Sammy Kennedy

For any service-based business taking deposits to secure appointments, you need to understand how merchant fees actually impact your profit.

Because when you split a payment into a 50% deposit and a 50% balance payment, you’re often paying two sets of fees.

Let’s say your provider charges:

1.75% + $0.30 per transaction

Most people focus on the 1.75%.

But they forget about the $0.30.

If your client pays in one transaction, you pay the $0.30 once.

If they pay a deposit and then the remaining balance later, you’ve now paid that $0.30 twice (so $0.60 total).

It doesn’t sound like much…

Until you multiply it across hundreds or thousands of transactions per year.

And that’s before we even start talking about the percentage fee.

Now, don’t get me wrong.

I absolutely recommend taking deposits!! In fact, I highly encourage it.

They protect your time, reduce no-shows and improve cash flow.

But if your booking software is processing those payments, it’s worth understanding exactly what they’re charging you.

👉 One option is to continue taking deposits through your booking system but process the remaining balance through a lower-cost EFTPOS provider.

For example, if you’re using a provider charging 2%+ online, but can process in-clinic payments through a provider charging closer to 1.1%, that difference can add up quickly over a year.

👉 Another option is collecting the next appointment deposit while the client is still in clinic which could be used with a lower cost eftpos provider than your booking system fees.

👉 Or keeping a set deposit amount stored on file that only gets charged if needed, reducing the number of transactions being processed.

The point isn’t to stop taking deposits.

The point is to understand the cost of convenience.

Because most business owners compare percentages.

Smart business owners calculate dollars.

And from 1st October, these fees are coming directly out of your profit.

That’s exactly why I added merchant fee calculations into my Profitable Pricing Calculator.

Because pricing isn’t just about what you charge.

It’s about what you keep.

Comment FEES and I’ll send you the details.

I compared some of the most common payment providers used in the beauty industry and here’s what they’re charging:

CommBank
• 1.1% per transaction
• $29.50/month terminal rental

NAB
• 1.15% per transaction
• $25/month terminal rental

Tyro
• 1.4% per transaction
• $29/month terminal rental

Zeller
• 1.4% per transaction
• $199 one-off terminal purchase
• No ongoing terminal rental

Square (In-Person)
• 1.6% per transaction

Timely Pay
• 1.75% per transaction
• Plus $0.30 per transaction

Square (Online)
• 2.2% per transaction

Fresha (In-Person)
• 2.29% per transaction
• Plus $0.20 per transaction
• Plus an additional $0.10 tap fee

Fresha (Online)
• 2.79% per transaction
• Plus $0.20 per transaction

The biggest mistake I see business owners make is comparing the percentages without calculating what those percentages actually cost them in dollars.

Because from 1 October, these fees are coming directly out of your profit.

And if you’re not factoring them into your pricing, you’re slowly eroding your margins every single day.

Most business owners know what they charge.

Very few know what they actually keep.

If you’d like access to the Profitable Pricing Calculator and the training that shows you exactly how to calculate profitable pricing, account for transaction fees, and protect your margins,

Comment “FEES” and I’ll send it to you 🤍

Every time I hear someone say…
“I can’t put my prices up because I’m scared all my clients will leave me”

I automatically respond with,
“You can’t afford to not put them up, otherwise you may not have a business 6-12 months from now”

Small $5-10 increases each year most likely won’t cover:

👉 Eftpos fees that need to be absorbed by businesses from 1st Oct 2026

👉 6% increase to the national minimum wage and 12% super that’s not required to be paid weekly

👉 Increased costs for products, shipping, fuel, etc. as we’ve all been impacted heavily from the war

👉 Rent, utilities, insurance and loans that keep going up every year

Pricing isn’t something that should be based on emotion or what your competitors are charging.

It needs to be based on your unique overheads, operating hours, tax requirements and desired profit margin.

If you’d like to learn how to
✅ confidently price for profit
✅ understand your numbers within the overwhelm
✅ and stop leaving money on the table

Comment “PRICING” and I’ll send you my profitable pricing calculator + training

Everyone wants confidence before they start.

But confidence isn’t what gets you there.

Repetition does.

The first video will feel awkward.
The first podcast will be messy.
The first pitch might get ignored.

That’s normal.

The people you admire didn’t start out confident or polished.
They just kept showing up long enough to get better.

Every rejection.
Every mistake.
Every uncomfortable attempt.

It’s all part of the process.

Miles in the saddle.

Comment “103” and I’ll send you the episode link.

One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned as I’ve gotten older is that the problem was never women.

For years, I was the girl who said, “I just get along better with guys.”

I told myself there was less drama, less comparison, less competition.

And if I’m honest, some of my past experiences reinforced that belief.

But with time came a different perspective.

I realised it wasn’t about men versus women.

It was about finding people whose values aligned with mine.

People who celebrate your wins instead of feeling threatened by them.

People who can sit with you in your hardest moments without trying to fix, judge or compete with you.

People who genuinely want to see you succeed.

As adults, loneliness can creep in even when we’re surrounded by people.

We carry so much.

The pressure to have it all together.

The responsibility of supporting everyone else before ourselves.

The desire for connection while simultaneously convincing ourselves we don’t want to burden anyone.

Yet some of the most healing moments in life come from being fully seen.

Not for what you’ve achieved.

Not for what you can do for others.

Just for who you are.

The older I get, the less I care about having a large circle and the more I care about having the right one.

The people who can celebrate your wins, hold space for your struggles, challenge you when needed, and remind you that you don’t have to carry everything alone.

I’m incredibly grateful for the friendships I’ve built because they’re proof that genuine connection still exists.

And I think that’s what the world needs more of.

Less comparison. Less competition.

More conversations. More support.

More people reminding each other, “I’ve got you.”

If someone in your life matters to you, don’t assume they know.

Tell them.

Life is too short to leave appreciation unspoken. 🤍

From the outside, it looked like success.

A growing salon.
A beautiful fit-out.
A business that many people would dream of building.

But behind the scenes, the reality was very different.

The stress was impacting her health.
The pressure was affecting her happiness.
And the business she had worked so hard to create no longer aligned with the life she wanted.

Sometimes the bravest thing a business owner can do isn’t scale bigger.

It’s redefining what success actually means.

Comment “102” and I’ll send you the episode link.