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Two things every busy booking business needs: somewhere to put customers when a slot is full, and a policy for late cancellations. BillBasket’s Appointments module handles both — a waitlist you can promote from when a space opens, and a cancellation policy with an optional fee.

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Understanding the fields

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Waitlist

When a slot is full, the booking form offers Join waiting list instead of booking. A waitlist entry records the customer, the service, and the desired time. From the Waitlist screen you can then:
  • Book (promote) — turn a waiting entry into a real appointment when a space opens. BillBasket re-checks capacity at that moment, so it won’t let you promote into a slot that’s since filled again.
  • Remove — take someone off the list (they found another time, etc.).
The queue is shown oldest-first, so the customer who waited longest is at the top.

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Cancellation policy

Set once for the business, from the Bookable services screen’s policy editor:
  • Cancellation window (hours) — how far ahead a customer must cancel to avoid a fee. A cancellation inside this window counts as late.
  • Cancellation fee (%) — the fee for a late cancellation, as a percentage of the booking’s price. The two settings work together: the window decides whether a fee applies, and the percentage decides how much.
When you cancel a single booking inside the window, BillBasket shows the computed fee (price × fee %) for you to confirm and records it on the booking. Cancelling a whole repeating series at once skips the fee.

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See it on your device

The Waiting list panel — empty here, but this is exactly where a customer lands when a slot is full, ready to be promoted (Book) or removed once you check back.
Waiting list panel for appointments with no slot available
The Cancellation policy editor, set once for the whole business — the cancellation window in hours, the fee as a percentage of the booking price, and how far ahead upcoming bookings surface in the Reminders queue.
Cancellation policy editor with cancellation window, fee percentage, and reminder timing

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Try it: James Spa

1

Add a customer to the waitlist

A client wants 5:00 PM but both massage rooms are booked. James Fernandes taps Join waiting list on the booking form so the client is queued for that time.
2

Promote them when a slot frees

An earlier client cancels, so James opens the Waitlist, taps Book on the waiting client — BillBasket re-checks the room is genuinely free and turns the entry into a real appointment.
3

Set a cancellation policy

To cut down on last-minute drop-offs, James opens the policy editor and sets a 24-hour window with a 50% fee.
4

A late cancellation applies the fee

When a client cancels two hours before their slot — inside the window — BillBasket shows the 50% fee for James to confirm and records it on the booking.