August 20, 2026 · Improvement Calendars

Clearer Calendar Card-on-File and $0 Booking Handling

Calendar payments now separate card-on-file collection from free bookings, reducing unnecessary card requests and $0 transactions.

SMBcrm Team · August 20, 2026

Clearer Calendar Card-on-File and $0 Booking Handling

SMBcrm has improved calendar payment handling to make the difference between collecting a card on file and taking no payment clearer.

Previously, a $0 payment amount could be used when a business wanted to collect a customer’s card details without charging them. That created an unintended experience when a booking became free, such as after a 100% discount coupon. In those cases, customers could still be asked to enter card details, and a $0 transaction could be processed.

What changed

Calendar Payment settings now include a dedicated Collect Card on File option.

When Collect Card on File is enabled:

Customers are asked to provide card details during booking.
The card is saved for future use.
The customer is not charged while booking the appointment.
No payment transaction is created during booking.

This gives businesses a clearer way to collect a card without requiring an upfront payment.

How $0 and free bookings are handled

When Charge upfront is enabled, payment collection now depends on the final amount due:

If the final amount is greater than $0, SMBcrm collects payment details and processes the payment normally.
If the configured amount is $0, SMBcrm skips card collection and payment entirely.
If a coupon reduces the amount to $0, SMBcrm skips card collection and payment entirely.
If a coupon leaves an amount greater than $0, SMBcrm collects the discounted amount normally.

This means customers making a genuinely free booking are no longer asked for unnecessary payment details or sent through a $0 transaction.

For teams using calendar checkout and payment collection together, this update makes Payments & Commerce behavior more explicit and easier to manage.