Sell Bookings through FluentCart

If you already sell products with FluentCart, you don’t want a second checkout, a second set of gateways and a second place to look for orders. Pick FluentCart checkout on a service and the booking goes into a normal FluentCart cart. Customers pay with the gateways, tax rules and checkout page you already run, and each booking becomes a FluentCart order.

What You Need

• FluentCart 1.6.5 or later, active on the same site.
• A checkout page set in FluentCart, with at least one payment gateway.
• The same currency in FluentCart as in Bookings → Settings → General. Checkout is refused if they differ.

You don’t need Stripe keys in Core Bookings for FluentCart payments. GT Extensions for FluentCart is optional. Bookings use native FluentCart carts, so its checkout enhancements work when it’s installed and nothing breaks when it isn’t.

Set Up a Service

1. Open the service in Bookings → Services.
2. Set Payment method to FluentCart checkout, then set the Price and Due at booking (%).
3. Add optional extras if you want them (below), and click Save service.
4. Open Bookings → Settings → Setup checks. The FluentCart checkout row should say Ready. If FluentCart is active but its checkout page isn’t set, or it’s older than 1.6.5, the row tells you.

What the Customer Sees

The booking form notes that taxes, shipping and any extra checkout options are shown in FluentCart before payment. After the customer books, their time is held for about 32 minutes and Continue to payment opens your FluentCart checkout with the booking already in the cart.

Core Bookings protects that booking line so the price you agreed is the price paid:

• The booking must stay in the cart at its quantity and price. A coupon or extension can’t discount it. Other items, fees and shipping are still FluentCart’s to manage.
• The customer must check out with the email on the booking. If they’re logged in, their account email must match too.
• Checkout has to start from Continue to payment on the customer’s private booking page. A booking item moved into some other cart is refused.
• An expired hold can’t be paid. FluentCart carts don’t expire on their own, so Core Bookings refuses the payment and asks the customer to choose another time.

Once FluentCart marks the order paid, Core Bookings checks it against the booking and confirms it. A paid order that arrives after the time was taken, or only partly paid, goes to payment review.

Add Optional Extras

Extras let customers add something to the booking at checkout, like a written report or a companion course. They only work with FluentCart. In the service’s FluentCart optional extras section, click Add extra and fill in a Key, Name, Price and, if you like, a Variation ID.

• Up to ten extras per service, each at least 0.50.
• Leave Variation ID empty for a custom extra. Fill it in to add a real FluentCart product, which must be a published, one-time digital product at the same price. Subscriptions and bundles aren’t allowed.
• Customers tick the extras they want under Optional extras in the booking form. They start unticked.
• Extras are charged once per request, even for a recurring series, and paid in full with the deposit.

Deposits, Packs and Memberships

• Deposits: after a deposit is paid, the booking page offers Pay remaining balance. It opens a separate one-item FluentCart cart for exactly that amount, which stays open until it’s paid or replaced. Tips aren’t available on FluentCart balances.
• Session packs: packs on a FluentCart service are bought through a one-item FluentCart cart. Credits activate when the order is paid. See session packs and memberships.
• Memberships: plans can be sold as FluentCart subscriptions with FluentCart Pro.

Refunds, Tax and Invoices

FluentCart owns the order, so refunds, tax and invoices happen there:

• Refund from the FluentCart order. The appointment panel doesn’t offer a refund button for FluentCart bookings.
• FluentCart records refunds per item, and Core Bookings reads only the booking’s share. Refunding an extra leaves the booking paid. A partial refund of the booking shows as partially refunded with the exact amount.
• An order-level refund that FluentCart didn’t split across items is flagged for review instead of guessed.
• FluentCart applies its own tax settings, not your Core Bookings tax rates. With the Taxes module on, the customer’s invoice or receipt link points to their FluentCart order page.

FluentCart’s account creation and guest checkout rules apply as you’ve set them in FluentCart.