Payments connected to the entire pet‑care workflow.
Connect Stripe or Square and every card payment records itself against the right booking, invoice, tip and staff member. No more copying payments from one screen into another.
$39.99 CAD a month with integrated payments · Free 30-day trial · Your business stays the merchant
One booking, one payment trail, start to finish.
Every step below happens on its own when the card payment goes through BooknBuddy. Staff only step in at the counter.
When a booking is requested or approved, the deposit is worked out from your settings and sent to the customer with a Pay Now link. When they pay, the booking and invoice update straight away. At pickup, staff take the balance on the till, a card reader or a phone, and the tip and the staff member go on the same record.
- Pet boarding deposits that collect themselves. Percentage or flat amount, per service, with “Deposit due” and “Deposit paid” shown everywhere.
- BooknBuddy knows what was paid. Every payment carries its booking and invoice, so there is nothing to match up afterwards.
- Refunds go back through the same processor and the invoice shows it.
- Invoices and payments sync to QuickBooks Online or Xero.
Every connected payment is one nobody has to record.
Whatever card machine you use today, a payment taken through BooknBuddy records itself. One taken anywhere else is five steps by hand, every time, and the difference repeats on every payment.
Integrated payment
- Deposit requested automatically when the booking is requested or approved
- Customer pays from the booking flow, the email, the app or the portal
- BooknBuddy knows which booking and invoice were paid
- Tips and the till record stay with the payment
- Refunds and payment status flow back to the invoice
- Payouts arrive on your processor’s schedule
External payment
- Find the right customer, booking and invoice
- Record the amount and the method by hand
- Separate the tip and note who earned it
- Check the processor’s report against BooknBuddy at the end of the day
- Repeat the same steps for any refund or dispute
- Miss one step and a deposit or balance shows the wrong amount until somebody notices
| Integrated payment | External payment | |
|---|---|---|
| How it gets into BooknBuddy | Automatically | Staff record it |
| Deposit and balance | Updated the moment the customer pays | Updated when the payment is recorded |
| Pay Now for the customer | Yes | Not for that payment |
| Tips | Captured with the payment | Entered and split by hand |
| Refunds and status changes | Flow back to the invoice | Recorded by hand in both systems |
| End-of-day reconciliation | Already matched | Compared against the other processor’s report |
| Support | One place to look | Split between BooknBuddy and the other processor |
Processor fees are left out of both columns because you pay them either way. The calculator also cannot count deposits that never got collected, balances nobody chased, or a customer who paid at 10 pm from an email instead of phoning you in the morning.
Seven ways a customer can pay you.
The first six record themselves against the booking. The seventh is the one you record by hand.
While booking online
Pay the deposit, or the whole stay, as part of the booking form.
From an email
Confirmations, deposit requests and invoices carry a Pay Now link.
In the customer app
Outstanding balances sit on their account with a Pay button.
In the desktop portal
The same balances and the same button, for customers on a computer.
Tap to Pay
A contactless card or phone wallet held to your compatible phone.
At the counter
A supported card reader at checkout, or a saved card where the customer allowed it.
Cash, cheque, e-Transfer
Always accepted and never charged a platform fee. Staff record these by hand.
Your phone is the card terminal.
Tap to Pay for dog daycare, grooming and boarding, on compatible iPhones and Android phones, through Stripe or Square.
Open the booking in the BooknBuddy business app, press Tap to Pay, and the customer holds their card or phone wallet near yours. Eligible contactless cards and digital wallets such as Apple Pay and Google Pay are accepted. For supported transactions, no separate reader is needed.
The payment lands on the right invoice and booking, with the tip and the staff member who took it, exactly as it would at the front desk.
At a show or event
Sell a groom slot or a bag of food from a booth without a laptop or a reader.
At the door
Walkers and sitters take the balance at the client’s house.
When the reader is not there
Busy pickup rush, second checkout line, or a reader that needs charging.
Eligibility applies. Tap to Pay needs a compatible phone model and operating system version, a supported country and a Stripe or Square account that is approved for it. Not every phone, card or wallet qualifies. It runs in the BooknBuddy business app, not in a web browser.
