Questions and answers
Questions operators ask before they sign up
Short answers about fees, payouts, held places, health forms and using Pencilled on your own site. The features page has more detail on each part.
Fees and payouts
What does Pencilled cost?
- There is no set-up fee and no monthly fee. Pencilled takes a platform fee of 5% of each card payment made through it, and Stripe charges its own card processing fees on top.
How do I get paid?
- You connect your own Stripe account from the dashboard settings, and card payments are made to that account. Stripe pays them out to you. Pencilled takes its platform fee from each payment as it is made, so there is nothing to invoice.
Do I need a Stripe account?
- Yes, to take card payments, but you do not need one before you sign up. Connecting from the dashboard settings creates a Stripe account for your business and takes you through Stripe's own onboarding, which includes its identity and bank checks.
Can I refund a booking?
- Yes. From the bookings screen you can refund a booking, and a card payment is returned to the customer through Stripe, along with the platform fee on that payment. If Stripe refuses the refund, the booking stays as it was. Your refund policy is yours to set and to state on your event.
Sessions and bookings
What can I sell with Pencilled?
- Anything that books by the session, such as workshops, tastings, guided tours, wild swims, saunas and ice baths. Each session has its own start time, capacity and price per person.
What happens if someone starts to book but does not pay?
- Their places are held for 15 minutes while they pay. If the payment is not made in that time, the places go back on the session and the next person on the waitlist, if there is one, is emailed.
How many people can book at once?
- Up to four places in one booking. The customer gives one name and email address for the booking.
What if a session sells out?
- Customers can join a waitlist for it. When a place opens up, the next person on the list is emailed. The email does not hold the place, so whoever books first gets it.
Can I take bookings on the day without a signal?
- Yes. Kiosk mode lets you take a walk-in booking on a tablet. It is saved on the tablet first and sent when the connection returns, and each booking is only created once even if the tablet retries.
Customer information
Can I collect health or allergy information before a session?
- Yes. You build a questionnaire from short and long answers, yes or no questions, choices, dates and declarations, and each attendee gets their own link to complete it. You can read the responses by event and download them as a CSV.
Do customers need an account to book?
- No. They give a name and an email address and pay. They can sign in to an account with a code sent to their email, which lists their bookings and tickets and any forms still to complete.
Your own website
Can I put the booking page on my own website?
- Yes. Add one script tag with your operator and event slugs and the booking page appears in a frame that resizes to fit. You can also link straight to the page.
Is there an API?
- There is a read-only JSON API for your published events and their sessions, including how many places are left. Any website can read from it. You can also set a webhook address to be told when your events change.
Something not covered here? Email hello@pencilled.app.
Get started freeKeep reading
- FeaturesWhat Pencilled does, from bulk session schedules to check-in, and how each part behaves.
- SaunasShort back-to-back sessions, a hard cap on bench places and card payments.
- Ice bathsShort dips, small tubs and a health declaration before anyone gets in.
- WorkshopsSell places by the session and collect what you need to know before people arrive.
Ready to try it?
Create an account, add an event and share the booking link.
Free to set up. 5% platform fee on card payments.