Dynamic pricing is available only for Team and Business Level plans. This functionality is not available for Solo or Starter level plans.
In most cases, service pricing is fairly straightforward; you set a specific price and any client looking to book that service pays that set price. There are however some cases where pricing may be more complex. Whether you offer a discounted rate to certain clients, scale your pricing based on the length of the booking or the number of pets, or adjust pricing based on pet size or coat type, you may find yourself looking for ways to automatically account for your pricing rules.
Dynamic pricing in BusyPaws allows you to configure automatic price adjustments to be made based on a variety of factors. In this guide we will take a look at the various setting options for dynamic pricing rules as well as some examples of the most common use cases.
Finding & Organizing Pricing Rules
Dynamic pricing rules can apply to specific services or can be configured to impact pricing more generally. As a result, dynamic pricing has its own settings page where you can view, edit, and organize your existing rules or add more.
To find your existing dynamic pricing rules, hover your mouse over the ellipses in the left-hand menu bar then select "Dynamic Pricing" from the sub-menu.
Alternatively, click the gear icon found at the bottom of the left-hand menu bar.
Then select "Dynamic Pricing" from the top of the "Product Configuration" section.
The Dynamic Pricing page lists all of your existing pricing rules. Each rule is listed by name and shows the requirements and associated price change. Rules are separated into two categories: Invoice Rules and Line Item Rules.
Invoice Rules | Apply to an invoice total. Rules configured based on client data, invoice total data, and/or registered pet data only. Cannot be combined with each other, will always use first applicable. |
Line Item Rules | Apply to specific line items on an invoice. Rules configured on a wide variety of criteria associated with the client, pet, or item being purchased. Can be combined, if desired. |
The system will always apply both an invoice rule and a line item rule if each is applicable to the purchase.
For Invoice Rules the system will always apply only the first applicable rule. In contrast, Line Item Rules may be configured to apply only the first applicable or to stack in order. Use the "Apply rules by" buttons at the top of the Line Item Rules section to control how the system prioritizes your rules in the case that multiple apply to the same purchase.
All Applicable | Apply all applicable price changes. This can result in stacked price changes. Price rules will apply from the top of the list down. |
First Applicable | Apply only the first relevant rule (i.e. the rule closest to the top of the dynamic pricing list that matches the invoice criteria). This prevents stacked price changes. Will not prevent an Invoice Rule from applying. |
Use the two lines to the left of any listed price rule to change its position on the list. Simply click and drag it to the new location.
Select the name of any listed pricing rule to edit its settings.
Click the trash can icon to delete the pricing rule.
This action cannot be undone. Once a rule has been deleted it cannot be recovered. If you change your mind after deleting a rule you will need to re-build it from scratch.
Adding a New Pricing Rule
Pricing rules cannot be applied to membership purchases. This is true for both Invoice Rules and Line Item Rules. Though it is possible to set members-only pricing for your other purchase options (services, add-ons, etc.) dynamic pricing changes cannot be set up to adjust the price of a membership subscription itself. Membership pricing is fixed and can only be adjusted from each membership's settings page.
To create a new pricing rule, click the "Add Pricing Rule" button at the top of the Dynamic Pricing page.
The New Rule page includes a variety of fields for configuring dynamic pricing requirements. Use the "Name" field found at the top of the form to apply a name to the new rule. This name will be used to identify the rule on your dynamic pricing list, so it is best to choose something concise but easily identifiable.
After naming your rule, use the Pricing Rule Type section to determine how you want the rule to apply. Select "Line Item" if you want the price adjustment to apply only to specific line items on invoices (i.e. specific bookings, services, packages, add-ons, products). Choose "Invoice" for a discount that should apply to qualifying invoices as a whole.
Different rule options will be available depending on the rule type selected. Line Item rules have a wider variety of criteria available for setting the rule. Invoice rules are applied more generally and therefore have fewer options for criteria.
The sections below the Pricing Rule Type further control how the pricing rules are applied. The first section dictates the conditions that must be met to qualify for the price adjustment, and the second section controls the price adjustment itself.
Condition Options
Use the drop-down fields to control what conditions you want to set on your pricing rule. Depending on the selection made for the first field, additional options will populate.
Any line item rule that combines criteria for Add-On, Package, Product, Service, and/or Series will never apply. This is because a single line item cannot be both an add-on and a service or a membership and a series.
Invoice
Criteria related to overall invoice values. Available only for Invoice rules.
Total | Equals, Greater Than, Less Than |
Created Date | On, Before, After (date), Less Than, More Than (days ago) |
When manually editing or generating invoices the system will use the current date to determine if a Created Date rule applies.
i.e. If the rule is set to Created Date > After > 15 August 2025, and a draft invoice was created on 10 August, the rule will still come up as applicable if the invoice is edited by a user on 16 August.
