How to Collect a Deposit with Partial Payments in Sparkforge

Partial payments let you secure bookings with a deposit upfront and collect the rest later. The setting works on every calendar type and lives inside the calendar's Forms & Payments section.

How partial payments record

When a booker pays a deposit, two records are created:

• Transaction — the deposit charged at booking.
• Invoice (Draft) — the remaining balance (Total − Deposit). You send this invoice manually when it's time to collect.

Set it up

1. Connect a payment gateway. Stripe, Authorize.net, or NMI under Payments > Integrations.
2. Open your calendar settings and go to Forms & Payments.
3. Toggle on Accept Payments.
4. Set the total amount and currency for the appointment or service.
5. Check Accept Partial Payment.
6. Pick the deposit type — flat amount or percent of total.
7. Enter the deposit value. If percent, the system calculates against the total.
8. Add a description if you want context shown to the booker.
9. Save.

Collect the remaining balance

After the deposit posts, the balance sits as a draft invoice under Payments > Invoices. Open the draft, send it to the booker, and the system handles the rest of the charge through your gateway.

This step is manual today. The product roadmap includes automating it.

Why use it

A deposit cuts no-shows hard. Bookers see the full price up front but only commit a deposit — lower friction than full prepay, more skin in the game than free booking.