho Checkout and lists the gateways available in your region, including Stripe, PayPal and Razorpay. You need an account with each gateway you connect.
Yes. For each service you can require full payment, a deposit or no payment at the time of booking. The balance of a deposit can be invoiced later, for example through Zoho Books.
Yes. Clients receive an invoice by email through Zoho Checkout once the appointment is booked.
Payment features depend on your plan and Zoho changes plan contents from time to time. Check Zoho's pricing page for the current details before you set up paid services.
Yes. Set the service's payment option to optional, and clients can book without paying upfront. You can then invoice them after the appointment, for example through Zoho Books.
A tested payment setup protects your revenue from the first booking.