By the Riverd Editorial Team. Last updated: 2026-06-12.
Card payments for massage therapists used to mean one of two things: send an invoice "later" and hope it gets paid, or eat the cost when a client no-shows and there is no card to charge. You finished the session, the client got dressed, you reached for your phone to send the invoice later, and you both knew later might mean never. Or worse: it is 9:05 on a Tuesday, your 9:00 chair is empty, and the $90 you blocked off for that hour is just gone.
You did not get into bodywork to chase money. But the money still has to get collected. Today that gets easier. Card payments are now live in Riverd. Clients can save a card the moment they book, you can charge that saved card for the session afterward without asking for it again, and you can charge an agreed fee when someone no-shows. And the part that matters most: the money goes straight to your own Square account, not through Riverd.
What this actually does for you
The job here is simple. Get paid on time, with less awkwardness, and without a missed slot quietly costing you the whole fee.
Three things change the day you turn this on. A client can save a card when they book, so when the session is done you charge that card yourself in a couple of taps instead of sending an invoice and hoping. A returning client who has saved a card never types their number again, and you are not starting from zero every visit. And if someone agrees to your cancellation policy when they book, you can charge the fee they agreed to in one tap when they do not show.
None of this runs your practice for you. It just handles the part you dread. You decide who saves a card, what your no-show fee is, and whether to charge it at all. You run each charge yourself when it is time, and Riverd keeps the booking, the client, and the payment in one place, next to the notes you already keep.
You connect your own Square. The money is yours
This is the part worth saying plainly, because it is the part providers worry about. When you charge a client's card, that money lands in your own Square account. Riverd never holds it and never takes a cut of the payment itself.
If you already use Square, you connect it once in Settings and you are done. Your online payments land in the same account as everything else you take. If you are new to Square, it is free to set up, and you are still the one getting paid. Card details are handled by Square's own secure fields, so a card number never gets stored on Riverd. According to Square's payments documentation, card data is captured directly by Square and tokenized, which is the standard secure way reputable software handles cards (and the reason you are not on the hook for storing card numbers yourself).
You can read the full picture on the Card Payments feature page, and the step-by-step setup lives in the Riverd Help Center under "Accepting Card Payments (Connecting Square)" inside your dashboard.
Save a card now, so a no-show does not just cost you the slot
Here is the quiet upgrade. When a returning client saves a card, that is also what lets you charge an agreed no-show fee later. A saved card is not just convenience. It is the thing standing between you and a $90 hole in your week.
So you get to decide how protected you want to be. There are two settings, and you pick one. Leave no-show protection off, and nothing changes from how you work today. Or turn on "card required to book," and a new client has to save a card and agree to your policy before they can hold a spot. You set your own fee and your own cancellation window. You can also change the rule for a single client when you want to, because a longtime regular and a brand-new walk-in are not the same risk.
When someone does not show, you charge the fee in one tap from the session screen. No text you rewrite four times, no "just following up" message that sits unread. And the charge only ever goes through on a policy the client actually agreed to when they booked, so you are never the one springing a surprise. If you want the detail on modes and overrides, the Help Center article "No-Show Protection" walks through it inside your dashboard.
Refunds, the fee, and the fine print done for you
Things go sideways sometimes. A client gets sick, you double-booked, you charged the wrong amount. You can refund a card payment, in full or in part, straight back to the card it came from, without leaving Riverd. Because the original charge lived in your own Square, the refund returns from there too. The Help Center article "Refunding a Card Payment" covers exactly how, inside your dashboard.
Now the part everyone asks about: what does this cost you. The payment itself goes to you. Riverd takes one small flat fee per charge, and that is the only thing Riverd takes. It is $1 per charge on the free Brook plan, 50¢ per charge on River, and 25¢ per charge on Fjord. That fee is separate from whatever Square charges to process the card, which is Square's own published rate and goes to Square, not to Riverd.
And the cancellation policy itself is handled for you. Riverd keeps your policy on a clean page clients can read before they book. When you turn card payments on, Riverd writes the card and no-show wording into it, so you do not have to draft the fine print. At booking, the client ticks a box to agree, and Riverd saves exactly what they agreed to and when. If a client ever questions a fee, the record stands behind you. You do not have to argue. The policy already did.
Key Takeaways
- Clients save a card when they book, you charge it yourself for the session afterward, and the money goes straight to your own Square account, not through Riverd.
- A saved card means a returning client never re-types their number, and it is also what lets you charge an agreed no-show fee later.
- No-show protection has two settings you control: off, or card required to book. You set the fee and the window, and you choose whether to charge. It is never automatic.
- Riverd takes one small flat fee per charge ($1 on Brook, 50¢ on River, 25¢ on Fjord), separate from Square's own processing rate. Refunds go right back to the card.
This is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, or financial advice. Set your cancellation and no-show terms to fit your practice and your local rules.
Want the full walkthrough of how card payments work in Riverd? See the Card Payments feature page, or browse more launches on the Riverd Product Updates hub.
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