Industry
Payments software for salons and barbershops
Salons live on booked chair time, and every no-show is revenue that cannot be recovered. Enterprise Pay Gateway takes booking deposits through hosted checkout, sells prepaid packages and gift cards as products, and bills memberships that guarantee a monthly visit. Payouts go to your own bank account on a fixed monthly subscription plus a platform fee from 0.20% to 0.75%, with Stripe's processing billed separately by Stripe.
Last updated 9 September 2026
Typical ticket
$35–$300
Wide range from a barber cut to colour correction, so deposits should be a percentage rather than a flat amount.
Membership fit
Medium-high
Monthly cut or blow-dry memberships work well for barbershops and blow-dry bars in particular.
Chair utilisation
The whole business
Profit is a function of filled chair hours, which makes no-show prevention the highest-leverage payment change.
Where the money leaks
No-shows and late cancellations
An empty chair at 2pm is gone. A deposit at booking, with a published cancellation window, changes behaviour within weeks.
Colour appointments carry real product cost
Long colour services consume expensive product and hours of stylist time. Deposits on these bookings specifically are worth more than a blanket policy.
Gift cards and packages tracked by hand
Paper gift cards and punch cards create liabilities nobody tracks. Selling them as products records the money and the redemption.
Retail sold inconsistently
Take-home product is high margin and routinely under-sold because there is no easy way to charge for it after the appointment.
The four payment flows you need
- 1
Booking deposit
Take a deposit on longer or higher-value services, credited against the final price.
- 2
Prepaid package
Sell a block of services or a gift card as a single product through hosted checkout.
- 3
Membership
Bill a monthly cut, colour or blow-dry membership with automatic retries.
- 4
Retail
Sell take-home product from the same storefront page, including after the client has left.
What salon payment processing costs
Stripe bills processing directly to your account — 2.9% plus 30 cents for US online card payments at the time of writing, with card-present rates lower.
Enterprise Pay Gateway charges a fixed monthly subscription from $49 plus a platform fee: 0.75% on Starter, 0.60% on Growth, 0.40% on Pro.
A salon doing $40,000 a month fits Starter or Growth. On Starter that is $49 plus roughly $300 in platform fees, alongside Stripe's processing.
Deposits without losing bookings
Apply deposits selectively: long colour services, new clients and peak weekend slots. A blanket deposit on a fifteen-minute barber cut costs more bookings than it saves.
Publish the cancellation window at booking and repeat it in the checkout description. Refund promptly inside the window — a refund is cheaper than a chargeback.
Memberships and prepaid revenue
A monthly membership priced at the value of a regular visit converts an irregular client into a scheduled one and fills the quiet midweek hours first.
Prepaid packages and gift cards bring cash forward, but track redemption honestly — unredeemed value is a liability, not profit.
Frequently asked questions
- Should a salon take deposits on every booking?
- No. Apply deposits to long colour services, new clients and peak slots. A blanket deposit on short appointments deters more bookings than it protects.
- Can we sell gift cards and prepaid packages?
- Yes. Sell them as products through hosted checkout so the money and the redemption are recorded in one place rather than on paper cards.
- Do memberships work for barbershops?
- Yes, particularly monthly cut memberships. They bill as recurring products with automatic retries and a self-serve portal for card updates.
- What does it cost?
- Stripe's processing fee plus a platform fee. Enterprise Pay Gateway charges from $49 a month plus 0.75%, falling to 0.40% at higher volume.
Start taking deposits this week
Create your account, verify with Stripe, and share your first checkout link. Card processing is provided by Stripe under its own agreement with you.