For Businesses

Business guide

Everything you need to know to set up your business on Sponti, from initial profile creation through publishing your first live deal.

What is Sponti for businesses?

Sponti is a last-minute marketplace. As a business, you use Sponti to sell unused capacity and time-sensitive inventory to nearby customers who are actively looking to book something right now.

The core idea: you have an empty table, a cancelled appointment slot, a half-full event, or food that won't keep until tomorrow. Sponti gives you a real-time channel to convert that into revenue the same day.

💡 Tip

Sponti works best for businesses with time-bound inventory — restaurants, beauty salons, wellness studios, event venues, hotels, and any local service business with recurring slot availability.

Setup

The onboarding flow

Getting a business live on Sponti involves five sequential steps. You can pause at any step and return — the app preserves your progress.

Create your Business profile

The Business is your public storefront — what customers see when they browse Sponti. Creation is a 4-step wizard inside the app:

Field	Notes
Display name*	Customer-facing business name
Short description	A brief intro to your business
Support phone	Customer support contact, with country code
Support email	Customer support email
Category*	Parent category (e.g. Food & Drink, Beauty)
Subcategory*	The specific type within your category
Instagram / TikTok	Social handles for your profile
Logo	Square image, displayed on your storefront
Gallery	Up to several images of your business

ℹ️ Note

Business status: Newly created businesses start in Draft status. A business must be in Active status before its deals become visible to customers.

Add a Venue

A Venue is the physical location where a deal takes place — a branch, shop, studio, hotel, or event space. One Business can have multiple Venues.

Field	Notes
Venue name*	Displayed on the deal card
Country*	Used for location and timezone resolution
State / region*	Sub-region within the country
Map pin*	Precise lat/lng, set by dropping a pin on the map. Address is auto-resolved.

💡 Tip

The venue pin sets the exact coordinates customers use to navigate to you. Drag the pin until it's precisely on your entrance — don't leave it on the street corner.

Create a Payout Account

Sponti uses Stripe to handle all payments and payouts. Before you can publish live deals, you need a connected payout account.

Account creation collects:

Field	Notes
Business name*	As officially registered — used on receipts and Stripe
Country*	Determines Stripe region and compliance requirements
Business email*	Used for receipts and Stripe communication

⚠️ Important

Creating the payout account is separate from Stripe onboarding. After account creation, you are redirected to Stripe to complete identity verification and add your bank details. Until that process completes, payouts are paused for this business.

Account statuses:

missingNo payout account exists yet for this business.
setupAccount created but Stripe onboarding has not started.
pendingStripe onboarding started but not fully verified.
connectedStripe is fully connected. Payouts are enabled.
rejectedStripe onboarding needs attention. Return to finish setup.

Complete Stripe onboarding

After creating your payout account, Sponti redirects you to Stripe to complete verification. Stripe will ask for:

Business details
Representative details (where required by your country)
Bank account for receiving payouts

ℹ️ Note

You can finish Stripe onboarding later from the My Business screen. Select "Account" → "Continue on Stripe." You cannot accept paid bookings until Stripe onboarding is complete.

Add products to your catalog

Products are reusable templates for your deals. A haircut, a room type, a yoga class, a dinner menu — create it once, use it whenever you publish a deal.

Field	Notes
Service type*	Determines deal format: appointment, walk-in, ticket, pickup, or stay
Title*	Product name shown on deal cards
Description	Detail for customers to understand what they're getting
Service config	Service-specific settings (e.g. duration for appointments)
Cover photo	Hero image displayed on the deal card

Publishing

Creating and managing deals

A deal is what customers actually book. Deals are created from your product catalog inside the Sponti backoffice. Each deal is time-limited and has a fixed availability count.

Deal types

Walk-in

Immediate availability. Customer shows up without a slot.

Appointment

Specific time slot booking. Suitable for salons, spas.

Ticket

Fixed-capacity event or class. Specific time and seats.

Pickup

Surplus food or items. Customer picks up within a window.

Stay

Hotel or short-stay booking for a specific night.

What goes into a deal

Field	Notes
Product*	The catalog item this deal is based on
Venue*	The location where this deal takes place
Deal window*	Start and end time during which the deal is active
Availability count*	Max number of bookings accepted
Original price*	Full price before the discount
Deal price*	The discounted last-minute price

💡 Tip

Best practice: Publish deals as close to the window as possible. Customers are more likely to act when the deal is genuinely time-urgent. A deal posted 30 minutes before start converts better than one posted 3 days ahead for the same slot.

Payments

Payments and payouts

All payments on Sponti are processed by Stripe. Sponti does not store bank details, card numbers, or sensitive financial data.

Customers pay at the time of booking, not at the door.
Stripe transfers earnings to your bank account on a rolling schedule.
You can open the Stripe Dashboard directly from the My Business screen once your account is connected.
Refunds are managed through Stripe in accordance with your business's cancellation policy.

⚠️ Important

Payouts are paused for any business whose Stripe account status is notconnected. Complete Stripe onboarding to enable payouts.

Team management

Roles and team access

Sponti uses a role-based access model for business teams. Every person who has access to a business has one of four roles.

Field	Notes
Admin	Full access. Can manage business profile, payout account, team members, catalog, and deals.
Co-admin	Same access as Admin including payout account. Typically for co-owners.
Manager	Can create deals, manage products, and use the catalog. Cannot manage payout settings or team.
Member	View-only or limited operational access. Cannot publish deals or change settings.

ℹ️ Note

The payout (Account) section is restricted to Admin and Co-admin roles only. Managers and members cannot see or modify Stripe settings.

Invite team members from the Team tab inside My Business. Invitations are sent and accepted through the Sponti app. New team members receive a pending invite they can accept or decline.

Tips

Best practices

Keep your catalog current

Products you no longer offer should be removed or updated. Outdated catalog items cause confusion when customers redeem deals.

Use real pricing

Sponti customers are smart. Artificially inflated "original prices" erode trust. Use the price you actually charge when demand is normal.

Set precise venue locations

Drop the pin directly on your entrance. Customers use this for navigation. An imprecise pin leads to confusion and unhappy arrivals.

Respond to bookings promptly

Last-minute customers expect reliability. If you post a deal, honor it. Cancellations after booking damage your reputation on the platform.

Post closer to the window

Deals posted 30 to 60 minutes before start have higher conversion. Customers in discovery mode are more likely to act with real urgency.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to be verified before publishing deals?

Your business needs to be in Active status. Deals from Draft businesses are not visible to customers. Connect your Stripe account and complete identity verification to move toward Active status.

Can I have multiple businesses on Sponti?

Yes. You can create multiple businesses under the same account. Each business has its own venues, products, deals, and payout account.

What happens if a customer books but doesn't show up?

No-show policies are managed by your business. By default, since customers pay at booking time, you retain the revenue. Your cancellation and no-show policy should be set in your deal description.

Can I edit a deal after publishing?

Deal parameters may have limits on editing once bookings have been made. Check the backoffice for what can be modified after a deal is live.

How does Sponti make money?

Sponti charges a platform fee on transactions. This is handled transparently by Stripe and reflected in your payout summaries.

Is there a minimum business category requirement?

No. Any business operating in a supported category can list on Sponti. You must select both a parent category and a subcategory when creating your business profile.

Ready to get started?

Download the Sponti app, navigate to the Backoffice tab, and begin creating your business profile.

Back to the business overview →