For barbershop owners
Onboarding & Pricing FAQ
Everything a barbershop owner needs to know before joining TressTime: how setup works, what "1% deposit platform fee, no monthly cost" actually means, and what it costs you in practice.
Last updated: August 10, 2026
Getting started
- 1 Create your account and shop. Just the basics — shop name, address, and contact details. No payment or card information needed at this stage.
- 2 Your shop is reviewed. New shops are checked by our team before they go live. Once approved, you're visible to customers.
- 3 Add your services, team, and hours. A shop needs at least one service, one active barber, and a working-hours schedule before customers can actually book you.
- 4 You're live — on the Free plan, no payment setup required. Customers can find and book you, and pay you directly in-shop, exactly as before.
- 5 Optional: connect a payment account to take online deposits. This is the only reason you'd ever need to set one up — nothing else on TressTime requires it.
What does "1% deposit platform fee, no monthly cost" mean?
"No monthly cost" means exactly that: the Free plan is £0 forever, with no trial, no invoice, nothing to cancel. The "1% deposit platform fee" is the only way TressTime ever earns anything from a Free-plan shop, and it only applies in one specific situation.
The fee only applies when a customer pays a deposit online, through the app.
It's 1% of the service price, taken automatically from that online deposit at the moment it's paid. If a customer pays you fully in-shop — cash, your own card machine, however you already take payment — TressTime is never part of that transaction, so there is nothing to take a cut of.
Free vs Pro
Upgrading only changes the deposit fee rate and adds a handful of extras. It doesn't turn deposits on for you, and it isn't required to use TressTime.
Free
£0 /month, forever
Everything you need to get listed, take bookings, and run your shop.
Get started free- Listed & bookable on TressTime
- Staff, services & schedule management
- 1% deposit platform fee
- Standard search placement
- Basic analytics
Pro
£19 /month, cancel anytime
Lower fees and growth tools for shops ready to scale up.
Get started, upgrade anytimeEverything in Free, plus
- 0.3% deposit platform fee (down from 1%)
- Priority search placement
- Full analytics
- Discount codes for customers
- Barber commission tracking
- Customer win-back campaigns
See full feature comparison
| Free | Pro — £19/month | |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly cost | £0 | £19, cancel anytime |
| Listed & bookable on TressTime | Yes | Yes |
| Staff, services & schedule management | Yes | Yes |
| Deposit platform fee | 1% | 0.3% |
| Search placement | Standard | Priority |
| Analytics | Basic | Full |
| Discount codes for customers | — | Yes |
| Barber commission tracking | — | Yes |
| Customer win-back campaigns | — | Yes |
When does the fee apply — and when doesn't it?
| Situation | Platform fee? |
|---|---|
| Customer pays fully in-shop, no online deposit | No fee |
| Customer pays an online deposit, appointment goes ahead | Fee applies to that deposit |
| Customer pays a deposit, then cancels in time and is refunded | Customer gets a full refund — the platform fee is not refunded |
That last row matters: on a cancelled-and-refunded booking, you provide no service and refund the customer in full, but TressTime's fee on that deposit is already taken and isn't reversed.
Worked example: a £35 haircut
Say your standard price is £35 and, where a deposit applies, it's set to 10%.
| No deposit, pay in-shop | 10% deposit — Free | 10% deposit — Pro | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Service price | £35.00 | £35.00 | £35.00 |
| Paid online (deposit) | £0.00 | £3.50 | £3.50 |
| TressTime platform fee | £0.00 | −£0.35 (1%) | −£0.11 (0.3%) |
| Card processing fee (your payment provider, not TressTime) | — | Small, variable | Small, variable |
| Balance paid to you in-shop | £35.00 | £31.50 | £31.50 |
| You keep, before card fees | £35.00 | £34.65 | £34.89 |
Other things worth knowing
Deposits are off by default
You choose whether to require a deposit at all, and you can only turn it on once your payment account is fully verified and ready to receive payouts. Nothing is switched on automatically, and upgrading to Pro doesn't turn it on for you either.
One exception: repeat no-shows
If a specific customer racks up several cancellations at your shop within a year, TressTime may require a deposit from that customer specifically on their next booking with you — regardless of your own settings. It's a protection against serial no-shows, not a way to generate fees.
Discount codes reduce the fee too
If a customer books with a discount code, both the deposit and TressTime's fee are calculated on the discounted price, not the full price. A discount lowers TressTime's cut along with your revenue — it's never calculated against the original price.
Deposit and cancellation rules that apply to customers are covered in full in our Cancellation & Deposit Policy. Still have a question? Get in touch and we'll help directly.