Payments
"So what's the catch if I pay nothing?"
Fair question — this trade has seen enough software that costs £40 a month whether you're flat out in October or sat at home in June. And the headline price is rarely the real one: most subscriptions are tiered, and the features you actually want — the routing, the certificates, the automation — sit in the top tiers at several times the advertised cost.
So here's the model, plainly, including the parts most pricing pages leave out.
The model, plainly
- No monthly fee. Ever. Quiet month, holiday, off-season — you pay nothing. And there's nothing per booking either: the platform is paid for by the booking, not by you.
- Your customer pays a £1.95 online booking fee — however they pay — card when they book online, card at the door, cash or bank transfer after the job: the fee is the same £1.95, shown to the customer before they book, on top of your price and never inside it. Every job gets the routing, the reminders, the certificate and the portal, so every job carries the same fee. That's the entire revenue model.
- You can subsidise it — cover 50p, £1, £1.45 or the whole £1.95 in Payment Settings and your customers see only the remainder. Most businesses leave it at £1.95; the choice is yours.
- One plan, every feature — there are no tiers. Nothing is held back for a "Pro" or "Enterprise" plan, because there isn't one.
- Your money never passes through us — card payments land in your own Stripe account; cash and bank transfers go straight to you. We Sweep never holds your money. Standard card processing of 1.5% + 20p applies to card payments, the same as with any card machine or provider — we'd rather tell you that here than have you find it on an invoice. On cash and bank-transfer jobs the customer pays you the £1.95 with your price, and you pass it on monthly, itemised per booking.
Get paid your way
Card at the time of booking is the default — the job arrives in your diary already paid. But plenty of sweeps, and plenty of customers, prefer to settle up on the day. So that's built in too. You choose which of these your business offers:
- Card when they book — taken online through Stripe, before the job hits the diary. The £1.95 booking fee is itemised on the same payment.
- Card at the door — your technician shows a QR code or sends a payment link, and the customer pays on their own phone before the van leaves.
- Cash on the day — recorded in the app in a tap, receipt emailed to the customer automatically. The app shows the exact amount to collect, fee included.
- Bank transfer — your account details go out with the job-completed email, and the booking stays flagged until you mark the money in.
Optional deposit. For any pay-on-completion method you can ask for a fixed card deposit — £10 to £50 — paid with the booking fee when the customer books, with the balance settled on the day. The widget shows "pay today" and "due on the day" separately, and your technician's app shows the balance to collect. A customer who cancels more than 14 days after booking doesn't get the deposit back; one who moves the booking keeps it for the new date. Fewer no-shows, without asking anyone to pay the whole job upfront.
And when a job isn't settled on the day, you don't chase it. Every completed-but-unpaid job sits on one dashboard, and the system reminds the customer for you — at 3, 7 and 14 days, each time with a payment link — until it's paid. When it is, they get a receipt and the job clears itself.
One more thing the payment does on its own: if you've connected Xero, QuickBooks or Sage, every paid job posts into your books as an itemised, VAT-correct sales invoice, marked paid against the right account — and full refunds become credit notes. No retyping in the evening, and no extra charge: it's included at no cost to you.
What your customer sees
The first price a customer sees in the booking widget already includes the fee — a £75 sweep shows as £76.95, including the £1.95 online booking fee — and the review step itemises your price, any extras, the fee and the total, with a one-line note that the fee is non-refundable if they cancel. No surprises at checkout, and no drip pricing.
The customer-facing terms — what the fee covers, what happens on cancellation, how to complain — are published on our booking fee page, so you never have to explain it yourself.
If you're VAT registered, read this bit
Prices you set are VAT-inclusive, and your VAT status makes no difference to what you pay — there's no percentage fee to calculate on anything.
On a £120 job including VAT, £20 of that is HMRC's money passing through your hands, and none of it goes to us. Most percentage-based platforms charge on the gross and quietly take a cut of the tax — if you're over the threshold, it's worth checking what yours does. Connect your accounting software and the invoices it raises use your configured VAT rate.
Compare it to what the admin costs now
The comparison that matters isn't against another subscription — it's against what the phone-and-diary way already costs you. The missed calls while you're on a roof. The evenings confirming tomorrow's jobs. The no-show who never paid a deposit. The bank transfer you're still waiting on from March. The certificate you had to dig out and resend. That's what the £1.95 is buying back — the bookings, the routing, the reminders and the certificates — and none of it comes out of your pocket.
