How does the Fresha new client fee work?

Fresha charges a one-time fee for each brand-new client who finds your business on the Fresha marketplace and books online: a 20% commission on that booking, with a minimum of A$8. Returning clients, and clients already on your list, attract no fee, and importing existing clients before you list keeps them free. Clinic App has no marketplace, so it has no new client fee: bookings, payments, memberships, rewards and consent run in one system for flat fees, built around AHPRA and TGA advertising rules.

The fee is simple to state and detailed in practice. Whether a booking attracts it depends on how the client found you, when they were added to your list, who cancels, and what is added at the desk. Below is how it works, taken from Fresha's own help article on Marketplace new client fees and its pricing page, both read on 29 October 2026.

What is the Fresha new client fee?

It is a one-time charge Fresha applies when it introduces a brand-new client to your business through its marketplace. Fresha calls this client a "Marketplace new client": someone who first discovers your business on the Fresha marketplace and goes on to make an online booking.

Fresha's pricing page lists the fee as a 20% one-time commission, with a minimum fee of A$8 per client. The page says its rates exclude 10% tax. The help article adds that there is a maximum cap for higher-value services; the pricing page we read did not state the cap amount, so check it in your own account. No fee ever applies to returning clients.

You can see each charge in your business wallet. Fresha's help article says it shows under your Fresha account activity as a "New Fresha client fee", next to the client's name. A "New Fresha client" label also shows on the client's profile until their first appointment is completed, and the client source history shows when they found you and when the fee was charged.

When does the fee apply, and when doesn't it?

The fee turns on one question: was this person already your client before they booked through the marketplace? Fresha's help article sets out the checks.

The fee applies when:

• The client is not on your Clients list at the time of booking.
• The client first discovers you on the Fresha marketplace and then books online.
• The client confirms, when booking, that they have not visited you before.
• The client views your marketplace profile first, then books through another online channel, such as your website or social media pages.

The fee does not apply when:

• The client is already on your Clients list, including clients your team added manually.
• The client was imported into your Clients list before their first booking.
• The client confirms they have visited your business before.

That fourth point surprises clinics. Fresha's pricing page FAQ says you won't be charged for new clients who find you through your own website, Instagram or Facebook. The help article explains the line: the fee follows discovery, not the final click. A client who saw your marketplace profile first and then booked on your website is still a Marketplace new client.

How is the fee calculated?

The fee is worked out on the value of the booking the client made online, at the price confirmed when they booked. Later changes to the appointment price do not change it.

• Desk add-ons are excluded. Services or products your team adds at checkout after the booking was made are not counted.
• Some purchases are excluded. Memberships, gift cards and products bought online, and tips or service charges added at checkout, are not counted.
• Discounts depend on where they happen. If the client booked with a pre-set online discount, the fee is on the discounted price. If your team applies a discount at checkout, the fee stays on the value the client booked.
• The fee is non-refundable. Fresha's help article says so directly.

As an example only: a first booking valued at A$200 would attract a fee of A$40 (20%), unless Fresha's maximum cap for higher-value services is lower. A first booking valued at A$30 would work out at A$6, so the A$8 minimum would apply instead. Both figures exclude tax. Your real numbers depend on your prices and on Fresha's rates at the time.

What happens with cancellations and no-shows?

Who cancels matters more than when. The help article sets out each case:

• The client cancels online through their Fresha account: no fee now. It is deferred and charged on the value of their next booking.
• You or your team cancel on the client's behalf: the fee still applies.
• The client is a no-show and you mark it on the same day: no fee. If they book again, it is deferred to that booking.
• The appointment is rescheduled, left unmanaged or not checked out: the fee still applies.

The practical lesson for the front desk is to mark no-shows on the day, and to ask new clients who want to cancel to do it themselves online, which is what Fresha itself recommends. Fresha also points out that a no-show and late cancellation policy, or upfront payments, can help cover the fee. Our guide on reducing no-shows covers deposits and reminders that work for clinics.

