Service Area

BookingItNow · Pro Plan Feature

What is Service Area?

Service Area lets you define a geographic coverage zone for each of your bookable services. When a customer places an order or submits a booking request from an address outside that zone, BookingItNow automatically:

• Flags the booking as Pending — it goes into your queue for manual review before being actioned
• Notifies the customer — a polite "outside our service area" email lets them know upfront, so they're never left wondering
• Logs the event — an entry appears in your Activity feed for a full audit trail

Important: bookings are never blocked. Service Area is warn-only — every order still goes through and no customer is ever turned away automatically. You decide what to do once you see the flag.

Service Area is available on the Pro plan ($39/mo). If you're on a lower plan, you'll see a preview of the feature in your service settings.

Setting a Shop-Wide Default (Recommended)

Before configuring individual services, set a default location in Settings → Service Area Default. This pre-fills the centre location and radius for every new service you create, so you only have to enter your address once.

1. Go to Settings in the BookingItNow app
2. Scroll to Service Area Default
3. Enter your base location (postal code, full address, or city name — anything you'd type into Google Maps)
4. Enter a default radius in kilometres
5. Click Save default

If your Shopify store has a primary location set up, BookingItNow will suggest it automatically — click Use this location to accept.

Enabling Service Area on a Service

Step 1 — Open the service

Go to Services (or Events) and click the service you want to add a coverage zone to.

Step 2 — Enable the toggle

Scroll to the Service Area section and check Enable service area restriction.

If you set a shop-wide default (above), the location and radius fields will be pre-filled. Review them and adjust if this service covers a different zone.

Step 3 — Enter your centre location

Type a postal code, street address, or city name into the Service area centre field. Examples:

• M5V 3A8
• 123 Queen St W, Toronto
• Etobicoke, ON

BookingItNow geocodes this automatically when you save — no coordinates needed.

Step 4 — Set your radius

Enter how far from the centre you'll travel, in kilometres. A few reference points:

Step 5 — Configure the customer email (optional)

By default, customers outside your zone receive a standard "outside service area" email. You can:

• Disable the email — uncheck "Send outside-area email to customer" if you'd rather handle communication yourself
• Write a custom message — enter your own text in the "Custom message" field. Leave blank to use the default.

Example custom message:

Thank you for your order! Unfortunately we don't currently service your area, but we're expanding soon. If your project is flexible on timing, get in touch — we'd love to work with you.

Step 6 — Save

Click Save Service Area. BookingItNow confirms the address was found by showing the geocoded location (e.g. ? Etobicoke, Toronto, ON, Canada).

How It Works End-to-End

Customer places order / submits form / completes booking
                    ↓
     Does the matched service have a coverage zone?
          No → proceed normally, no check
          Yes → geocode the customer's address
                    ↓
            Geocoding failed? (API unavailable, unrecognisable address)
                Yes → proceed normally — never drop a valid order (fail-open)
                No  → is the address within the radius?
                          Yes → proceed normally
                          No  → flag booking as Pending
                                send outside-area email to customer (if enabled)
                                log Outside Area event in Activity feed
                                booking still created — merchant reviews

Fail-open principle: If the geocoding service is unavailable or can't resolve an address, BookingItNow always proceeds with the booking. No orders are ever silently dropped.

Service Area Across Booking Channels

Purchase-then-book (Shopify order fulfillment)

The customer's shipping address from the Shopify order is used for the area check.

• Booking proceeds regardless, but is marked Pending if outside the zone
• Customer receives the outside-area email (if enabled) and a booking link
• When they click the booking link, they see a brief confirmation screen explaining they're outside the service area before continuing — this timestamps their acknowledgement for your records
• Activity feed shows an Outside Area entry with the order details

Public Booking Forms

The customer's submitted address field is used. Service area checks apply to each service linked to the form.

• If outside the zone: the request still goes through to your provider (Jobber, etc.), is flagged as Pending, and the customer is notified
• If no address was submitted: the check is skipped

BIN Scheduler (/book/…)

The customer's optional service address is used.

• Booking proceeds but is placed in Pending status if outside the zone
• Merchant reviews pending bookings in the dashboard before confirming

Reading Outside-Area Events in the Activity Feed

In Activity, outside-area events show an orange Outside Area badge. Each entry includes:

• Customer name and email
• Order or booking reference
• Which service triggered the check
• The radius that was exceeded
• Timestamp

This gives you full visibility of demand you're not currently capturing — useful for deciding whether to expand your coverage zone.

The Customer Confirmation Screen

When a customer who was flagged outside your service area clicks their booking link (the /x/… short link in their email), they see a brief confirmation screen before reaching their scheduling URL. It explains:

• Their address is outside your usual service area
• You may need to follow up before the booking is confirmed
• They can continue to book and you'll be in touch

Once they click through, their acknowledgement is timestamped on the booking record. This creates an audit trail so you know the customer was informed — useful if you later need to cancel or reschedule.

Troubleshooting

Addresses inside my zone are being flagged as outside

• Check the location text. Open the service and look at the geocoded address shown after the centre location field (e.g. ? Etobicoke, Toronto, ON, Canada). If it resolved to the wrong location, try a more specific address or postal code.
• Check the radius. Distances are in kilometres. 50 km ≈ 31 miles. If you entered a radius intended as miles, multiply by 1.6.
• Verify the customer's address. The check uses the shipping address from the order. If the customer entered an incorrect or abbreviated address at checkout, geocoding may place them in the wrong location.

Service area shows as "Paused" in my settings

This means your plan no longer includes the Service Area feature (e.g. after a downgrade). Your configuration is fully preserved — location, radius, and email settings are all still there — and will reactivate automatically the moment you resubscribe to the Pro plan. No reconfiguration needed.

Service area is enabled but the check isn't running

If you see the warning "Service area is enabled but no centre location is saved", the feature was turned on without a location being set or geocoded. Enter a location in the centre field and save to activate checks.

Customers in range are flagged as outside after a recent address change

The geocoding database is regularly updated but may lag on newer developments or recently renamed streets. Increasing the radius by 5–10 km usually resolves edge cases like this.

No outside-area email was received by the customer

• Confirm "Send outside-area email to customer" is checked on the service
• Confirm your store's email settings are configured in Settings → Email Notifications (sender name, reply-to address are required)
• Check the Activity feed — the Outside Area event is logged regardless of email delivery, so you won't miss the flag even if email fails

FAQ

Can I set different service areas for different services? Yes — each service has its own coverage zone. You might have a mobile service limited to 25 km while a consultation service covers the whole country.

Does service area work with Calendly, Cal.com, and Jobber? Yes — the check happens before dispatching to any provider. It works the same way regardless of which platform you use.

Will outside-area customers be automatically refunded? No — BookingItNow does not process refunds. Orders from outside your service area still go through Shopify normally. If you need to refund an order, do so through your Shopify admin as you would any other order.

What if I want to accept a customer who's technically outside my zone? Find their booking in your Activity feed or Bookings dashboard, and change the status from Pending to Confirmed. BookingItNow won't prevent you from accepting it.

Can I require customers to confirm before booking if they're outside my area? Yes — this happens automatically. Customers flagged outside your zone see a confirmation screen when they click their booking link, and their acknowledgement is recorded.

Last updated: April 27, 2026 · BookingItNow