Approving a request and sending times is one step. You choose your quote, how the deposit is handled and the times on one screen, then send.
Open a new request and press Approve.
Under Your quote, fill in From $ and Up to $.
Under How is the deposit handled?, pick Card payments, Payment apps, Both or No deposit. For the first three, type the Deposit $.
Under Time offers, pick a session length: 2 hrs, 3 hrs, Half day, Full day or Custom. Cake lists open times from your hours, buffers, minimum notice and your busy time in Google Calendar. None is picked for you: tap one to add it, or press Add a date to pick your own.
Add a note if you want the client to see one.
Press Send to Rosa, with your client's name in place of Rosa. The request becomes Offer out, and Rosa gets an email with a Choose your time button.
Note: You can send up to 8 times. With Card payments or Both, your client can pay the deposit by card. Stripe takes its card processing fee from your payout.
Rosa opens their page and taps a time. With no deposit, the button reads Book this time, or Ask for this time if you set I confirm every booking. With a deposit, Rosa pays by card, or holds the time and pays through your payment app. If none of the times work, they tap None of these work and you get a request for new times.
Offered times are first-come, and Cake doesn't hold them for the client. If someone else takes a time first, Rosa is told it's gone and picks another. Cake holds a time only after a client picks it, while a deposit or your yes is still to come. For that step, read the guide on where a deposit stands.
Next: Where a deposit stands.
- Cake's nudge: Cake sends the client one nudge before the times run out. It goes when a third of the time is left, and never more than 2 days before the times run out. You don't turn it on, and you can't turn it off.
- Your nudge: You can usually send one too. In Requests, open the Approved tab and press Nudge Rosa on the card that says Waiting on Rosa. You see what Rosa will get, then press Send to Rosa. The words are Cake's, so you can't change them. To write your own, press Write to Rosa yourself. The button shows only while there's still time for a nudge before the times run out, so with a 1 day window it doesn't show.
- How often: One message about the same times every 24 hours. Sending the times counts as the first message. If it's too soon, the sheet tells you when you can nudge again, or that the times run out before you can.
- If you nudge first: If you nudge in the 24 hours before Cake's would go, Cake skips its own.
- What the client reads: An email that says the times are still there and until when, with a Choose your time button.
When the times run out, press Send fresh times. Only the times run out. The request stays approved.
- How long times stand: In Settings , then Availability and calendar , under Time offers, find How long your offered times stand and pick 1 day, 2 days, 3 days or 7 days. The default is 3 days. The clock starts when you send. A change doesn't move times that are already out.
- What the client gets: An email that says the times went back to your books, with an Ask for new times button. Their page says the times have moved on.
- What you see: On the request, the status reads Needs fresh times, with a Send fresh times button. On the Requests list, the card says Your time offers ran out with Send fresh times. If the client asked, it says they asked for new times, with Send new times.
- Fresh times: Fresh times restart the clock and keep the session length you chose. You can also send fresh times while the old ones still stand, and the new ones replace them. After you press send, you have five seconds to press Undo.
A client says none of the times work.
They tap None of these work. While the times still stand, the request reads "Rosa can't make any of these times" under Offer out. Press Choose times to send.
Can I reopen a request I passed on?
No. A request you pass on is final. So is one you've called off. Only a session you wrapped by mistake can be reopened, and only on that session's day.
A time I want isn't on Cake's list.
Another client may be holding it while they pay. Cake leaves a held time off its list until the hold ends. You can still add it with Add a date, but while the hold lasts, your client can't take that time. If the hold ends unpaid, it opens again.
What does Book anyway do?
A time that overlaps busy time in your Google Calendar, or a time block of your own, shows the overlap and a Book anyway button. For your own time block, you can't send until you press it. For Google busy time, press it too: if you send without pressing Book anyway, Cake refuses a client who picks that time. You can't send a time over a booked session.
A client reported a deposit, and I can't send new times.
Confirm the deposit or release the time first, then send new times. Where a deposit stands has both steps.
Can I move a session that's already booked?
Yes, until it starts, or while you have it reopened. Open the request and press Reschedule this session. Under New time, keep the length or pick another (2 hrs, 3 hrs, Half day, Full day or Custom), then an open time, or press Pick another date. Press Review reschedule, then Confirm reschedule. The deposit stays with the session. Your client gets an email with the old and new times. If you only change the length, no email goes out and their appointment page shows the new length.
Write to support@cake.ink or tell us in Discord. A screenshot of the request helps us see what you see.