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Setting up payment rules

Learn how to create and configure pre-payment rules in Eat App's Table Manager, including payment collection types, capture methods, terms, and how to assign rules to shifts, events, or preferences to require payment from guests at the time of online booking.

To set up a pre-payment rule, log in to the Table Manager and navigate to Availability → Pre-payment from the left-side bar, and click New Payment Rule.

add payment rule

This page allows you to create custom payment rules that can be assigned to specific shifts, events, or preferences.

Payment rule fields

payment rules field-1

  1. Payment Rule Name Give your payment rule a descriptive name (e.g., $10 deposit for Friday Brunch).
  2. Redirect URL (optional) Enter the URL where guests will be redirected after a successful payment.
  3. Collect Payment On Choose how the payment is collected. Select from three options:
    • Reservation – A fixed charge applied per booking
    • Covers – A charge applied per guest in the reservation
    • Tickets & Addons – Guest selects and pays for tickets (priced per person) and/or addons (priced per item). (See Tickets & Addons)
  4. When Do You Want to Capture the Payment? Choose when the payment is processed. Available options may vary depending on your payment provider:
    Note: If a capture option or method isn't showing in the list, check with your payment provider to confirm if it's supported or can be enabled from your account settings.
    • Capture Immediately – Payment is charged at the time of booking
    • Pre-authorize and capture when I want (expires after 6 days) – Reserves the guest's funds without charging them immediately. 
      • The guest will see a pending charge on their bank statement right away, but they are not actually charged yet.
      • You manually capture (collect) the payment when ready. If not captured within 6 days, the hold expires, the pending charge disappears, and no payment is collected.
  5. Amount (Reservation & Covers only) Enter the amount you want to charge the guest.
  6. Minimum Number of Covers to Activate the Rule Set the minimum party size required to trigger the payment rule. Set to 0 if payment is required regardless of party size.
  7. Attach Discount (optional) Attach an existing discount to be applied alongside this payment rule.
  8. Addons (Priced Per Item) (optional) Add optional items guests can purchase at checkout, each priced individually.
  9. Payment Terms Enter any terms and conditions you want communicated to the guest at the payment page, SMS and email. You can also use Add Variable to insert dynamic values such as reservation date or party size, making the message personalized to each booking. Basic math operations are also supported and can be found at the bottom of the variable list.
  10. Auto-Cancellation Period Defines how long guests have to complete payment before their reservation is automatically cancelled. Set to Do Not Cancel to disable this.

Tickets & Addons

When Tickets & Addons is selected as the collection type, the amount field is replaced by:

  • Tickets (Per Person) – Add one or more ticket types, each priced per guest. Click Add Ticket to create a ticket option.
  • Addons (Priced Per Item) – Add optional items guests can purchase at checkout. Click Add Item to create an addon.

Activating the Rule

Check Payment Rule Active to make the rule available for use, then click Create Payment Rule.

Once created, the rule can be assigned to any shift, event, or preference. To attach it, scroll to the bottom of the shift or preference window where the Attach a payment to this shift or preference option is located.

Guests will now be prompted to complete payment whenever they make an online reservation that falls within that shift.