Why are there no prices in the booking flow?

Because a workshop cannot quote properly before it has seen the car. The flow captures the car and the time, and extras add time to the slot instead of dollars. There are no prices in it, and it stays that way, so a price cannot creep back in by accident.

When is the deposit actually taken?

When the customer books. It is paid in full through Stripe's hosted checkout, with nothing left sitting on the card to collect later. If it is not paid inside the window, the booking lets go of the slot on its own, and a payment that turns up late cannot revive a booking that already cancelled.

What does the customer get after booking?

An SMS and an email confirmation, then a reminder before the job. If the booking moves, the old reminder is cancelled and a new one queued. These are one-way notifications, so there is no chat thread for your front desk to watch.

Does BookMyVenue do invoicing or parts inventory?

No. BookMyVenue runs the bookings, which means the diary, the car details, deposits, reminders and the roster underneath them. Invoicing and parts stay wherever they run today. We would rather be exact about that than sell you an all-in-one that is not one.

We do mobile jobs. How does dispatch work?

Each job is matched on the skills it needs, who is rostered, how loaded they already are and the nearest base, and the day is worked out again when something changes. It plans who goes where. It does not put GPS trackers in vans.

What happens when a customer cannot find a time that suits?

They join the waitlist from the same page. When a slot frees up, the next match is notified. Nobody is booked automatically, so your team confirms the job from the list.

Your next job arrives booked, with the car already on it.

A customer books on your own website and picks a time your roster can actually do. The make, model, year, rego and odometer come with the booking. Take a deposit on the services where a no-show hurts.

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Published pricing from $99 a month +GST · SMS and email confirmations and reminders included · no lock-in, and never a cut of your takings

Why we built this for workshops

BookMyVenue came out of IT support work for local businesses. We were the people who got the call when the booking system fell over.

In the workshops we looked after we kept seeing the same two losses. A bay sits empty because someone did not turn up. A customer gives up on a booking form that asks for a price nobody can give before the car is on the hoist. So we built the diary around those two.

You pay one published monthly price. There is no commission, no fee per booking and no lock-in, so our bill does not grow when your workshop has a good month.

The car books in with the job

The customer picks the service, adds any extras, and types in the car. Make, model, year, rego and odometer all land with the booking, in one go. The job reaches you with the details you would otherwise ring for.

There are no prices in the booking flow, and it stays that way. A workshop cannot quote properly before it has seen the car. Extras add time to the slot instead of dollars to a total, so the booking reserves the right amount of bay time. You talk about price once the car is in front of you, with no surprises in either direction.

A diary that works the way your week does

Clean-up time before and after a job is blocked out in the diary as real time. Set the notice you need, then a tighter cutoff on any single service, and the stricter of the two wins. Rosters carry time off and split shifts, and your weekly close-downs sit next to the one-off ones. A customer is only ever offered a time your workshop can actually do.

A deposit changes what a no-show costs

On any service you choose, take a deposit when the customer books. A fixed amount or a percentage, paid through Stripe's hosted checkout. The money is paid in full at that moment, with nothing left sitting on the card to collect later.

If the deposit is not paid inside the window, the booking lets go of the slot on its own, and a payment that turns up late cannot revive a booking that already cancelled. Reminders help, and you get those as well. You decide which services need a deposit and which do not.

When nothing suits, you still keep the job

The costly part of a full week is the customer who closes the tab. When no time suits, they join the waitlist from the same booking page. When a slot frees up, the next person who matches is notified. Nobody is booked automatically. Your team turns the entry into a booking once the customer says yes.

Mobile jobs go to the right person

If you run mobile mechanics or on-site work, each job is matched on the skills it needs, who is on shift, how loaded they already are and the nearest base. Change something and the day is worked out again.

It plans who goes where. It does not track vans on a map, and it is not a courier system.

Reminders that follow the booking when it moves

Every booking sends an SMS and an email confirmation, and a reminder lands before the job. Move the booking and the old reminder is cancelled while the new one queues, so only one reminder ever goes out. These are one-way notifications. If a message does not get through, you see that, with the reason.

SMS beyond your plan's included allowance is charged at cost.

How this compares to lead-capture booking tools (e.g. Avenue)

Workshops ask us about lead-capture booking tools, usually Avenue, so here is the comparison, with sources. The two do different jobs. Avenue puts a well-made multi-step form on your website and a Book Online button on your Google profile. It is good at turning a visit into a lead. BookMyVenue runs the diary underneath, with real slots, rosters, deposits and the record of the job. Here is where the two differ on the published record.

Payments.

No payment step in its booking flow

No payment step appears in its public booking flow, and no price or payment code appears in the booking configuration or web bundle it ships to the browser. Its answer to a no-show is a reminder.

Source: avenue2.au · observed 2026-08-27

BookMyVenue takes a real deposit when the customer books.

Entry price.

$199/month

Avenue's entry plan.

Source: avenue2.au · observed 2026-08-27

Our entry plan is published at $99 a month +GST.

SMS.

+$196/month

Step up to Avenue's $395/month Premium plan for two-way SMS.

Source: avenue2.au · observed 2026-08-27

Every BookMyVenue plan includes SMS and email confirmations and reminders. Ours are one-way notifications.

Maturity.

14 Aug 2026

Avenue's appointments calendar shipped this date (customer dashboard shipped 19 Mar 2026); before that, calendar changes went through Avenue's own team, as their product blog describes.

Source: avenue2.au (product blog) · observed 2026-08-27

If what you need is lead capture in front of a diary you already trust, Avenue does that job well. If the diary itself is the problem, with no-shows, double-ups and the calls you miss while you are under a car, that is the job BookMyVenue was built for.

Figures observed 2026-08-27, sources linked per figure. We publish nothing about a competitor that we can't source and date.

Frequently asked questions

The job arrives booked, with the car on it and the deposit paid.

Bookings on your own website, on one published monthly price, with no cut of your takings.

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