Add-On
Criteria related to the purchase of an add-on included. Rules including these criteria will impact the price of the add-on being purchased. Available only for Line Item rules.
Name | is, is Not (any active add-on) |
Price | Equals, Greater Than, Less Than |
Booking
Criteria related to a specific booking. Available only for Line Item rules.
Start Date | On, Before, After (date), Less Than, More Than (days ago) |
Start Time | At, Before, After (time) |
End Date | On, Before, After (date), Less Than, More Than (days ago) |
End Time | At, Before, After (time) |
Check In Time | At, Before, After (time) |
Check Out Time | At, Before, After (time) |
Capacity | Equals, Greater Than, Less Than |
Duration | Equals, Greater Than, Less Than |
Spots Available | Equals, Greater Than, Less Than |
Day of Week | is, is Not (one or more days of the week) |
Provider | is, is Not (any user) |
Secondary Provider | is, is Not (any user) |
Service Type | is, is Not (Training, Boarding, Grooming, Daycare, Other) |
Booking Type | is, is Not (Individual, Group) |
Series | is True, is False |
Distance from Facility (as the crow flies) | More Than, Less Than |
Facility | is, is Not (any facility) |
Location | is, is Not (any default or custom location) |
Room / Kennel | is, is Not (any room or kennel) |
These criteria require that the invoice include one or more specific bookings. If an invoice is generated for a service unattached to a booking, the criteria will not apply.
Client
Criteria related to the client making the booking/associated with the invoice. Available for line item and invoice rules.
First Name | Contains, Does Not Contain, Equals, Does Not Equal |
Last Name | Contains, Does Not Contain, Equals, Does Not Equal |
Contains, Does Not Contain, Equals, Does Not Equal | |
Phone | Contains, Does Not Contain, Equals, Does Not Equal
(Number entered including country code, no hyphens or parentheses) |
Prospect | is True, is False |
Created Date | On, Before, After (date), Less Than, More Than (days ago) |
Tag | is, is Not (any custom client tag) |
Disabled for Online Booking | is True, is False |
Active | is True, is False |
Active Membership | is, is Not (any membership) |
Unsubscribed from Email | is True, is False |
Unsubscribed from SMS | is True, is False |
Custom Attributes | (options vary depending on attribute type, excludes address, file attachment, large text, and time fields) |
Line Item
Criteria related to the attributes of the invoice line item or the invoice as a whole. Available only for Line Item rules.
Total | Equals, Greater Than, Less Than |
Quantity | Equals, Greater Than, Less Than |
Package
Criteria related to the purchase of a package. Rules including these criteria will impact the price of the package being purchased. Available only for Line Item rules.
Name | is, is Not (any package) |
Price | Equals, Greater Than, Less Than |
Product
Criteria related to the purchase of a product. Rules including these criteria will impact the price of the product being purchased. Available only for Line Item rules.
Name | is, is Not (any product) |
Price | Equals, Greater Than, Less Than |
Brand | is, is Not (any created brand) |
Category | is, is Not (any created category) |
Vendor | is, is Not (any created vendor) |
Registered Pet
Criteria related to the pet registered for the invoiced booking. Available for line item and invoice rules.
Age | Less Than (Weeks), More Than (Weeks), Less Than (Months), More Than (Months), Less Than (Years), More Than (Years) |
Name | Contains, Does Not Contain, Equals, Does Not Equal |
Breed | Contains, Does Not Contain, Equals, Does Not Equal |
Birthday | On, Before, After (date), Less Than, More Than (days ago) |
Created Date | On, Before, After (date), Less Than, More Than (days ago) |
Count | Equals, Greater Than, Less Than |
Sex | is, is Not (Male, Female) |
Species | is, is Not (Dog, Cat) |
Tag | is, is Not (any custom pet tag) |
Custom Attributes | (options vary depending on attribute type, excludes file attachment, large text, and time fields) |
It's important to note that this criteria will apply only if the invoice is associated with a specific booking and the pet registered on that booking fits the criteria. If invoice/line item includes multiple pets, the rule will apply if even one of those pets meets the criteria.
Service
Criteria related to the purchase of a service. Rules including these criteria will impact the price of the service being purchased. Available only for Line Item rules.
Name | is, is Not (any service) |
Price | Equals, Greater Than, Less Than |
Service Collection
Criteria related to the direct purchase of a service collection. Rules including these criteria will impact the price of the collection being purchased. Available only for Line Item rules.
