Availability & session length
Which days and times a listing can be booked, how many people fit in one slot, and how long a session actually runs.
Quick answer
What a bookable day looks like
A day holds any number of slots. Each slot has a time, a capacity, and a price inherited from the listing. Customers see only slots that still have room.
Saturday, October 3
Session length: 45 minFull slots disappear from the customer's calendar. A slot with no end time falls back to one hour on calendar invites, which is why setting a session length is worth it.
Session length
Session length sits at the top of the Availability section on the listing form. Pick anything from 10 minutes to 4 hours, and:
- Slots you add by hand or from the time grid are written as ranges, for example 09:00 - 09:45 instead of just 09:00.
- Fill Day uses it as the default duration, so a whole day of slots comes out the right length.
- Any slot still missing an end time is expanded when you save the listing.
- Calendar invites sent to both sides carry the real end time instead of assuming an hour.
Different lengths for the same service
Booking from the seller's hours
For lessons, coaching, appointments and other one-to-one services, cutting every listing into slots is the wrong shape: a teacher has one set of hours, offers several lengths of the same lesson, and cannot be in two places at once. Switch on "Book from the seller's hours" on the listing type (Store Settings > Listing Form, date-time types only) and listings of that type work differently:
- The seller sets their hours once, on the new Availability page in their dashboard: weekly hours (several blocks a day are fine), different hours or a day off on a date, and time off for a break or an appointment. A week and a month view show the hours with every booking, scheduled group session and time off across all their listings, and each item opens where it is managed. Owners can set hours on a seller's behalf through "Log in as".
- Every price option has its own length. A "Private lesson" listing can offer 30 min £20, 45 min £28 and 60 min £35. Customers pick one option, then a day, then a start time. Without price options, the listing's session length is used.
- Start times are calculated from the seller's hours minus everything already booked on any of their listings, so a booking on one listing blocks that time on all of them. The seller chooses how often sessions may start (every 5 to 60 minutes) and an optional break between sessions. A start is always offered right after the previous session ends, so a 15-minute lesson only takes 15 minutes.
- Group classes still work. Keep them on a separate slot-based type. Their scheduled slots block the seller's hours on the other listings as soon as they are added, booked or not, and the slot calendar warns when a new slot overlaps one of the seller's bookings or time off.
- Block bookings keep working. With multiple date bookings on, a customer picks several dates of the same option and pays once. Multi-session discounts on these listings are a percentage off (for example 10+ sessions, 10% off), so they apply to every length.
- While a customer is in checkout, the time is held for 30 minutes. If they abandon the payment, the time frees up by itself.
What changes when you switch a type over
Filling a day quickly
Adding slots one at a time gets tedious past a handful. Fill Day generates a run of slots from a start time to an end time, using the appointment duration you choose plus an optional gap between sessions. Your choice is remembered, so the next day you fill starts from the same settings.
- Add as time range is available on individual slots too, under the advanced options, if you want one slot that runs longer than the rest.
- Slot capacity decides how many people can book the same slot. Leave it at 1 for one-to-one sessions; raise it for classes, tours or workshops.
- Booked slots are blocked automatically. You never have to remove them by hand.
Advance notice
A listing can require a minimum amount of notice before a slot can be booked, so a customer cannot book a session starting in ten minutes. Slots inside that window stop appearing as bookable. This applies to new bookings; it does not restrict a seller moving an existing booking, which they can do at any time.
Set the session time zone first
Keeping outside calendars in step
If your sellers also list on Airbnb, VRBO or Booking.com, two-way iCal calendar sync keeps dates blocked in both places so the same slot is never sold twice. Sellers can also subscribe to their own booking feed and see it in Google Calendar or Apple Calendar.