The stay, the retail and the tip on one ticket.
If you sell food, treats or toys, the till is where integrated payments save the most time.
Scan the treats onto the booking’s invoice, apply a discount, take one payment. The stock count drops, the tip is split out for the right staff member, and the sale is on the same invoice as the stay. Nobody rings the retail up again on a second machine.
- Barcode scanning at checkout and a walk-in till for retail-only sales.
- Inventory counts that move when you sell. With Square, your item library and stock counts sync both ways.
- Tips recorded against the staff member who earned them, ready for payroll.
- Bundle, volume and staff discounts shown as their own lines, with tax worked out after the discount.
On a separate machine, the same sale means ringing the retail twice, typing the tip in by hand, and adjusting stock later. That is the work integrated payments remove.
Why we connect to Stripe and Square, and not every processor.
Keeping a payment tied to a booking needs the processor to talk back. Most payment machines do not.
For a payment to sync, three things have to be true. Stripe and Square offer all three to software platforms. Many bank-issued terminals, countertop machines and payment apps offer none of them, or only to large certified partners.
- An authorised connection to your account. You approve BooknBuddy once, and it can start a charge on your account without ever holding your card data.
- A reference that travels with the charge. The booking and invoice go out with the payment, so the answer to “what was this for?” comes back with it.
- Webhooks. A signed message the processor sends the moment a payment succeeds, fails, is refunded or is disputed. Without it, the software only knows what somebody types in.
Even with Square, a sale rung up in the Square app outside BooknBuddy has no booking attached. Square knows $191.00 was paid; it has no way of knowing it was Luna’s stay.
What the platform fee pays for.
BooknBuddy is priced low on purpose. Integrated payments help fund the platform, and they fund the part of it that saves you the most time.
Automation
Deposits requested, payments matched, invoices closed and tips assigned without anyone touching them.
Customer convenience
Pay Now in every email, balances in the app and portal, saved cards and Tap to Pay.
Reconciliation
Bookings, invoices, payments, refunds and payouts that already agree with each other.
Support
When a payment question comes up, we can see the payment, the invoice and the booking together.
A low subscription
It keeps the monthly plan at $39.99 CAD instead of pricing every business for the heaviest user.
Integration upkeep
Processors change their APIs, devices and rules. Keeping every payment path working is ongoing work.
The rate goes down as you grow.
The platform fee is tiered on your card volume through BooknBuddy each calendar month. Each rate applies only to the part of the month that falls in its band, like tax brackets, and the count starts again on the 1st.
| Card volume this month | Platform fee on that part | Most it adds up to |
|---|---|---|
| First $4,000 | 1.5% | $60.00 |
| $4,000 to $10,000 | 0.75% | $45.00 more |
| Above $10,000 | 0.5% | The lowest rate, no cap |
How $20,000 works out: $4,000 × 1.5% = $60, plus $6,000 × 0.75% = $45, plus $10,000 × 0.5% = $50. Total $155, or 0.78% of the month. The busier the month, the closer the rate gets to 0.5%.
Against Gingr and MoeGo.
What a month of software costs at $10,000 in card payments. BooknBuddy is the $39.99 plan plus the tiered platform fee. Gingr and MoeGo are their published monthly list prices.
| Card volume in a month | BooknBuddy Integrated | MoeGo Starter | MoeGo Growth | Gingr Daycare | Gingr Boarding |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $2,000 | $69.99 | $108.23 | $204.13 | $231.53 | $286.33 |
| $5,000 | $107.49 | $108.23 | $204.13 | $231.53 | $286.33 |
| $10,000 | $144.99 | $108.23 | $204.13 | $231.53 | $286.33 |
| $20,000 | $194.99 | $108.23 | $204.13 | $231.53 | $286.33 |
With the tiers, BooknBuddy stays under MoeGo Growth up to about $21,800 a month in card payments, under Gingr Daycare up to about $27,300, and under Gingr Boarding up to about $38,300, for one location. MoeGo Starter is a salon plan and costs less once a shop passes about $5,100.