Name | is, is Not (any service collection) |
Price | Equals, Greater Than, Less Than |
Series
Criteria related to the purchase of a series. Rules including these criteria will impact the price of the series being purchased. Available only for Line Item rules.
Name | is, is Not (any series) |
Price | Equals, Greater Than, Less Than |
Number of Steps | Equals, Greater Than, Less Than |
Important Note for Date/Time-Based Rules
When using date-based or time-based rules (i.e. pet vaccine data, pet birthdays/ages, booking dates, etc.) the following should be considered.
For all More Than, Less Than, Before, and After rules the chosen date/time is excluded.
i.e. Choosing Before 12 Sept 2025 means the rule will not apply to 12 Sept 2025. Choosing Before 9:30am means the rule will not apply to 9:30am.Date > Less Than (days ago) : Will also include future dates.
i.e. Choosing Less Than 5 Days Ago includes all days from 4 days ago onwardsDate > Less Than (days from now) : Will also include past dates.
i.e. Choosing Less Than 5 Days From Now includes all days 4 days from now backwards
Combining Conditions
The "+" button and "Add Filter Group" options can be used to include additional rule components.
Selecting either option populates another criteria field.
By default, each added criteria field will populate as "And", meaning both criteria need to be true for the pricing rule to take effect.
Selecting "And" opens a dropdown menu with the options "And" and "Or". While "And" indicates both criteria must be true, selecting "Or" tells the system that only one of the criteria needs to be true. These can be used to combine a variety of criteria for your pricing rules.
Use the "-" button for any additional criteria to remove it.
Note that each set of criteria will be subject to the same "And"/"Or" selection.
It is also important to keep the condition structure in mind when combining ANDs and ORS. Use the "+" button to add rules within a group/set. Use "Add Filter Group" to join those sets.
For example, if I have a rule set up as:
[Criteria A AND Criteria B] OR [Criteria C AND Criteria D] OR [Criteria E]
Criteria A AND Criteria B = Rule Group 1
Criteria C AND Criteria D = Rule Group 2
Criteria E = Rule Group 3
Since the rule groups are separated by OR, clients need only meet the criteria for one of the groups. This means the client will match the rule if they meet:
Criteria A and Criteria B only
Criteria C and Criteria D only
Criteria E only
---
Similarly, if the rule is set up as:
[Criteria A OR Criteria B] AND [Criteria C OR Criteria D] AND [Criteria E]
Criteria A AND Criteria B = Rule Group 1
Criteria C AND Criteria D = Rule Group 2
Criteria E = Rule Group 3
Since the rule groups are separated by AND, clients need to meet at least one criteria for each rule group. This means the client will match the rule if they meet:
Criteria A and Criteria C and Criteria E
Criteria B and Criteria D and Criteria E
Criteria A and Criteria D and Criteria E
Criteria B and Criteria C and Criteria E
The would not match the rule if they did not meet Criteria E, did not meet Criteria A and B, etc.
Pricing Adjustment
After making the selections for your pricing criteria, use the following section to control how the pricing is adjusted.
Line Item Rules
When configuring Line Item rules this section includes three price adjustment options for controlling the unit price when a client's purchase matches the chosen rules. In this case, "unit" refers to the service, series, add-on, package, or product impacted by the pricing rules.
Set Unit Price to | Sets a fixed price for the item (service, membership, etc.) being purchased to replace its default when the pricing rules are met. |
Increase Price by | Sets the amount the unit price should increase from its default when the pricing rules are met. Can be configured as a percentage or a $/£/€ amount. |
Reduce Price by | Sets the amount the unit price should decrease from its default when the pricing rules are met. Can be configured as a percentage or a $/£/€ amount. |
When clients are booking services or series that are subject to dynamic pricing rules the unit price (i.e. the service/series price) will always be charged per registered pet. When clients are booking/paying for boarding services the unit price is charged per pet per night.
When using the Increase Price by or Reduce Price by options use the "%" and "$" buttons to control what type of increase/decrease should be applied. The selected option will display in purple.
Type any price change value directly into the number field or use the up/down arrows to adjust the value by 0.01.
Invoice Rules
When configuring Invoice rules the price adjustment section will include only the option to discount the invoice price. Select whether the discount applied should be a percentage (%) or a set amount, then enter a value into the number field.
When you are happy with your rule criteria and price adjustment settings, click the "Create Pricing Rule" button to save it to your Dynamic Pricing list.
There are countless ways to implement dynamic pricing rules. If you're not quite sure where to start or how dynamic pricing could be used for your business, check out our Examples of Dynamic Pricing help guide. For information on configuring more basic service settings, check out our guides on Creating Services and Configuring Self-Serve Bookings.