Full pricing detail is on the pricing page. If you're weighing up subscription tools, see how the model compares with Jobber and Tradify.
Frequently asked questions
So what do I pay We Sweep?
Nothing. No monthly fee, no per-booking fee, no per-user fee. Each booking made through We Sweep carries a £1.95 online booking fee (including VAT), paid by your customer on top of your price — shown to them before they book, and the same however they pay: card when they book, card at the door, cash or bank transfer after the job. The only other cost is standard card processing of 1.5% + 20p on card payments, the same as any card machine.
Does the customer pay the fee on cash jobs too?
Yes. The £1.95 is on every booking, however it's paid and however it was made — including jobs you enter yourself from a phone call. On a cash or bank-transfer job the customer pays your price plus the £1.95 to you on the day; you collect the fee on our behalf and it's passed on once a month on an itemised invoice. A cash job still got the booking, the routing, the reminders, the certificate and the portal, so it carries the same fee as a card job. What you never pay is anything at all.
Who holds the money?
You do. Card payments go into your own Stripe account — We Sweep never holds your money; the £1.95 is separated off automatically and your price is what lands with you, less standard card processing of 1.5% + 20p, the same as with any card machine or payment provider. Cash and bank transfers never touch us at all — the money goes straight to you, and the booking fees you've collected on cash and bank-transfer jobs are passed on monthly, itemised per booking, only after you've actually been paid.
Can I cover the fee for my customers?
Yes. In Payment Settings you can subsidise some or all of the £1.95 — 50p, £1, £1.45 or the full fee — and the customer sees only the remainder. Whatever you cover comes out of the booking, so a fully subsidised fee means your customer sees no fee at all and you pay £1.95 per booking instead.
Can I take a deposit on pay-on-completion jobs?
Yes. Pick a fixed card deposit — £10, £15, £20, £25, £30, £40 or £50 — and customers who choose cash, bank transfer or card on completion pay the deposit plus the £1.95 fee by card when they book, with the balance settled on the day. The widget shows exactly what's due today and what's due on the day, and your technician's app shows the balance to collect. If the customer cancels more than 14 days after booking, the deposit isn't refunded — you keep it (within 14 days of booking, their legal cooling-off period, it goes back to them); if they move the booking to another date, the deposit moves with it.
What if the customer doesn't pay on the day?
The job sits on your unpaid-jobs dashboard, and We Sweep chases it for you — automatic payment reminders go to the customer at 3, 7 and 14 days, each with a payment link. The moment cash or a transfer lands you mark it paid in a tap, the customer gets a receipt, and the job clears from the list.
I'm VAT registered — does that change anything?
Not for what you pay: there's no percentage fee any more, so your VAT status makes no difference. Your prices are always entered as the full amount the customer pays, including any VAT, and if you connect your accounting software the invoices it raises use your VAT rate.
What happens when a customer cancels?
The £1.95 online booking fee is non-refundable when the customer cancels — they agree to that when they book, and the terms are published on our booking fee page. The rest follows your policy: for bookings paid by card upfront, cancellations more than 24 hours before the appointment are refunded to the customer automatically, and within 24 hours of the appointment the booking is non-refundable — your time is protected. A deposit isn't refunded when the customer cancels more than 14 days after booking, however much notice they give — they agree to that when they book — while within 14 days of booking, their legal cooling-off period, they get it back. If they move the booking instead, the deposit goes with it to the new date. For pay-on-completion bookings without a deposit no money has been taken, so there's nothing to refund — the slot is freed and your day re-plans around it. If you cancel a booking yourself, the customer is refunded in full, fee and any deposit included.
Does We Sweep work with my accounting software?
Yes — Xero, QuickBooks Online and Sage Accounting sync is included. Connect your package from the Integrations page, and every paid job — card, cash or bank transfer — posts into it as a sales invoice with the full line items, marked paid against the account you choose. Completed jobs still awaiting payment raise the invoice straight away, with the payment matched when the money is recorded, and full refunds become credit notes. It's included at no cost to you — not an add-on.
What does the £1.95 actually pay for?
The whole platform: the booking widget on your website, route planning on real drive times, automatic confirmations and reminders — by email, with free SMS in your own business name if you want it — certificates and the customer portal, Google Calendar sync, Xero, QuickBooks and Sage accounting sync, and the automatic chasing when a job isn't settled on the day. There are no tiers and nothing held back for a 'Pro' plan — and none of it is paid for by you.