Larger business? Ask about a negotiated flat rate.
If you run several locations or move a lot of card volume, we can agree a single flat platform rate based on your size instead of the tiers. Email info@booknbuddy.com with your typical monthly card volume and we will send a proposal in writing.
Your processor fee from Stripe or Square is separate and set by them, not by us. On some accounts, such as Square accounts outside Canada, the platform fee is billed monthly rather than taken at the time of payment.
Two plans for new businesses.
Choose when you sign up. All prices in Canadian dollars. Both include every booking, scheduling and customer feature.
BooknBuddy Integrated
- Pay Now and automatic deposit requests
- Payments in the customer app and portal
- Tap to Pay and supported card readers
- Saved cards where supported
- Integrated tips, till and automatic reconciliation
- Cash, cheque and e-Transfer with no platform fee
Independent Payments
- Every booking, scheduling and customer feature
- Invoices, and payments recorded by hand
- Retail till and BooknBuddy inventory
- No Pay Now or automatic deposit collection
- No Tap to Pay or saved cards
- No automatic reconciliation of outside payments
| Integrated | Independent Payments | |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly subscription | $39.99 CAD + tiered platform fee on card payments through BooknBuddy (1.5% / 0.75% / 0.5%, see the bands) | $99.99 CAD, no platform fee |
| Processor | Your Stripe or Square account, connected | Any processor you choose, not connected |
| Pay Now | Yes | No |
| Automatic deposits | Requested and collected | Shown on the booking; collected and recorded by you |
| Customer-app payments | Yes | Balance visible, no Pay button |
| Saved cards | Where supported | No |
| Tap to Pay | Compatible phones | No |
| Automatic reconciliation | Yes | No |
| Integrated tips and till | Yes | Till available; card tips entered by hand |
| Recording outside payments | Allowed for occasional payments | How every payment is recorded |
| Cash, cheque, bank transfer | Recorded by hand, no platform fee | Recorded by hand, no platform fee |
| Best fit | Most businesses, and any business that wants customers paying online | Businesses tied to another processor by contract or hardware |
Existing BooknBuddy customers keep their current plan.
These new plan requirements apply to new signups and to voluntary plan changes. Nothing about your plan or your price changes because this page exists, and nobody is moved to a different plan automatically. If you would like to switch, ask us and we will walk through it with you.
New signups choose a plan
Integrated or Independent Payments is picked at signup. On Integrated, you have until 14 days after your free trial ends to connect Stripe or Square. The app counts the days down, and if Stripe or Square is slow to approve you, tell us and we will work with you.
What “main card processor” means
Stripe or Square is how you take most of your card payments: online, in the app and at the counter. Cash, cheque, e-Transfer and the occasional card payment on another machine are normal and never count against you.
If Stripe or Square is not connected
Nothing is switched off and your price does not change on its own. We will get in touch to help you connect, or offer Independent Payments if another card system suits you better. Any plan change follows notice and your agreement.
Busier businesses pay less
The platform fee drops to 0.75% and then 0.5% as your month grows, automatically. If a single negotiated flat rate suits a larger or multi-location business better, ask us.
Clover support is being evaluated.
Clover support is currently under evaluation. We are exploring eligible cash-discount and dual-pricing options that could help participating businesses offset card-processing costs while offering customers a clearly disclosed lower cash or supported bank-payment price. Availability, rates and payment methods will depend on the merchant’s country, processor approval and applicable rules.
United States, if it goes ahead
- A cash-discount or dual-pricing program for eligible merchants, with the card price and the lower cash price both shown.
- Zelle only for businesses whose own bank offers Zelle on their business account.
- Cash discounts, dual pricing and card surcharges follow different rules. Any program would follow the one that applies.
Canada
- No Canadian pricing is announced. Rules for card pricing differ by province, and Quebec may need separate treatment.
- Lower-price alternatives would refer to cash or Interac e-Transfer.
