Business Box user guide
Find step-by-step instructions for setting up Business Box and managing your bookings. Choose a topic below, or start with the getting-started guide.
I want to…#
- Take my first booking Sign in and publish a link in about five minutes
- Stop being double booked Connect Google Calendar or Outlook
- Charge for appointments Connect Stripe and set a price in yen
- Change my working hours Weekly hours, days off and Japanese public holidays
- Put booking on my own website Copy one line of code into your site
- Cancel, move or refund a booking What you can do to a booking after it is made
- Fix something that is not working Error messages and what they mean
How Business Box fits together#
These four terms appear in Business Box and throughout this guide.
- An service
- One thing people can book from you — a 30-minute intro call, a 90-minute treatment. It holds the length, the location, the price and the questions you ask. You can have as many as you like, and each one gets its own link.
- An availability schedule
- The hours you are open. One schedule can be shared by several services, so changing your hours once changes them everywhere.
- A calendar connection
- Your own Google or Microsoft calendar. Business Box reads it so busy times are never offered, and writes confirmed bookings into it.
- A booking
- An appointment made by a customer. You can view its details and status, and both you and the customer can reschedule or cancel within the rules you set.
Payment sits alongside all of that. It is optional, it runs through your own Stripe account, and Business Box takes no commission on what you charge. See Connect your Stripe account.
Start here#
- ContentsStep-by-step help for Business Box: publish a booking page, connect Google Calendar or Outlook, take payment in yen through Stripe, and manage bookings day to day.
- Getting startedSign in to Business Box with Google or Microsoft, create your first service and get a booking link you can send to a customer, in about five minutes.
- Your account and settingsChange your public booking handle, display name, interface language and time zone, add a shared inbox to booking notifications, turn on email verification for bookers, and delete your account.
Set up your services#
- ServicesCreate and edit the things people book from you: name, link, colour, location, duration, buffers, notice, how far ahead, daily limits and reminder emails.
- The booking formAdd your own questions to the booking form, choose the field type, make answers required, and decide what the customer sees after they book.
- Availability and hoursSet the hours you take bookings, add split shifts and lunch breaks, block a specific date or open a normally closed one, and close automatically on Japanese public holidays.
- Your booking pageUnderstand your public booking page and event links, what the customer sees as they book, how a time is held while they fill in the form, and how they manage the booking afterwards.
- Add it to your websitePaste one line of code to put Business Box booking on your own website: an inline calendar, a popup button, or a plain iframe for site builders that strip scripts.
- Invite-only bookingsCreate single-use booking links to send in reply to an enquiry, and hide an service so it can only be booked by invitation.
- MembersInvite colleagues to your workspace so your booking pages can offer their time too. Each of them keeps their own calendar and working hours, and there is no per-person charge.
Connect your calendar#
- Connect Google CalendarConnect Google Calendar so your existing events block out booking times and confirmed bookings appear in your calendar, with a Google Meet link when you want one.
- Connect ZoomConnect your Zoom account so every booking gets its own Zoom meeting, created in your account and sent to your customer automatically.
- Connect OutlookConnect a Microsoft calendar so Outlook events block out booking times and bookings appear in your calendar, with a Microsoft Teams link on a work or school account.
- How calendar sync worksWhat Business Box reads from your calendar and writes to it, what the sync badges on a booking mean, what happens when you move or delete an entry yourself, and how to reconnect a calendar.
Take payment#
- Connect StripeConnect your own Stripe account to take card payments for bookings in yen, understand the approval Stripe carries out, and read the charges and payouts badges.
- Charging for bookingsChoose whether an appointment is free, paid online by card before it is confirmed, or paid in person at the appointment. Set a price in yen, set a cancellation and refund policy, and issue refunds.
- Your plan and billingWhat the free plan includes, what the subscription adds, how to subscribe or cancel, what happens if a payment fails, and how to change your card or download invoices.
Day to day#
- Managing bookingsFind bookings, read their statuses, cancel and reschedule on a customer’s behalf, add a booking taken by phone, mark a no-show, refund, and keep private notes.
- Emails and remindersEvery email Business Box sends, who receives it, how reminders are timed, what to do when a confirmation does not arrive, and how to copy a shared inbox.
- Booking in LINELet customers book from your LINE Official Account without leaving LINE, and send their confirmations as LINE messages instead of email.
Help#
- TroubleshootingFix the most common problems in Business Box: no times showing on the booking page, a booking link returning Not found, a calendar needing reconnecting, Stripe not approving charges, and every error message explained.
- Frequently asked questionsQuick answers about Business Box: what it costs, how payments and calendar sync work, what your customers can do themselves, and how it compares with tools built outside Japan.
What it costs#
The Free plan includes booking pages, calendar connections, working hours, private links and booking on your website, with no time limit or credit card required. The Paid plan is ¥1,200 per month, including tax, and adds online card payments, team bookings and LINE integration. Business Box charges no booking commission; Stripe processing fees apply separately.
Charging your customer at the appointment instead — cash, your own card reader, a QR code, an invoice afterwards — is free too, because nothing passes through us. See Charging for bookings.
Getting help#
If something here does not match what you see on screen, or you are stuck on a step, email [email protected] and say which page you were on. Screenshots help.
Common questions
Do I need a credit card to start using Business Box?
No. You sign in with a Google or Microsoft account and the free plan has no card and no time limit. A card is needed if you upgrade to the Paid plan for online payments, team bookings or LINE integration.
Does Business Box work in Japanese?
Yes. The app, your booking pages and every email work in English and Japanese. Your customer sees the language set in their browser, and you can write your own event names and descriptions in both. This guide is available in English and Japanese.
Who receives the money when a customer pays for a booking?
Customer payments go directly to your own Stripe account. Business Box charges a fixed monthly subscription with no booking commission. Stripe’s processing fees apply separately.
Last reviewed 16 October 2026.