A package is a set of visits paid for once. Six visits for the price of five. The customer buys it, then each visit uses one session until they're gone. It's the easiest way to lock in repeat visits and get paid up front.
Make a package
Go to Services & products → Packages and choose New package.
- What's in it. One or more of your services, each with a number of sessions. Six of the same service, or three of one and three of another.
- Price. One number, GST included. Underneath, the sheet tells you what those visits would cost booked one at a time and what saving your customers will see. If you price it above that, it still sells, just without a saving shown. A service priced "from" counts at its from price, so the saving reads "save at least".
- Use within. How long they have from the day they buy: 6 months to 2 years, 3 years, or never. It's shown to the customer every time. A package sold at full price has to last three years, like a gift card; price it below the menu to choose a shorter time.
- A missed visit uses a session. On to start with. A late cancellation can use one too; that's off to start with.
Pause a package to take it off sale without losing it. Archive it when you're done with it; anyone who already has one keeps their sessions.
Sell one in person
At the customer's checkout, or on a new sale from the plus button, choose Add item → Packages. The package goes on the bill at its price. If today's visit is one of the services in it, that service offers a session from the new package, switched off: turn it on if today counts as the first session. A package the customer already holds covers its service straight away. A package always belongs to a person, so name the customer first on a walk-in sale.
Their receipt carries the package: what's in it, the use-by date, and the same invitation a customer gets when they buy online, to create their BeNotely account so they can see what's left any time and book in one tap. Someone who already has an account sees their package there straight away.
Sell online
Switch Sell online on in the package and, once payments are on, a Buy a package row appears on your booking page and a Packages link on your website. Customers see what's in each package, the price, the saving when there is one, and how long it lasts.
They pay by card, and the package lands on their record the same way as one sold in person. They get an email with a tax invoice attached, their package link, and an invitation to create their BeNotely account so they can see what's left any time and book in one tap. Nobody is signed up without asking; a customer who'd rather not keeps the link.
You hear about it too: a notification when a package sells online, and the sale in Payments like any other.
When they come in
A customer logged in, or booking from the link in their package email, has the visit covered when they book: the service shows at $0 and a session is held for it. Your own New booking offers Use a session for any service their package covers.
Open the visit's checkout. Any service their package covers shows Use a session, with how many they have left. It's already switched on when the visit was booked with a session, or is one of a repeat booking; otherwise turn it on. Switched on, that line is $0. Switch it off if they'd rather pay today and keep the session. Each session pays for one line: when another line has taken their last one, the switch says 0 sessions left until that line is switched off.
The receipt says the visit was covered by their package and how many sessions are left.
What they have left
Open the customer and choose the Packages tab. Each package shows what's left, when it runs out, and its history. From the menu on each one you can send them their package link by email or SMS, add or take away sessions with a note, extend the expiry, or change what a session covers.
When a package is about to expire
Every package carries its use-by date from the day it was sold. About 30 days before, a customer with sessions still to use gets one heads-up with what's left and their link to book. It rides your notification settings under Settings → Messages → Packages: email on to begin with, SMS if you'd like it too, and it follows the customer's own preference like a visit reminder. Nobody with nothing left is nudged.
On the day after the use-by date the package expires: what was left is marked expired on its history and the package stops covering visits. To give them more time, open the customer's Packages tab and choose Extend expiry; the sessions come straight back.
Your Today page shows how many packages run out in the next 30 days with sessions to use, so a call can fill the diary.
The Packages report
Reports → Packages tells the money story. Sold in the period, online and in person, with what it brought in. Sessions used at visits, each valued at what was paid for it: the package price spread over its sessions. And the number an accountant asks for: what's still owed right now, the visits customers have paid for and not yet had, at what they paid. Expiring soon is listed by name; expired packages that still held sessions are counted, never hidden.
A covered visit bills $0 on the day, so the By staff and By service reports count it at its session's worth, and the Sales report names package money on its own line.
In the app
In the BeNotely app, open More, then Services & products, then Packages. Tap a package to change it, or + to add one. The ⋯ on a package holds Pause and Archive. Customers' packages, at the top of the list, shows everyone's packages, each with its own ⋯ (send their link, adjust sessions, extend, cancel). ⋯ beside the search holds Issue without payment, Import package sessions, Change the order and Archived. To sell one, open the customer, then Packages, + and Sell a package: New sale opens for them, and the package is on the menu under Add an item.
Bringing packages across
Switching from another platform? The packages you sell come across with your price list, and the sessions your customers still have come in from your old system's export under Services & products → Packages → Import package sessions. For one customer at a time, open their profile, choose Packages → Issue without payment, pick the package, choose From my old system, and enter how many sessions they have left and the date it runs out. No money is recorded either way. See Import your packages.
FAQs
Does a package count in my sales?
Yes, on the day it's sold, with GST. The visits it covers later add nothing, so the money is never counted twice.
What happens to a package if I archive a service in it?
The package comes off sale until you edit it. Customers with sessions left can still use them, and you can change what a session covers from their profile.
Can I cancel a package?
Yes, any package: open the customer's Packages tab and choose Cancel package from its menu, with a reason for the record. What's left is taken away, and their package page says it was cancelled. Sessions already used stay on the record. Tell the customer is on, so they get an email saying the package has been cancelled; switch it off if you've already spoken to them. Cancelling never moves money: the sale stays in Payments, and that is where you undo or adjust it, or refund an online payment, if you decide to.
Can I refund a package bought online?
Yes, from its payment in Payments, for any amount, like every online payment. Refund part of it and the package stays as it is. Refund all of it and the package is cancelled: sessions already used stay on the record, and whatever is left is taken away. Either way the money goes back to their card and they get an email with the updated invoice.
Can I refund a package?
A package follows its sale, so a refund works the way every sale does. While no session has been used, open the sale in Payments and undo it, or adjust it and remove the package line: the package is cancelled, and you give the money back the way it came. Once a session has been used, the sale stands.