Installment plans

For most industries you can define an installment plan in your pricing catalog. After the deposit, the rest of the client's total collects in up to four scheduled payments, each one a percentage of the total due a set number of days before the service date.

Setting up a plan

Open your industry's catalog in Settings and add installment rows. Each row has a percentage of the total, the number of days before the service date it is due, and an optional label of up to 40 characters that clients see on the schedule.

• Up to four rows after the deposit
• Each row from 1% to 95% of the total, due 1 to 365 days before the service date
• Your deposit percentage plus the installment percentages must total exactly 100
• Each payment must fall closer to the event than the one before it

Settings checks those rules when you save and names any that fail, such as a plan that adds up to 95 or two rows due on the same day.

Step by step

Setting up a plan takes a few minutes:

• Open Settings and select the industry's catalog.
• Check the deposit percentage, since the plan has to make up the rest of 100.
• Add up to four installment rows, each with a percentage and the days before the service date it is due.
• Give each row a label clients will recognize, or leave the label blank.
• Save, fix anything Settings flags, and create a proposal to see the schedule in the contract.

Which industries can use installment plans?

Every industry except two. Weddings keep their four milestone schedule and web design keeps its milestone model, so Settings refuses an installment plan in those catalogs. Tutors, life coaches, and virtual assistants can use a plan too, or bill monthly for a fixed term instead.

How are the amounts worked out?

BookNox turns your percentages into exact dollar amounts when the proposal is created. Every row except the last is its percentage of the total; the last row takes whatever remains, so the payments always add up to the total to the cent.

Here is an example. A $3,820 booking with a 30% deposit and two rows, 40% due 60 days before and 30% due 14 days before, collects $1,146 at signing, $1,528 sixty days before the service date, and $1,146 fourteen days before it.

Is the plan frozen into the contract?

Yes. When you create a proposal, your current plan is written into the payment schedule of the contract in exact dollar amounts, with each payment's timing. The signed document and the collection schedule always match by construction. Editing your catalog later changes new proposals only, never one a client already has.

What the client sees

The contract's payment section names the deposit and then each installment with its amount, due no later than a set number of days before the service date. After the deposit, the client's proposal page lists every installment with its due date and marks each one paid as it clears, and a Pay button for the next open installment lets the client pay ahead of schedule.

Plans apply to every proposal

A plan belongs to the catalog, so it applies to every proposal created from that industry's catalog, whether from your booking page or from New quote. To book a client without installments, remove the plan from the catalog before creating that proposal, then add it back; proposals already created keep whatever schedule they were created with.

How installments collect

Each installment collects like any balance payment. Your client gets a secure payment link by email 14 days before its due date, reminders 7 days and 1 day before, and weekly follow ups if it goes overdue, or the card is charged automatically on the due date if they opted in to autopay at the deposit. You get an email as each one clears.

Paying ahead

A client pays one installment at a time, but never has to wait for a due date. The Pay button on their proposal page always offers the next open installment, so a client who wants to finish early can pay each one in turn, and BookNox skips the reminders and any autopay charge for installments already paid.

Short notice bookings

A plan still works for a short notice booking. Any installment whose due date has already passed when the deposit is paid moves to the day of payment, so collection starts at once instead of a payment being skipped. For a booking made close to the date, a single balance often makes more sense than a plan, and you can keep a separate catalog setup for that if you like.

Proposals without a service date

Installments are counted back from the service date, so a proposal without one cannot schedule them. BookNox collects the deposit as usual but creates no installment schedule; collect the rest with your client directly, or add the service date to a new proposal.

Changing one installment

From your Bookings page you can move any open installment's due date later, up to two years ahead, or waive it entirely. Amounts and order always mirror the signed contract, so a due date can never move earlier and an installment can never grow.