Security Deposits

A security deposit is a refundable damage deposit. It is not revenue — it is money you are holding that mostly goes back.

Not the same as a booking deposit

A booking deposit is a down payment against the rental fee; it reduces what they owe. A security deposit is held against damage and is returned, deducted from, or forfeited after the event. Both can exist on the same booking.

The three modes

Collected

The deposit is taken as money — a line item on the invoice, flagged as a security deposit so it stays out of your revenue figures. After the event you refund it.

Refunds go back by:

• Original payment method — straight back through Stripe to the card or bank account
• Check — recorded with the check number
• ACH — a bank transfer

Use collected mode when: you want the money in hand, the renter is new to you, or the amount is large relative to the rental.

Card hold

Instead of charging, the product authorizes the amount against a card on file. The money is never taken; it is ring-fenced on the renter's card.

• Authorize a day or two before the event
• Capture some or all of it if there is damage
• Release it if there is not

Use hold mode when: you would rather not move money you expect to give back, and the renter has a card on file.

Card authorizations expire. The product warns you before a hold lapses so you can capture or re-authorize rather than losing it silently.

Term deposit

One deposit covering a whole rental agreement rather than a single event — the gymnastics club that is in every Tuesday until December.

It is charged, not held, because a card authorization lapses in about a week and a term runs for a year. Collected when the renter signs their agreement, charged to a card on file, or recorded by hand when a check turns up — and returned from the agreement itself at the end of the term, by refund to the original card, check, or bank transfer.

A term deposit is not attached to any one booking, so it appears on this screen with no booking against it.

Use term mode when: the renter signs once for the year and you want one deposit rather than one per visit.

The Security Deposits screen

Every deposit across the account: renter, booking, amount held, status, return-due date, and — for holds — the authorization state and expiry. Term deposits show no booking, because they cover an agreement rather than one event.

Filter by status and by return-due date. The overdue list is what you work through the week after a busy weekend.

Status

Status	Meaning
held	You have the money or the authorization
partial_refund	Some deducted, the rest returned
full_refund	All of it returned
forfeited	Kept in full
returned	Given back in full

Deductions

When there is damage, record a deduction with a reason. The reason is not optional in practice — it is what appears on the renter's record, on their portal, and in any conversation that follows.

The deposit then settles as a partial refund (deduct, return the rest) or a forfeit (keep it all).

Return-due tracking

Each deposit carries a due for return date — commonly a week or two after the event, whatever your policy says. The product reminds you as it approaches, and the outstanding list is on the dashboard action items widget.

This is the piece that usually goes wrong on a spreadsheet. A deposit you forgot to return is a phone call you did not want.

Defaults

Set a default security deposit amount in Settings → Payments & Stripe so it fills itself in on new bookings, and override it per booking where the risk is different.