Your saved cards: the only thing that doesn’t move
Card numbers on file can’t be handed from one platform to another. That isn’t a vendor being difficult — it’s a PCI rule. Every processor stores cards as tokens that only work inside their own system, so no platform in this industry can transfer them, including us.
Here’s why it matters less than it sounds.
You don’t switch on a deadline. You switch on a schedule your clients set for you. Run both systems for a few weeks. Keep your old platform open. Book everything new in Tersavia starting day one. Nothing has to be finished before you start using it.
Recapture at the chair. When a client comes in for her next appointment, the front desk says: “We moved to a new system — for payment compliance we need your card on file again. Do you have it with you?” She hands it over, it goes in at checkout, done. Ten seconds, and it’s the truth.
Your book empties itself. Most salons and spas see the majority of their active clients inside four to six weeks. By the time you’ve gone through one full booking cycle, the clients who matter are already on file. The ones who haven’t come in weren’t going to be charged anyway.
Then close the old account. No cutover weekend, no data-entry marathon, no month of running on faith.
What does move cleanly: client records, contact info, appointment history, service menu, staff, product catalog.
What to ask your current platform before you go: whether they’ll release your dedicated text number. It’s on your signage and saved in your clients’ phones, and it’s usually the hardest thing to get back.
What moves cleanly
- Client records and contact details
- Appointment history
- Service menus and pricing
- Staff and provider setup
- Product catalog
- Package balances and membership status
- Treatment notes, formulas, and intake history
What doesn’t
Saved card tokens. Cards on file at one processor cannot be handed to another. This is a PCI constraint and every migration in this industry has it. We recapture cards at checkout as clients come in, which takes about a booking cycle.
Your dedicated text number — maybe. Whether it comes with you depends entirely on your current vendor. Ask before you give notice, and ask in writing.
Room and resource configuration. Rarely exports from anywhere. Budget an afternoon to rebuild it rather than assuming it transfers.
The question to ask your current vendor
Whether they will release your dedicated text number. It is printed on your signage and saved in your clients’ phones, and it is routinely the hardest thing to get back. Ask in writing, and ask before you give notice — the answer tends to be more helpful when you are still a customer.
You don’t have to cancel first
Set Tersavia up in parallel, load your records, and look at the calendar with your own data in it. Cut over when it looks right. We would rather you see it working than take our word for it — and since there is no contract on this end, there is nothing to unwind if you change your mind.
Questions
What transfers when I switch booking platforms?
Client records, appointment history, service menus, staff, and your product catalog move cleanly. Package balances, memberships, and treatment notes come across during setup. Saved card tokens do not transfer — that is a PCI constraint that applies to every migration in this industry, not a vendor being difficult.
What should I ask my current vendor before I cancel?
Whether they will release your dedicated text number. It is on your signage, on your car, and saved in your clients’ phones, and it is usually the hardest thing to get back. Ask in writing, and ask before you give notice rather than after.
How do cards on file get handled?
They are recaptured at checkout as clients come in, which takes about a booking cycle. There is no way to hand card tokens from one processor to another, so every platform migration works this way.
Can I run both systems at once while I move?
Yes. Set up in parallel, verify your data came across, and cut over when the calendar looks right. Nothing here requires you to cancel your current platform before you have seen ours working with your own records in it.
What does it cost to leave Tersavia later?
Nothing. No contract, no cancellation fee, and your client list exports in a format you can actually use. We would rather you be able to leave than be locked in.
What you specifically risk losing depends on what you run:
15 minutes · no card, no contract · free with Tersavia processing