An online booking system fitted to the way your small business works

An online booking system shows eligible services and approved availability, collects the information needed for the appointment and confirms the next step. Depending on the platform and plan, it may also support payments, reminders, rescheduling, capacity, waitlists and reporting.

Not always. A sole trader with one appointment type may be well served by a free or low-cost booking page. Paid appointment booking software becomes more useful when you need multiple staff, locations, rooms, classes, deposits, custom questions, SMS, reporting or reliable connections to other systems, and that's where LUNA's done-for-you setup earns its cost.

Often, yes. LUNA checks the current product's booking page, API, native integrations, calendar sync and plan limits before recommending a replacement. A documented connection or process improvement is usually better than changing software without a clear reason.

Many platforms support deposits, prepayment or card capture through a connected payment provider, but availability, fees and refund handling vary. The cancellation and refund policy must be visible before the customer commits. See our guide to no-show fees in Australia before choosing the rule.

A deposit is a part-payment taken when the customer books, and it is usually subtracted from the final bill. Card on file saves the customer's card at booking without charging it, so a fee can be applied later if your policy allows. A cancellation-window fee applies when a booking is cancelled or missed inside a window you set, such as 24 hours. In every case the business sets its own cancellation policy and publishes it before the customer commits, and nothing is charged beyond what that policy states. LUNA Systems configures the flow to match the policy you choose. This is how the mechanics work, not legal advice. For the law, read can you charge a no-show fee in Australia.

As one example, Square Australia's own pricing page (checked 29-10-2026) lists a 2.2% processing rate for online payments made through Square Online, Online Checkout or its eCommerce API, on all three Square Appointments plans. It lists card on file on all three plans (Free, Plus and Premium), and "cancellation policy and fees", which lets a business collect card details at booking and charge a no-show or late-cancellation fee, on Plus and Premium only. Plans, rates and features change, so confirm them on the vendor's current page before you decide.

Take a $120 appointment with a 20% deposit. The deposit is 20% of $120, which is $24. The balance due at the appointment is $120 minus $24, which is $96. At a 2.2% card rate, as in the Square example above, the fee on the $24 deposit is 2.2% of $24, which is $0.53 (rounded), and on a fully prepaid $120 it would be 2.2% of $120, which is $2.64. This is arithmetic only. Your actual rate depends on your payment provider and plan.

It can make the appointment, policy, payment and rescheduling path clearer, and supported platforms can send reminders. The actual change depends on customer behaviour, timing, message delivery, the cancellation policy and whether availability is kept current. LUNA records the baseline and measures completed, cancelled and rescheduled bookings rather than promising a percentage.

Only what is reasonably necessary for the booking and next step. LUNA maps each field to a purpose, avoids collecting sensitive information without a valid reason and documents where the data moves. Healthcare practices should use the dedicated healthcare pathway.

Common connection points include Google Calendar, Outlook, Square Appointments, Calendly, Acuity, CRMs, websites, payment providers and job-management software. The exact answer depends on the product, subscription plan, permissions and whether the connection is one-way or two-way. LUNA verifies that before including it in scope. When a booking needs to start work in another system, such as creating a job, quote or invoice the booking tool can't create itself, that part is scoped as custom automation.

Timing depends on the number of services, staff, locations, calendars, resources, questions, payments, integrations and approval steps. LUNA provides a written scope after mapping the workflow, with separate stages for access, configuration, testing, launch and handover.

Software pricing varies from free booking pages to per-user, per-location or feature-tier subscriptions, plus payment and messaging fees. LUNA's setup cost for a booking system for small business depends on the workflow and connections required. We quote a written scope rather than publishing a one-size-fits-all service price.

Some platforms support classes, group capacity, recurring bookings, packages, processing time and multi-service appointments; others do not. Those requirements should be identified before choosing the tool because they often determine the product or subscription tier.

Yes, through the healthcare custom automation service. That pathway covers practice-software access, health information, administrative boundaries and human clinical oversight. This page is for non-medical service businesses.