Paid consultations are a great way to monetize your expertise — and the most reliable defense against client no-shows. When people pay upfront, they show up. With LockMyCal, you can configure paid bookings in minutes, with funds routed directly into your own Stripe account.

Who Benefits from Paid Bookings

  • Consultants and Advisors billing for specialized hourly expertise.
  • Coaches, Therapists, and Tutors conducting paid private sessions.
  • Freelancers and Agencies charging for discovery audits or workshops.
  • Anyone looking to eliminate non-committal bookings.

How Payments Work in LockMyCal

  • Transactions are processed securely through Stripe, supporting credit cards and mobile wallets such as Apple Pay and Google Pay.
  • Funds flow directly into your Stripe account via Stripe Connect. LockMyCal takes no commission from the payments – you only pay the standard Stripe fees.
  • In the LockMyCal cloud, accepting payments is included with the Pro plan.

Step-by-Step Setup

1. Connect Stripe

In your dashboard, navigate to Integrations → Payments and click Connect Stripe. Select the country where your business is registered; Stripe will guide you through its secure onboarding (business details and bank account payout information). If you need to complete setup later, use Continue Setup.

2. Set Pricing on Your Meeting Type

Under Meeting Types, open your desired meeting and enter the price in the Payments section. A typical combination is a free short intro call and a paid longer consultation.

Clients pick a date and time, fill in their details, and proceed to Stripe’s secure checkout. The booking is only confirmed after payment succeeds — only then is the appointment written to your calendar and confirmation emails sent.

Cancellations and Refunds

You retain total control over refunds whenever an appointment is cancelled:

  • Full Refund — default option; returns the entire remaining balance to the client.
  • Partial Refund — enter a specific amount (e.g. deducting a cancellation handling fee).
  • No Refund — explicitly decline reimbursement.

If a client cancels on their end, they cannot initiate arbitrary refunds — a pending refund notice appears in your dashboard so you can issue funds according to your stated policies. LockMyCal imposes no rigid automatic cancellation windows.

Best Practices

  • State your cancellation terms clearly in the meeting description so clients know expectations in advance.
  • Pair payments with custom questions to collect essential background prior to high-value consultations.
  • For premier client sessions, enable manual booking approval.

Running LockMyCal Self-Hosted?

Enable payments with MEETING_PAYMENTS_ENABLED=true and your Stripe credentials (STRIPE_SECRET_KEY, STRIPE_WEBHOOK_SECRET). Find comprehensive configuration details in our Stripe documentation.