How to charge for appointments with Mercado Pago from your spa's website

Carmen runs a hand and foot spa in Zihuatanejo, offering manicures, spa pedicures, and paraffin treatments. One Thursday night, Mariel messaged her from her hotel to book a spa pedicure for Saturday at 11. Carmen sent her bank details for a transfer, and Mariel replied: “Don’t you take Mercado Pago? I’ve got balance right there.” That night, Carmen started looking into how to charge for appointments with Mercado Pago from her website.

She did have a Mercado Pago account. She used it to pay the electricity bill and buy nail polish online, but had never connected it to anything. Mariel ended up transferring the money anyway. The next customer who asked the same thing, a woman coming in with her two daughters, said “let me think about it” and never wrote back.

What does it mean to charge for appointments with Mercado Pago?

Charging for appointments with Mercado Pago means your customer books on your website and pays right there, using her Mercado Pago account, a card, OXXO, or a bank transfer. The money lands directly in your own Mercado Pago account, and once the payment comes through, the appointment shows up on your calendar as paid.

A lot of people like this because they already have Mercado Pago on their phone, with balance or a saved card, and they don’t have to type their card number into a website they don’t know.

How do you connect Mercado Pago to your website?

With one button, no copying keys. In your dashboard, go to Settings › Payment methods, open Mercado Pago (it’s first on the list), and tap Connect with Mercado Pago. That takes you to the Mercado Pago screen, where you log in with your account and authorize Proyecta. Back in your dashboard, you’ll see “Mercado Pago connected.”

The old way meant going into Mercado Pago’s developer section, creating an application, and pasting in an Access Token. That option is still there, under I’d rather paste my Access Token, for anyone who already has one. Carmen spent longer trying to remember her Mercado Pago password than she did actually connecting it.

There’s still one step left. The row reads “Connected, not enabled” until you tap Enable in your store, after which it switches to “Enabled.” Below that, the dashboard tells you when your customers will see it: within a few minutes if your website is already published, or as soon as you publish it.

It has to be your real account, since a test account gets rejected. And if that account is already connected to another Proyecta store, you’ll see “That Mercado Pago account is already connected to another store.” The connection lasts six months and Proyecta renews it automatically; if Mercado Pago ever stops accepting it, your dashboard will let you know and give you a Reconnect button.

What else does your website need to charge for the appointment at booking?

Your services need to be set to charge at booking. If your website was built so clients pay you at the spa, they’ll keep booking without paying anything online, even with Mercado Pago active. To charge online with Mercado Pago, ask Proyecta for it in your project’s chat, with something like “I want my customers to pay for their appointment when they book.”

What does your customer see when she pays for her appointment?

It’s five steps:

She picks the service, day, and time on your website, and enters her details.
She taps Pay with Mercado Pago. If you also accept cards, she’ll see Pay and book next to that button for card payments, and picks one.
If she hasn’t logged in, your website asks her to right then: “To pay online, please sign in.”
She pays on the Mercado Pago screen, using her account, a card, OXXO, or a bank transfer.
She returns to your website and sees “Booking confirmed,” the date and time, and “Payment confirmed.” The confirmation also arrives by email.

If she chose OXXO or a transfer, she sees “Payment in process” and, below it: “Your time is held while your payment is confirmed. If you chose OXXO or a bank transfer, pay it before it expires.”

The first customer to pay this way was a tourist who booked a manicure and paraffin treatment for Monday, from the hotel pool. She showed up to her appointment without Carmen having to bring up money at all.

Why doesn’t Mercado Pago show up for an appointment today?

Because the payment might arrive too late. Proyecta only offers Mercado Pago for appointments starting 26 hours or more from now.

If your customer chooses OXXO or a transfer, the money arrives later, and for an appointment that payment has to come in at least two hours before the appointment, and never more than three days after booking. Mercado Pago, for its part, won’t let a payment slip expire in less than a day. Two hours plus 24 makes 26.

For a closer appointment, your customer sees your other payment methods instead. If Mercado Pago is the only one you have, she books without paying online and pays you at the spa. This happens to Carmen with customers strolling around downtown on a Saturday morning who want a pedicure that same afternoon, and she charges those at the spa, like always.

How do you know on your calendar that an appointment has already been paid?

By the money line on each appointment. One that’s already paid reads “Paid” along with the amount received, and one waiting on an OXXO slip or a transfer reads “Awaiting payment.”

An appointment that’s waiting doesn’t get confirmed by hand. It confirms itself once the payment arrives. If the slip expires unpaid, the appointment cancels itself and that time slot opens back up for another customer.

One Sunday, a customer booked a paraffin treatment for Tuesday and chose OXXO. Carmen saw “Awaiting payment” all afternoon, and by Monday morning the appointment already read “Paid,” without anyone sending her anything.

How much does Proyecta charge you for appointments paid through Mercado Pago?

Nothing. Before you even connect, the dashboard says it plainly: “No Proyecta fee, only Mercado Pago’s.” The money goes straight to your account, and you see it in your Mercado Pago app.

What Mercado Pago deducts is listed on their fees page. Check it before activating and run the numbers on your most-requested service, which in Carmen’s spa is the $450 spa pedicure.

How do I set this up for my spa?

Describe your business to Proyecta in your own words. Something like: “a website for my hand and foot spa in Zihuatanejo, with manicures, spa pedicures, and paraffin treatments listed with their price and duration, online appointments paid at booking with Mercado Pago, and a WhatsApp button.”

Once your website is published, connect Mercado Pago under Payment methods and hit Enable in your store. Before you activate it, take your last twenty appointments and note how many hours ahead each one was booked. If almost all of them came in more than 26 hours ahead, Mercado Pago covers you; if a lot are same-day, keep another payment method on hand for those. Get started at proyecta.dev.