Questions, answered plainly

Most businesses finish in under half an hour. It is eight short steps and you can stop halfway and come back — nothing is lost.

No. You get 14 days completely free with no card details at all.

To keep the platform clean and make sure the details on a live booking page are real. It usually takes a few working hours, and your free trial does not start until you are approved — so waiting costs you nothing.

No. Your booking page works on its own and you can share the link anywhere — Google, Facebook, Instagram, a text message. If you do have a website, put a "Book now" button on it pointing at your page.

You can add them as you go, and every booking builds the list automatically. Bulk import is not available yet.

Yes, and you will. You add them into the diary yourself and they block the slot exactly like an online booking. Most businesses run a mix indefinitely.

No. Availability is re-checked on the server in the instant before a booking is written, not when the page was loaded. If two people go for the same slot at the same moment, one gets it and the other is told straight away.

Set a minimum notice period — anything from none to a couple of days. You can override it for individual services, so a colour can need 48 hours while a fringe trim needs none.

Only if you allow it, and only up to a cut-off you set. Twenty-four hours is the most common choice.

Each person sets their own holidays and time off. For a whole-business closure, add a closure and the entire period comes out of the diary at once.

None. We do not charge per person and we will not start. A team of twenty costs the same as working alone.

Yes. Working hours, breaks, holidays and the list of services they perform are all per person.

Yes — there is a tick box for it during setup, and it links your diary column to your own account.

Not unless you want them to have one. Someone can be bookable and appear in the diary without ever signing in.

Yes. Roles run from owner down to staff, and a staff-level user can be limited to their own bookings rather than the whole diary.

No. It is off by default. Plenty of businesses take nothing online and settle in person.

No. You connect your own Stripe account and the money goes directly to you. Stripe charge their own processing fee; we take none of it.

Yes — a fixed amount or a percentage, set per service. The balance owing is recorded against the booking so you know exactly what to take on the day.

The booking is not confirmed and the slot is released. Payments are only ever marked successful when Stripe confirms it to us directly, never because a browser was redirected back.

Email reminders are included in the plan at no extra cost. SMS is an optional add-on.

You buy credit in bundles, starting at £6 for 100 messages. One message uses one credit. There is no monthly SMS fee and credits do not expire.

No. SMS is operated centrally — you just buy credit through your account.

The credit goes straight back to your balance. You are never charged for a message that failed.

No. Every business is completely isolated from every other. This is the single most important thing the system does, and it is tested explicitly rather than assumed.

Nothing is deleted. Your booking page pauses, but everything else stays exactly as it is. Activating a plan again brings it all back.

Yes, at any time, including after a trial has ended. It is your data.

You are. We process their data on your behalf as a processor, on your instructions, and never for our own purposes.

Take Bookings Now is a trading name of Take Orders Now LTD, a company registered in England and Wales under company number 16869591.

Email [email protected] or use the contact form. A person reads every message.

The price you sign up at is recorded against your account and does not change when we change our advertised price. If we ever did change yours, you would get at least 30 days' notice by email and could cancel before it applied.