Payments go to the business's own payment account. The money goes straight to the business, with no cut for us, and the business pays its card fees directly. Card numbers are only ever typed into the payment provider's own secure form: they're never seen or stored by ContentForge or the business. For display, we keep only the card brand and last 4 digits, shown under Saved cards on the customer's contact page.
Connect the business's payment account
Open the business app's Calendars → Calendar settings → Staff, services & setup → Payments. There's one payment account per business, shared by all its websites. Your agency can connect or disconnect it, and so can the business's own owner and managers (each owner can take that away from a manager with Can't connect the payment account). The owner doesn't need the Booking prices & rules switch for this.
- The business has no account: click Create account to open the provider's own setup page. The business owner does the identity and bank steps, so you can also click Send a link to the owner and send them the link. It works for 30 days and always opens a fresh setup page.
- The business already has an account: click Connect existing account, sign in to it and allow the connection.
The status shows Ready, Needs info (still missing details; the list shows what) or Restricted. Click Refresh status after the owner finishes. Services that take cards aren't offered on the site until the account is Ready; services paid later still work.
How customers pay
Each service picks its own payment (Services → the service → Payment):
- Save the card, charge after the job (the usual choice): the card is saved at booking and nothing is charged. Turn on Place a hold before the job to hold the quoted total (plus an optional cushion %) 24–72 hours before pickup. A hold only lasts about 7 days, which is why it isn't placed at booking for jobs further out. Bookings made inside that window are held straight away.
- Pay in full when booking: the full price now; the card is also saved for anything added after.
- Deposit now, the rest later: a % or a fixed deposit now. The balance is charged after the job, or a set number of hours before it.
- Pay later (offline): nothing is charged online.
The editor shows the exact words customers agree to, for example: "Your card is saved today. We'll place a hold of $166.80 two days before pickup and charge the final amount after your ride, including any waiting time or extra stops."
After the job: the final charge
Open Calendars in the business app, click the booking, then Final charge.
- Add anything that changed: Waiting time, Extra stops, Extra hours or Extra miles (priced with the booking's own rates), Tolls, Parking, Other (with or without tax) or a Discount. You can also change the Tip.
- The preview shows the final amount and what will happen: what's taken from the hold, what's charged to the saved card, or what's refunded if the customer paid more than the final amount.
- Click Charge final amount. A confirmed booking is marked Completed.
Mark completed completes a booking without charging. Release hold lets the hold go without charging.
Complete bookings automatically
Off by default. Under Payments → After the job, turn on Complete bookings automatically. Bookings that aren't canceled or no-show are then completed a set number of hours after their end (6 by default), and the quoted amount is charged.
Refunds
Click Refund on a booking, type the amount (full or partial) and a reason. The money goes back to the customer's card through the business's payment account, and the customer is emailed. Releasing a hold costs nothing, but card fees aren't returned on refunds.
Who can refund: your agency always can. The client can only while you switch Refunds on for them in Client → Settings → Bookings & refunds (off by default). One switch covers both places: their owners and managers in the business app when the business has it, otherwise their people in the client portal's Bookings tab. In the business app, Can't refund bookings still takes it away from one person.
The same money is never refunded twice: each refund re-reads what was already refunded, wherever it was done. Refunding more than is left says "You can refund up to $X", and a booking refunded in full says "This booking has already been refunded in full".
When a card fails
If a hold or charge is declined, the bank asks the customer to confirm the card, or a hold expires:
- the booking's payment shows Needs attention (in red), with the bank's reason;
- before the job, the payment is retried automatically 6 hours and 24 hours later, but never later than 12 hours before pickup;
- the customer is emailed a secure link to confirm or replace their card, and the business is emailed too;
- Card link for the customer also gives you that secure link where the customer confirms or replaces their card. The payment is retried as soon as the new card is saved;
- Retry payment tries again by hand.
Bookings are never canceled automatically. The business decides.