Getting paid before you touch the car

What is a prepaid package?

When you charge job by job, what you earn follows your calendar, in full weeks and empty ones. With a prepaid package, the client pays online for their next visits before any work is booked. You create it in Packages → New Package and set:

• the number of sessions: one, to bundle different services (for example a full detail with a ceramic coating), or several, to sell the same service more than once (for example five interior details);
• the price, which covers every session, and an optional discount;
• the validity in days, also optional, which on multi-session packages makes sure the client comes back to use them.

How do you get paid, and how are sessions used?

The client buys the package on your studio's public page and pays online. To sell packages you need the Advanced plan and payments set up under Settings → Payouts for prepaid packages. When the client comes in to use a session, open the Issued tab in Packages and tap Use 1 Session; that tab also shows how many sessions each client has left and when they expire. You can also give a client a package as compensation, with Assign to Customer, and it is recorded with no payment. Every online purchase records the price the client paid, the platform's commission and your net amount.

How much discount should you give?

Not much. A client who has already decided to come back five times needs no more incentive, and a large discount teaches loyal clients to shop on price. To start:

• create a five-session package for the service you repeat most, at 5% off;
• offer it to the clients who have already come back three times or more;
• after a month, compare your net with what the same work would have billed job by job.