You’ve set a meal to ask for a card or a deposit, but a booking has come in without one. It’s almost always one of the reasons below. Start with the first: it’s the most common, and it affects every booking, not just one.
Stripe isn’t connected, or can’t take payments
If your venue has no Stripe account connected, or Stripe has switched off card payments while it waits for information from you, your booking page leaves the card step out and guests book as normal. They see no error. In NomNom Web, the meal’s Payments tab shows a warning at the top while this is happening.
What to do: open Settings → Stripe (admins only).
- If you see Setup Stripe Account, Stripe isn’t connected yet — see Connecting card payments with Stripe.
- If you see Action Required, look at the Setup checklist. A red cross next to Card payments & deposits enabled means guests aren’t being asked. Click Complete Stripe Setup and give Stripe what it asks for. Once that row has a green tick, the card step comes back by itself.
In NomNom Web: Settings → Stripe. In the phone app: Settings → Stripe.
The party was below the minimum
Each requirement starts at the Minimum guests you picked. With a deposit from 8+ guests, a table of seven books without one. Children count towards the total.
What to do: check Minimum guests on the meal’s Payments tab. Two near-misses to look for: a party big enough for a card but not a deposit is only asked for a card, and a deposit whose Amount says Not set takes a card but charges nothing.
That day isn’t ticked
Each requirement only applies on the days picked under Applies on, and it goes by the day of the visit, not the day the guest booked. A Saturday-only deposit isn’t asked for on a Friday. See Asking for deposits only on certain days.
They booked a different meal
Rules belong to a meal by its name. A meal with the same name in another area shares them, but one with a different name — Early Dinner rather than Dinner, say — needs its own. Events have their own card and deposit settings too, so an event booking follows the event’s, not the meal’s.
What to do: open the booking to see which meal it’s for, then check that meal’s Payments tab.
You or your team took the booking
Card and deposit rules are for guests booking online, so a booking made in NomNom by staff is saved without a card. Instead, if the party is big enough, it’s marked Awaiting card, and if it has an email address, the guest’s confirmation email asks them to add one. Recording a deposit taken on your card machine clears Awaiting card. To follow it up, see Taking a card to hold a booking or Sending a guest a payment link.
It came through Google’s Reserve button
Reserve with Google can’t take a card, and a booking made through it shows in NomNom as an ordinary online booking. While any of your meals has a card or deposit rule, NomNom turns down bookings from that button for your venue, so a Google booking with no card was made before your rule was set up. Guests who use a booking link on your Google profile go through your normal booking page and are asked as usual.
Good to know
- Rules don’t reach back. A guest who booked online before you added or changed a rule isn’t asked afterwards.
- Setting a rule up from scratch? See Setting up deposits and card requirements on a meal.