I recall being advised to add the refundable deposit to the total bill, as a custom price.
Two issues though:
Does peerspace take 15% of it, even though I have to refund the deposit back to the guest if there are ok damages? I would lose money, if so.
For tax purposes, will peerspace report this as income, even though it’s a refundable deposit?
I think the deposit needs to be separated…it would make things so easy if it were a separate line item that peerspace refunds them. Peerspace would simply act as an escrow agent in event of damages.
Peerspace has directly addressed deposits in writing in this forum and I believe in the rules possibly as well.
The conclusion from the last time it was brought up - you are 100% allowed to take deposits and other transactions off the platform provided you don’t take the booking itself off the platform - Deposits, Add-Ons, and other fees like Labor for crew or catering are recommended to be kept on the platform but not required.
I think they recognize that not allowing for this would hobble bigger entities that use the platform - we’re not a hotel or event center, but even we have about a dozen listings that we wouldn’t be able to keep on the platform if it was mandatory that we run all fees and transactions through Peerspace. I can’t add 20% to a $7500 production crew fee that I’m already marking up 20% and I’m pretty sure Peerspace understands that.
I’m pretty sure most people take deposits outside of the site here. But in regards to the refund, I’ve only had to do a partial refund on one cancelled rental here and Peerspace did refund their fee on the portion that was refudned. They applied their fee to the remainder that I kept and did not refund. So I’d imagine if you are processing a deposit through Peerspace as an add-on and then returned it, they would also refund their fee on that portion as well. But I don’t know for sure. Probably safest to do the deposit offline.
I’m new to Peerspace but after getting on this community thread, I am def concerned about Peerspace not holding a security deposit for 1/2 of the booking fee for damage, overtime and extra people as another well known platform does. I have had damage, and overtime and extra people many times and it’s been covered by the security deposit held on my behalf. Having to have a security deposit as an add on doesn’t feel good to me. I guess I really appreciate the added assurance that the platform is handling all of this when it happens. I also am very grateful for the location agreement contract that is immediately available when a booking is made. It is legally binding and all of my house rules are included and the extra charges for overtime and extra people are included. I sign it and production signs it prior to day one and it has been a great help to me to have this. Perhaps, Peerspace might not be the right fit for me without the other protections I am getting elsewhere for my 15%.
From previous threads out here, it seems most people take a security deposit outside of Peerspace and handle that on their own. That seems to be the one thing Peerspace doesn’t mind you doing on your own.