Barber booking software for bookings, walk-ins and the till

Most barbers got into the trade for the craft, not the admin, chasing no-shows on text, scrawling walk-ins on a sticky note, juggling a card reader and a cash drawer, and trying to remember whose punch card was on its ninth cut. OneBookPlus pulls the whole shop into one app so the business runs itself around your chair. Here's how every part of a barbershop day comes together.

Bookings and the walk-in queue

New clients find you on Instagram, Google, or a mate's recommendation, and land on your branded booking page. They pick a barber, a service, skin fade, beard trim, hot-towel shave, kids' cut, and a time that suits, on your real-time availability. You can require a deposit at booking so the slot is genuinely locked in. But barbershops live on walk-ins too, and OneBookPlus runs a live walk-in queue right alongside the appointment book: add a walk-in, the system SMSs them their place in line so they can wait at the café instead of the doorway, and when your booked client's done the next walk-in is already at the top of the list. A busy Saturday with both booked clients and a stream of walk-ins stays calm and visible instead of chaotic.

Deposits and no-show protection

No-shows are the quiet killer of a barbershop's day, an empty 9am chair is revenue you never get back. OneBookPlus lets you take a deposit at the time of booking and set a cancellation window; a late cancel or no-show keeps that deposit rather than refunding it, so an empty chair still earns you something, and you invoice manually for anything owed beyond the deposit. A clear, enforced policy does most of the work: once clients know a deposit is on the line, they turn up or they reschedule properly. Combined with an automatic SMS or email reminder before the appointment, the empty-chair problem is much smaller.

Point of sale and retail

When the cut's done, you take payment at the chair. The till rings up the cut and any retail on the same sale, whether that's a tin of pomade, a bottle of beard oil, or a wax, and you take the card on the terminal you already use and record the tender against it. Tapping the client's card on the phone itself is not live: Tap to Pay on iPhone is built but stays switched off in the public app until Apple grants the distribution entitlement. Every sale produces a GST-compliant receipt with your ABN, texted to the client on the spot, and both service and retail takings flow into one set of books rather than a card reader on one side and a cash tin on the other. At close, the day's total reconciles itself, with tips tracked per barber so the end-of-day split is fair and obvious.

Loyalty, rosters and growth

Keeping a chair full is about regulars coming back and new clients finding you. The digital loyalty card replaces the cardboard punch card, a reward like a free tenth cut applies itself automatically, so regulars feel looked after without anyone tracking tallies by hand. For multi-barber shops, you can roster each barber, let them see their own chair schedule, and approve shift swaps from your phone. After a great cut, OneBookPlus can automatically request a Google review at the right moment, so your five-star reputation does the selling when someone searches "barber near me." Email and SMS campaigns bring quiet clients back with an offer, and the dashboard shows exactly where the shop stands, bookings, takings, retention, at any point in the day.

GST, the $75,000 threshold and BAS without the shoebox

Most barbers start below the GST registration threshold: a sole trader with an ABN, no GST on the price of a cut, and no BAS to lodge. The shift comes when turnover passes $75,000 a year, often quietly, because a busy chair at typical cut prices gets there faster than people expect. From that point every service and every tin of pomade carries 10% GST, and the quarterly business activity statement (BAS) needs the GST you collected and the GST you paid on supplies, chair rent and stock. Because OneBookPlus records the GST on every sale as it happens, those figures accumulate through the quarter instead of being reconstructed from receipts. The free GST calculator splits any price into its GST and net components when you are setting the menu, and the sole trader tax calculator gives a rough view of what a year at your prices leaves after tax. General information, not tax advice; your accountant should confirm your registration position.

Pricing the chair: services, retail margin and card fees

A barbershop price list has to cover three things that never appear on it: the empty minutes between clients, the retail stock sitting on the shelf, and the card fees clipped off every tap. The hourly rate calculator works backwards from the income you want to the rate each chair hour has to earn, which is a more honest starting point than copying the shop down the road. On retail, the markup and margin calculator keeps the difference between the two straight when you price pomade and beard oil against wholesale cost. And if you are deciding whether to absorb card fees or pass them on, the card surcharge calculator shows what a compliant surcharge looks like at your volumes. For a broader platform comparison, the OneBookPlus vs Square comparison and the OneBookPlus vs Fresha comparison go line by line through fees and features.

Getting started

Sign up free, no credit card, no lock-in. OneBookPlus pre-configures your account for a barbershop with typical services and durations, your booking page, and an invoice template that carries your ABN. Import your client list via CSV from Square, Fresha, Booksy, or a spreadsheet, add your barbers, and set your deposit and cancellation rules. Most barbers have their booking link in their Instagram bio within minutes of signing up, and the commission and add-on fees from the old stack go back in your own pocket. If your shop leans more salon than barbershop, the hair salon software page covers colour services, longer appointments and rebooking.