Prepayments

What are Prepayments?

A prepayment is basically a credit on the client's account that can then be applied to a charge when registering a client internally for a class, event, therapy, daycare, etc.

How Does a Client Get a Prepayment?

There are a few ways a client can get a prepayment on their account.

You can manually enter one into the system manually by choosing the 'Prepayment' type in the Add a Transaction window.
When a client pays and there is an overpayment of any kind the remainder above what was owed would be applied to their account as a prepayment. For example, if the client registers for a class that costs $150 and they bring you $200 cash. You can enter the full $200 and $150 will be applied to the class cost and the remaining $50 will become prepayment that can be used on future registrations.
When a client drops from a class, if there is a payment that payment will be reclassified as a prepayment to be used on future registrations (if you choose to leave behind that payment).

How Does a Prepayment Get Used?

Once a client has a prepayment on their account, whenever you register them for a class, event or other service you will see a box that says Use Prepayment Balance. If you check that box then any prepayment they have on their account will be used for that registration. Currently, the prepayments can only be used internally and not by the clients through the Client Registration Portal.

What are Some Other Uses for Prepayments?

Besides the above scenarios, prepayments can also come in handy if you want clients to pay ahead for something like Daycare or Boarding. You can accept that payment as a prepayment and then you can apply it to each day, etc when you check the client in or out in the system.

If you sell gift certificates, you could 'redeem' that as a prepayment in the system and then apply the prepayment toward future registrations internally.

What is in Store for the Future of Prepayments?

Prepayments are the first step towards a few additions in DogBizPro. One of the next steps would be to allow clients to use these prepayments online during the registration process. Another would be to incorporate a real gift card option into DogBizPro where you can sell online gift certificates and/or printed ones that could automatically be redeemed and credited to the clients account.