- A US setup would not be assumed to apply in Canada.
There is no Clover signup today. When it is available, this section will say so with the rates for each country.
Payment questions
Still unsure? Email info@booknbuddy.com.
Can I keep my existing Stripe or Square account?
Yes. You connect the account you already have from Settings, Payments. Your processor agreement, your rates with them and your bank details stay yours. BooknBuddy never becomes the merchant; your business is the merchant on every payment.
Can I accept cash, cheque or e-transfer?
Yes, on either plan. Record it at the till or against the invoice and the balance updates. There is no BooknBuddy platform fee on cash, cheque or e-Transfer.
Can customers pay deposits immediately?
Yes, with Integrated Payments. You set the deposit as a percentage or a flat amount per service. The customer can pay it in the booking flow, or from the Pay Now link in the email we send them, and the booking shows the deposit as paid.
Can customers pay through the BooknBuddy app?
Yes. Outstanding balances show in the customer app and the desktop portal with a Pay button. Customers can save a card where your processor and settings allow it.
What happens if I process a payment outside BooknBuddy?
Nothing breaks. Staff find the invoice or booking and record the payment by hand with its method and amount. Until that happens, BooknBuddy shows the balance as still owing, and any tip on that payment has to be entered separately.
Does BooknBuddy automatically know about an external Square payment?
No. A sale rung up in the Square app or on a Square device outside BooknBuddy carries no booking or invoice reference, so BooknBuddy cannot tell which pet or stay it was for. It has to be recorded by hand. Payments started from BooknBuddy carry that reference and record themselves.
Does Tap to Pay require separate hardware?
Not for eligible transactions. A compatible iPhone or Android phone running the BooknBuddy business app accepts contactless cards and supported digital wallets. Device model, operating system version, country and your processor account all have to qualify. Some payments, such as a chip-and-PIN card that cannot be tapped, still need a card reader or another method.
Do existing BooknBuddy customers have to change plans?
No. Existing BooknBuddy customers keep their current plan. The new plan requirements apply to new signups and to businesses that choose to change plans.
How long do I have to connect Stripe or Square?
On the Integrated plan, until 14 days after your 30-day free trial ends. Connecting takes a few minutes in Settings, Payments; Stripe or Square may take a day or two to approve a new account. The app shows how many days are left, and nothing is switched off if you need longer: we will get in touch and help.
Can I use my own payment system?
Yes. The Independent Payments plan is for businesses whose main card processor is something else. You record payments in BooknBuddy by hand; Pay Now, automatic deposits and automatic reconciliation are not available for those payments.
When will Clover be available?
Clover support is under evaluation and there is no date yet. It is not available today. We will announce it when it is, along with the rates and payment methods that apply in each country.
Who handles chargebacks and processor disputes?
Your processor. Because your business is the merchant, disputes go through Stripe or Square under your agreement with them, and any dispute fee is theirs. The booking, invoice, signed waiver and payment history in BooknBuddy are useful evidence when you respond.
When are funds deposited?
Stripe accounts are paid out weekly, every Friday, from day one, and move to daily payouts automatically after two consecutive months at $1,000 or more in card payments. Square accounts are paid out on Square’s own schedule, usually the next business day.
Are processor fees separate from BooknBuddy’s platform fee?
Yes. Stripe or Square charges its own processor fee under your agreement with them, and BooknBuddy does not set or control it. The BooknBuddy platform fee is separate, and tiered by your monthly card volume: 1.5% on the first $4,000, 0.75% from $4,000 to $10,000, and 0.5% above $10,000. Larger businesses can ask about a negotiated flat rate.
Is the platform fee negotiable?
For larger or multi-location businesses, yes. The tiers already lower your rate as volume grows, and if a single negotiated flat rate suits your business better, email info@booknbuddy.com with your typical monthly card volume and we will put a proposal in writing.
Let the booking take the payment.
Connect Stripe or Square during your free trial and run a real deposit, a real pickup and a real Tap to Pay sale before you decide.
Start Free TrialQuestions? info@booknbuddy.com