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Deposits

A deposit is security, not revenue. It is the customer's money that you hold while they have your property, and give back when it comes home undamaged.

Setting the amount​

The deposit lives on the category: switch Require deposit on and set the deposit per item. Three bikes at € 50 each holds € 150. See Pricing.

The three ways to hold it​

You choose per booking, on the booking screen.

Online card hold (the default)​

The amount is reserved on the customer's card, not charged. The money never leaves their account; it is simply not available to them while the hold is in place.

  • Clean return → release the hold. Nothing was ever taken, and the customer sees nothing on their statement.
  • Damage → capture the part you are keeping. The rest is released.

This is the best option when it is available. Nobody has to move money, and the customer is not out of pocket while they wait for a refund.

Cash deposit​

The customer leaves cash at the desk. It is recorded as held straight away and moves through the same capture and release steps as a card hold, so your bookkeeping matches your cash drawer, and the deposits report is complete.

Charge and refund on the terminal​

Some terminals cannot reserve, only charge. You take the deposit as a real payment and refund it when the objects come back.

The screen offers this as a hint next to the deposit method: or: charge the deposit on the terminal and refund it on return. Note that a refund is a chargeable transaction, see Refunds.

Capturing part of it​

Capture deposit (partial) asks how much to keep, in euros. The rest is released automatically. You never have to release the remainder yourself.

The usual route is through the return inspection: you describe the damage, enter the amount to withhold, and the returnable deposit drops by that amount. The reason stays with the booking and appears in the deposits report.

A capture can never exceed what was held.

Releasing​

Release deposit hold gives it back. On a card hold that is instant from your side; how quickly the customer's bank shows the money as available again is up to their bank, usually a day or two.

Holds do not last forever​

A card hold has a lifetime. After a while the bank releases it whether or not anyone asked. ReservationBay releases expired holds itself rather than letting them lapse quietly, so your records say what actually happened.

That matters for long rentals: a hold placed in April for a rental returning in July may not survive the whole period. For long rentals, a cash deposit or a charge-and-refund is the sturdier choice.

Deposits and your numbers​

  • A deposit is never counted as revenue, anywhere. Not on the dashboard, not in the revenue report.
  • The deposits report shows what was held, returned and kept in a period, with the damage behind each withholding.
  • On a booking, the deposit is its own line in the payment summary, separate from the rental total.