When you look in your Stripe account, you may see payments marked Incomplete, often for the same amount as your deposits. They aren’t money you’ve taken. Here’s where they come from and what NomNom does with them.
Where they come from
As soon as a guest reaches the card step on your booking page, NomNom gets the payment ready with Stripe, so the card form (and Apple Pay or Google Pay, where offered) can appear. Until the guest pays, Stripe shows that payment as Incomplete.
Usually the guest pays and it becomes a normal payment. The ones left incomplete are from guests who:
- left at the card step, or changed their mind;
- had their card declined and didn’t try again;
- didn’t get through their bank’s security check (3D Secure).
No money is taken for an incomplete payment. If the guest tried a card that was declined, Stripe may also show that failed attempt on the same payment.
What NomNom does about them
About an hour after the guest stops, NomNom cancels the unfinished payment in Stripe, so it shows as cancelled rather than incomplete. Stripe records the reason as abandoned, even when the guest’s card was declined or failed the bank check. At the same time, NomNom lets go of the table it was keeping for them and emails the guest to say the booking wasn’t completed (see A guest’s card was declined or failed 3D Secure).
NomNom never cancels a payment that might still be going through — for example, one still waiting on the guest’s bank check — so now and then one stays Incomplete for longer. That’s harmless.
Card holds aren’t payments
If a meal only takes a card to hold the booking, with no deposit, nothing is charged when the guest books. Stripe saves the card instead — Stripe calls this a setup — so there’s no amount to look for. Unfinished card holds are cancelled after about an hour in the same way. See Taking a card to hold a booking.
Other places you might see one
- Payment links and card requests. These start when the guest presses the button on the page you sent them. If their card is declined and they don’t try again, it can stay unfinished in Stripe. NomNom doesn’t cancel these, but no money was taken.
- A guest who went back. If a guest reaches the card step, then goes back and changes the number of guests so the deposit changes, the first payment can be left behind as Incomplete. Again, nothing was taken.
When to look closer
If a guest says they paid but there’s no booking in NomNom, find their payment in Stripe. Incomplete or cancelled means they weren’t charged, so they can simply book again. If it shows Succeeded and there’s still no booking, contact NomNom support with the guest’s name and the date and time they were booking for.
In NomNom Web: Settings → Stripe → Manage Account. In the phone app: Settings → Stripe → Manage Account.
Good to know
- Nothing to refund. No money was taken for an incomplete or cancelled payment, so there’s nothing to give back.
- A table may look taken for a while. Until an unfinished booking is cancelled, the table NomNom kept for that guest isn’t offered to anyone else online.
- Finding your Stripe account. Manage Account appears once Stripe has switched on card payments for your account, and only admins can open Settings (see Connecting card payments with Stripe).