What booking software actually costs you

Booking software is usually sold one of two ways, and the difference between them is not the number on the invoice. It is what the number is attached to.

The two shapes

A monthly subscription. Predictable, and that is the appeal. The catch is that it bills you whether you booked anybody or not — a quiet month costs the same as a busy one. In a business where January is not December, that is a real risk.

A commission. Nothing up front, which feels safer. But a commission is usually charged on every booking that comes through, not only on the clients the platform introduced you to. You pay for your own regulars twice: once for the work, once for the software that recorded it.

There is a third shape, which is what we do: you pay for the payment, and nothing else.

Run the arithmetic on your own prices

Take the most expensive thing you sell.

• A ₦30,000 booking — knotless braids, or a full day's work — carries a card fee of 1.5%, which is ₦450.
• You keep ₦29,550.
• The platform's commission is ₦0.

That fee is capped at ₦2,000 per order. Not per month, not per client — per order. A single large booking costs the same to process as any other once it is past that ceiling, so the fee never scales with the size of the work.

Do it with your own highest price. Multiply it by whatever commission you are being quoted, then look at it across a month of bookings. The percentage sounds small and the total rarely is.

Also ask about the payout

What a platform takes is only half of what it costs. The other half is when you actually get it, and what it costs to move.

• When does it settle? On Bookwik the share settles into your account the same day, and the bank transfer usually lands within the hour.
• What is the transfer fee? A flat ₦50 per payout here. A percentage payout fee is a second commission wearing a different hat.
• What happens to small balances? Ours wait until they reach ₦1,050, so the transfer fee does not eat them.

What to ask before you sign

1. Is the fee per booking or per month?
2. Is the commission charged on all my bookings, or only the ones you brought me?
3. Is there a cap on it, and is the cap per order or per month?
4. When does the money reach my bank, and what does the transfer cost?
5. What happens in a month where I book nobody?

Any vendor should be able to answer all five in a sentence each. The answers that take three paragraphs are the ones that cost you money.

Our answers

No commission. No monthly fee. Free to join. The only deduction is the card fee — 1.5%, capped at ₦2,000 per order — and it is the payment provider's, not ours. Payouts settle the same day, with a flat ₦50 transfer.

Request early access and we will set your page up with you.