Question 1

What is Cosbeau Suite?

Accepted Answer

Cosbeau Suite is our single plan — there are no tiers. Every vendor gets the same feature set: unlimited bookings and services, unlimited staff, service image galleries, verified reviews, advanced analytics, custom branding, up to 5 locations, discount codes, loyalty and packages, slot locking and priority placement. You only choose how you pay.

Question 2

What are the two payment methods?

Accepted Answer

Method A — Monthly Subscription: R99.99 paid manually by the vendor at the start of every 30-day cycle (no card is stored and nothing auto-renews); customers pay no booking fee. Method B — Pay Per Booking: the vendor pays Cosbeau nothing. Instead a R9.99 booking fee is paid by the customer at checkout, deducted from the service price, capped at 15 bookings (R149.85) per cycle.

Question 3

Who pays the R9.99 booking fee?

Accepted Answer

The customer pays the R9.99 booking fee to Cosbeau at checkout. It is deducted from the service price, and the customer pays the remaining balance directly to the vendor in person. The vendor is never charged.

Question 4

I'm a customer — what exactly do I pay?

Accepted Answer

If your vendor is on Pay Per Booking, you pay the R9.99 booking fee to Cosbeau by card at checkout. That amount is deducted from the service price, so on a R300 service you pay R9.99 online and R290.01 directly to the vendor in person at your appointment. If the vendor is on the monthly subscription, or has already reached the 15-booking cap for the cycle, there is no booking fee and you simply pay the full service price to the vendor in person.

Question 5

I'm a vendor — does the booking fee cost me anything?

Accepted Answer

No. On Pay Per Booking, Cosbeau never charges or bills you for a booking. The booking fee is paid by the customer at checkout; your only effect is that you collect R9.99 less from the customer in person than the full listed service price. Your booking detail view shows the exact breakdown: service price, booking fee collected by Cosbeau, and amount to collect from the customer.

Question 6

Which method should I pick?

Accepted Answer

On Pay Per Booking you pay Cosbeau nothing at all — your customers cover the R9.99 booking fee — which suits quieter months and vendors who don't want a fixed monthly cost. On the Monthly Subscription you pay R99.99 a cycle and your customers are never charged a booking fee, which is a smoother pitch if you'd rather absorb the cost yourself.

Question 7

Exactly when is the booking fee charged?

Accepted Answer

At checkout, before the booking is confirmed. The customer is redirected to PayFast to pay the booking fee, and the appointment only becomes confirmed once that payment succeeds. Each appointment can only ever carry one booking fee.

Question 8

What happens if a confirmed booking is cancelled?

Accepted Answer

The R9.99 booking fee is non-refundable and the cap slot is not returned. This applies whether the vendor or the customer cancels. Both parties see this notice before confirming.

Question 9

What happens after 15 bookings have carried the fee?

Accepted Answer

Once 15 bookings in a billing cycle have carried the booking fee, no further customers are charged it for the rest of that cycle — they pay the full service price to the vendor in person instead. The vendor keeps full access either way.

Question 10

Does rescheduling cost another booking fee?

Accepted Answer

No. A booking fee is only ever paid once per appointment. Rescheduling an existing confirmed booking never charges the customer again.

Question 11

When does my billing cycle start and reset?

Accepted Answer

Your cycle is a rolling 30 days anchored on your signup date, and it works the same way for both payment methods. The count of fee-carrying bookings resets to 0 at the start of each cycle.

Question 12

Is the Monthly Subscription auto-renewed?

Accepted Answer

No. There is no recurring charge and no card on file. Each cycle you pay R99.99 manually in Billing, and full access is granted only once that payment is confirmed. We post a reminder to your in-app inbox 3 days before your cycle ends. If you don't pay, your vendor tools are locked with a "payment due" notice until you do — and after 7 days unpaid the account is suspended from new bookings.

Question 13

Can I switch payment methods?

Accepted Answer

Yes, from Billing at any time. The switch is recorded and applied at the start of your next billing cycle so nobody is double-charged or under-charged mid-cycle. During your free trial the switch is immediate.

Question 14

Do vendors need to save a card?

Accepted Answer

No — never. Cosbeau does not store card details or payment tokens for vendors. On the Monthly Subscription you pay R99.99 manually each cycle through a once-off PayFast checkout, and your access for that cycle unlocks as soon as the payment is confirmed. On Pay Per Booking no vendor payment is needed at all, because the R9.99 booking fee is paid by the customer at checkout.

Question 15

What if a customer's booking fee payment fails?

Accepted Answer

The appointment is not confirmed and the slot stays open for someone else. Nothing is charged to the vendor, and no cap slot is used. The customer can simply try again.

Question 16

Is there still a free trial?

Accepted Answer

Yes — 14 days free for every new vendor, on either payment method. No card is required to start and no vendor subscription is charged during the trial.

Question 17

What happened to the Standard, Pro and Pro Plus plans?

Accepted Answer

They have been retired and replaced by Cosbeau Suite. Everyone kept every feature they had, and nobody lost anything.

Question 18

How do I get paid for the service itself?

Accepted Answer

Directly by your customer, in person. If a booking fee was paid at checkout, you collect the service price minus R9.99; otherwise you collect the full service price. Cosbeau never holds or pays out your service revenue.

Frequently asked questions