With stored cards on Phorest Pay your client can skip the queue at the front desk and you can focus on welcoming your next appointment. Giving your clients that Uber like checkout experience. 

The benefits are numerous

• Offer a premium online and checkout service to all clients.
• Your reception area is less clogged enabling a proper focus on welcoming your clients to the salon. 
• Safeguard against “No Shows”. 
• Different service providers can get their split sent directly to their bank account.
• Clients see your service as seamless.

However there are some important things to bear in mind when availing of this feature:

1.    There are extra costs from the Card Brands for this convenience

When using a stored card to pay for an appointment, those transactions are considered “card-not-present” from the card brands (Visa, MasterCard, AmEx, etc…) because the card isn’t swiped or dipped.  The card brands add approximately 0.25%-0.40% to those transactions as they are deemed to have a greater chance of fraud than when a customer presents their card. 

What that means in dollar terms is that on a $100 ticket, using a stored card can lead to a processing fee approximately 25-cents to 40-cents extra  than normal.  As a salon, you have the ability to control your own costs and we recommend you swipe/dip the customer’s card for every transaction if you wish to keep your costs down. 

It is useful to know that Online Gift Card sales are also considered “card-not-present” as are using stored cards for No-Shows.  Most salons consider it the most effective option to use the stored card to capture a no-show fee, as paying 40-cents to get a $100 no show fee is considered well worth it.  

*Please note this extra card storage fee is universal across every processing platform and salon software, and is direct from the credit card companies (not Phorest or Phorest Pay). If you have any additional questions please reach out (email phorest@luxbp.com) and we can explain further.

2.    Card Not Present Transactions run a higher risk of a Chargeback
If there is a dispute with a client over a payment, the card brands will often side with the client unless the salon provides compelling evidence showing the cardholder was in the salon and received the services they are disputing.

Compelling evidence will include:

• Show a screenshot of the visit history in your Phorest software
• Show the confirmation email (Make sure your Phorest confirmation email template is utilizing a similar notice to this: “Please be aware that any credit or debit cards used to secure a booking online, or over the phone, or stored on file, may be used to pay for your visit or charge applicable no-show fees.”
• Make sure you have these same terms visible on your website 
• If the booking was made online, you can show that the person logged in with their personal email and password to make the booking
• Any client review or social media page posts may be used as evidence
• If you have before/after photos saved in the client profile you can submit these
• Camera footage from any CCTV is also compelling evidence to the client being at the salon
• All email or text message communications are also compelling evidence and should be supplied to support a transaction.
  
  
  Always remember, the FIRST step in any cardholder dispute should be an attempt to reach out to the client directly to attempt to rectify their issues.  If they are amiable, they can remove the dispute/chargeback and it will save work on everyone’s side, and remove the need for the formal paperwork with Visa/MC/AmEx.  If the cardholder/guest will not handle amicably, then we can take the steps above.
  
  

Full-card data is never stored in Phorest or on your computer, tablet, or phone. Instead, an encrypted token representing the cardholder’s card details is being stored and referenced in the transaction flow.