Every booking paid as it is made, with the card fee known to the penny and already in the price

The fee to plan for

With wai Checkout, the booking page carries no wai subscription or setup fee.⁵ Card payments are processed through the clinic's own Stripe account, and Stripe's fee is the cost of each payment.⁴

Stripe states that its standard pricing has no setup fees and no monthly fees, and charges per successful transaction.¹ The clinic pays when money arrives.

The published rates

For an account in the UK, Stripe's standard published rates read on 14 October 2026 were 1.5% + 20p for standard UK cards and 2.8% + 20p for premium UK cards.² Cards issued in the European Economic Area were 2.5% + 20p, international cards 3.15% + 20p, and 2% more applied where currency conversion was needed.²

For an account in the US, the published rate was 2.9% + 30¢ per successful domestic card payment, with 1.5% more for international cards and 1% more where currency conversion was needed.¹ Manually entered cards carried 0.5% more.¹

Stripe's price lists show domestic cards and digital wallets together, so an Apple Pay payment is priced as the card behind it.² Rates change by country and can be negotiated at higher volumes, so confirm the rate in the clinic's own Stripe account.

What a booking costs to take

A £150 consultation paid with a standard UK card costs £2.25 plus 20p, so £2.45, and the clinic receives £147.55. The same visit on a premium UK card costs £4.40. A $250 visit on a domestic US card costs $7.25 plus 30¢, so $7.55.

A £150 visit paid with an international card costs about £4.93 before any currency conversion, and a $250 visit on an international card in the US about $11.30. With many visiting patients, model the clinic's own mix of cards.

Which payment methods to offer

wai Checkout takes credit cards and Apple Pay, so a patient on a phone can pay with a fingerprint or a glance and finish the booking in three taps.⁴ Card details never touch wai's servers.⁴

Start with cards and Apple Pay, and add another method when patients ask for it by name, so the page stays short and reconciliation stays simple. Our guide to booking with payment at the same step covers how fewer steps complete more bookings.

Price the fee in

In the UK, regulation 6A of the Consumer Rights (Payment Surcharges) Regulations 2012 says a payee must not charge a payer any fee for paying with a consumer card, a rule inserted from 13 January 2018.³

In the US, surcharging rules differ by state and by card network. Everywhere, set the published price so the fee is already inside it, and show one clear price beside each service.

Stripe charges no fee to issue a card refund on standard pricing, and the processing fee on the original payment stays with Stripe.¹ Offering to move an appointment keeps the patient booked and the fee working.

Where to start

Open the clinic's Stripe account and note the rates it shows for domestic, premium and international cards. Pull last quarter's bookings, estimate the share of international patients, and calculate the average fee per visit.

Check that every published price absorbs that fee, and write a cancellation policy that offers a move before a refund. Then connect the account to the booking page. Our guide to adding online booking covers the install, and reconciling bookings and payments covers what happens after the money lands. Every booking then arrives paid, with the fee already inside the price.

Frequently asked questions