Operations
Running a rent-only barbershop: chair rent, your own payments, and a simpler setup
In a rent-only shop the owner collects rent and each pro runs their own chair. Here is how to set that up in the NextUp app, how to leave customer payments out of it, and how each pro can show their own payment links.
What a rent-only shop collects
In a rent-only shop the owner is the landlord of the chairs, not the pay clerk for the people in them. The shop collects rent; each pro keeps their own tips and services and is paid however they already are.
That changes what software has to do. It does not have to split tickets or run payroll. It has to keep the line fair, show customers who is next, and keep rent from turning into a text thread.
The NextUp app has two separate pieces for this. One is the pay setup for each team member (Booth rent or Suite rental). The other is a per-location switch, No payments, that takes customer payments out of the app entirely.
Booth rent and Suite rental
Under Payouts, each team member gets a pay setup. Two of them are for renters. Booth rent is for pros renting a chair, booth or station on the shared floor. Suite rental is for independent pros who run their own business from a private room you rent them.
In both, the pro’s tips and services go on their own statement, less the rent they pay you. Suite rental works exactly like booth rent in the app; only the space differs. Packages and memberships a renter sells themselves are theirs, on their statement.
Rent is a plan with an amount and a schedule, and the app can collect it from what the shop owes the renter, or from a saved card or bank account. The details are in how to collect booth rent automatically. Booth rent is a Pro feature, and the 14-day trial has every Pro feature.
The type of working relationship you have with a pro depends on the facts and on your state’s rules. Confirm it with a qualified professional; the app does not decide it for you.
What your chairs bring in a month
Type your own numbers. This is multiplication, not a forecast.
- Per week
- $800
- Per month, on average
- $3,467 52 weeks ÷ 12
- Per year
- $41,600
Hover or tab to a column for the numbers.
| Rent | |
|---|---|
| Week | $800 |
| Month (average) | $3,466.7 |
| Year | $41,600 |
Example: your numbers above, no fees or vacancies taken out.
Assumes every chair is rented all 52 weeks and the same rent from every pro. A month is counted as 52 ÷ 12 weeks.
The No payments switch
Some rent-only owners want even less. Each location has a switch, found in setup under “How you run it” and later under Staff, “How this location runs”. Turn payments off and the location takes no customer payments in NextUp.
On the staff screen, Check out, Quick sale, the unpaid alerts and the tip nudge go away, and Done simply finishes the visit. The customer page offers no tip. Bills and payments already recorded stay in your reports, and switching it back on brings every screen back.
It is per location, so a shop with one rent-only room and one commission location can run each its own way. NextUp’s own subscription billing is not touched.
The line, the lobby TV, the door tablet and the phone check-in page are on every plan, Free included.
Three ways to set up payments at a rent-only location
| Booth rent or Suite rental, payments in NextUp | Pays at checkout on the shop’s own Stripe account | Rent is collected; the pro’s tips and services go on the pro’s statement |
|---|---|---|
| No payments switch on | Pays the pro however they already are | Runs the line only: no checkout, tips or refunds screens |
| No payments, plus pay links | Taps the pro’s own Cash App, Venmo, Zelle or pay link | Nothing: the money goes to the pro |
These are settings in the NextUp app. You choose per team member and per location.
Pro-owned payment links
With payments off in the app, customers still need a way to pay the person who cut their hair. Each team member can now add their own payment links under “Get paid directly” on their own book: Cash App, Venmo, Zelle (a phone number or email), or their own https pay link.
The own-link box is how a pro takes Apple Pay. NextUp Walk-in does not add Apple Pay itself here. A pro who has a pay link from their own processor, such as a Square, Stripe or PayPal link, pastes it in, and that link decides what the customer can use.
A pro fills in only the ones they use. Customers see only the boxes that are filled in, and nothing at all when none is.
The person sets their own links. Owners and managers can set them too.
Where customers see the links
The links show in three places: the customer’s check-in confirmation page, the pro’s public page, and the staff screen next to that pro’s name. Everywhere they appear, one line goes with them: “Paid straight to Avery, not to the shop or NextUp Walk-in.” (with the pro’s own name).
That line is the point of the feature. NextUp Walk-in only shows the links. It does not take the payment, hold it, forward it or add a fee, and the shop never touches it. Cash App, Venmo and Zelle open or copy to the app the customer already has.
What the shop still sees
A rent-only shop is not blind. The owner still has the line and the check-in history. Rent shows under Payouts, and a renter can open their own earnings card and statement.
What the shop no longer has is a record of payments that happened outside the app, such as a customer paying a pro’s Cash App. That is the trade: simpler for the shop, and the pro’s own books carry their own takings. Say so to your pros up front so nobody expects the shop’s reports to include them.
Also keep in mind that a pay link is not a receipt from the shop. If a pro wants records, their own app or processor has them.
Choosing a setup
Keep payments in NextUp if you want customers to pay at checkout on your own Stripe account and renters’ statements to carry their tips and services. Turn payments off if you want the line only and pros paid as they already are. Add pay links to give customers a clear way to pay a pro in the second case.
Whichever you pick, test it with one pro for a week before you roll it out to the floor. See payroll and booth rent, tips and team pay, barbershops, hair salons, pricing. There is also a Free plan: 1 location, 1 team member and 50 check-ins a month, and no card needed.
Related reading: commission versus booth rent.
Start with one chair
Questions
What does the No payments switch do?
It stops a location taking customer payments in NextUp Walk-in. Checkout, tips, refunds and unpaid-bill tracking are hidden there, and Done just finishes the visit. Switching it back on brings them back.
Can a team member add their own payment links?
Yes. Each person can add Cash App, Venmo, Zelle or their own https pay link under “Get paid directly”, and owners and managers can add them too. Customers see them on the check-in confirmation, the pro’s public page and the staff screen.
Does NextUp Walk-in take the money when a customer uses a pay link?
No. The links only point to the pro’s own account. The payment is made straight to the pro, not to the shop or NextUp Walk-in.
Does the app decide whether someone is an employee or a renter?
No. That depends on the facts and the rules of your state, so confirm it with a qualified professional. The app only offers different pay setups.