How much deposit should a tattoo artist charge

Match the deposit to the visit you lose

A consult is a short block. A custom session is a drawing plus hours that do not refill from the street. A flat amount fits the consult when the price barely moves. A percent fits a session whose price depends on size. Slotward will not save a deposit above the service price. A percent has to be a whole number from 1 to 100, and the resulting amount has to be at least $0.50.

The tattoo preset starts a consultation at a $40 deposit on a $40 price, so the consult deposit equals the consult price. A small tattoo starts at 30% of a $150 price. A custom session starts at 40% of a $400 price. The window starts at 48 hours, Tuesday through Saturday, noon to 8:00. Change every one of those after the shop exists. They are starting values in the product, not a survey of what artists charge.

Say whether it comes back, before the card is charged

The FTC's 1983 Policy Statement on Deception says a practice is deceptive when a representation or omission is likely to mislead a consumer acting reasonably, and the point is material, meaning it is likely to affect the decision. Whether a session deposit is refunded is that kind of fact.

FTC staff's 2013 .com Disclosures guide says a required disclosure should be clear and conspicuous, and displayed before the buying decision, close to the claim it qualifies. Put the deposit, the 48-hour count or whatever count you save, and the shop-cancel refund on the booking page. A link that only says "policy" does not say the deposit can be kept. Educational, not legal advice. State or local rules can differ. Check the rules that apply to your shop before you publish a deposit or no-show fee.

Deposit: [amount or percent] to hold [consultation or session] at [shop]. Cancel more than [hours] hours before the start and the deposit is refunded. Cancel inside that window, or miss the session, and the deposit is kept. If the artist cancels, the deposit is refunded. The hours saved when you book are the hours for this visit. Artwork and the drawing are not stored with the booking. The deposit is charged on the artist's Stripe account at booking. It is not a second fee after a missed session. Educational, not legal advice.

Collect it now instead of holding a card for later

Stripe's hold documentation, read November 9, 2026, says an online card authorization is usually valid for 7 days. Visa's merchant-initiated window is 4 days and 18 hours. If the authorization expires before capture, the funds are released and the payment status changes to canceled. A custom session is often booked further out than that. Slotward charges the deposit when the client books. It does not store a card to bill a second no-show fee.

The deposit checkout is created on the shop's connected Stripe account. The call does not set an application fee. The line item is the deposit. Slotward takes $0 of it. Stripe's own processing fee is between the shop and Stripe. That is separate from Slotward's $39 a month or $390 a year subscription.

Questions

Sources

Stripe, the Code of Federal Regulations, and the Federal Register page were read on November 9, 2026. The journal articles are cited by their publication. Pages change. Recheck a live source before you rely on it.

• FTC Policy Statement on Deception (October 14, 1983)
• FTC staff, .com Disclosures (March 2013)
• Stripe documentation: place a hold on a payment method