Can you avoid paying it for patients you already have?

Yes, for existing patients: get them onto your Fresha client list before they book through the marketplace. Fresha's own tips for managing existing clients are worth following if you stay on Fresha:

1. Import every existing client's contact details into Fresha before you list on the marketplace.
2. Send those clients your direct booking link, so they come straight to you.
3. Merge duplicate client profiles, so a returning patient is not mistaken for a new one.
4. Put a QR code from your direct link on the door or the desk.

What you cannot do is switch the fee off and keep online booking. Fresha's help article says the fee comes with the marketplace, that taking online bookings through Fresha on your website and social pages requires a marketplace listing, and that unlisting your profile disables all your online booking channels.

Should the fee change how a cosmetic clinic chooses software?

On its own, probably not: it is a one-off charge on a first booking. The more useful question is what that first booking leads to. A cosmetic or skin clinic earns most of its revenue from patients who come back, so a fee on the first visit matters less than how well your system looks after the patient from the second visit on. If you have never worked out what one patient is worth to you over a year, our guide to client lifetime value shows the sum.

That is the real trade-off. A marketplace can introduce new clients, and Fresha is upfront that it charges for doing so. A clinic that grows mostly through referrals, regulars and memberships gets more from a system built around keeping patients. Clinic App has no marketplace, so there is no marketplace new client fee. It has flat fees, with no setup fee, no per-seat fee and no lock-in.

What changes when everything is in one system?

The patient, the booking, the payment, the membership and the consent sit on one record, so nothing is copied between tools. Clinic App runs the diary and online booking, deposits and cards on file, front desk checkout and payments, memberships with monthly billing, packages, gift vouchers, rewards and points, referrals, review requests, reminders, consent forms and intake, treatment records and photos, rosters, stock and reports in one system, with one login and one bill.

Fresha also covers a lot in one platform, and says so on its pricing page. The difference is packaging: Fresha prices per bookable team member, with optional add-ons such as Client Loyalty billed per location on top, plus card processing and any marketplace new client fees. In Clinic App, rewards, referrals, consent and treatment records are part of the one system and the flat fees.

No marketplace means no new client fee. One system means the booking, the payment, the membership and the consent sit on one patient record.

Which system is built for AHPRA and TGA rules?

Clinic App is built around the advertising rules cosmetic clinics work under, which matters as soon as a clinic offers prescription treatments. The TGA's guidance on complying with the restrictions on advertising prescription medicines to the public says prescription medicines cannot be advertised to the public except in very limited circumstances, including through indirect references such as abbreviations and nicknames. AHPRA's guidelines for advertising a regulated health service say advertising must not use testimonials about the clinical aspects of a service, and that any gift, discount or other inducement must state its terms and conditions. Its guidelines for advertising higher risk non-surgical cosmetic procedures also say advertising for those procedures must not use testimonials.

Here is what Clinic App builds in around those rules:

• Points, rewards, discounts and offers never apply to Schedule 4 (prescription-only) treatments.
• Prescription medicine names are kept off public, patient-facing promotional surfaces.
• Marketing campaigns and automatic messages are checked for prescription medicine names, including disguised spellings, before they can be sent.
• Review requests never offer points or rewards for a review, skip staff, and are checked for prescription medicine names.
• Consent forms are signed digitally, with the exact wording each patient agreed to stored with their signature and versioned. Consent for under-18s fails closed: it needs a guardian path.
• Treatment records are amended or struck out, never deleted.
• Patient data is hosted in Sydney, Australia, and card numbers are handled by Stripe, never stored by Clinic App.

No software makes a clinic compliant on its own; Clinic App is built so the wrong thing is hard to do by accident. Our side-by-side of Clinic App vs Fresha sets out what each system's own pages say about these rules.

Zoe Wogan

Founder, Clinic App

Zoe founded Clinic App and works hands-on with Australian cosmetic and skin clinics on switching systems, memberships and earning more from the patients they already have.