Pick your deposit, your reschedule window, and your grace period — get a policy written in plain language a client can actually read, with the reasoning behind every clause. Copy it anywhere: your bio, your intake form, your booking page.
General information, not legal advice — state consumer rules vary. The parts that make any version of this enforceable in practice: shown before payment, agreed to on the record, applied consistently.
Collected up front, not charged after. After-the-fact no-show fees depend on a saved card that still works — sellers on major platforms report those charges silently failing on dead cards (Square seller community). Money already in hand can't fail later.
The single best pushback-killer. The client isn't paying extra — they're paying early. It reframes the deposit from a fee into a head start on the bill.
"Non-refundable, period" invites arguments. "Non-refundable, but it moves" protects the slot while treating adults like adults — and it's the version you can enforce with a straight face.
The teeth. One sentence, no exceptions written in — you can always choose grace case-by-case, but the written rule is what a dispute reviewer reads.
Protects the rest of the day. Late arrivals cascade: fifteen minutes into a tight slot backs up every client after. The clause makes the cutoff a number, not a mood.
The clause that does the legal work. Card disputes turn on evidence of informed agreement — and roughly half of chargebacks are confusion-driven to begin with (SwipeSimple). A policy nobody saw before paying barely counts; one shown at booking, agreed to, and recorded is the whole case.
A $100 deposit books your session ($50 for flash) and counts toward your total. Custom design work may carry a separate design fee, quoted before any drawing starts. Need to change plans? Reschedule at least 48 hours ahead and your deposit moves to your new session. Cancellations inside 48 hours, and no-shows, forfeit the deposit. Arriving more than 15 minutes late may be treated as a no-show if there's no longer time to complete the work. Booking a session means you've read and agreed to this policy.
A $15 deposit books your appointment and counts toward your cut. Reschedule at least 24 hours ahead and your deposit moves with you. Cancellations inside 24 hours, and no-shows, forfeit the deposit. More than 10 minutes late may be treated as a no-show if the cut can't be finished in your slot. Booking means you agree to this policy.
A $50 deposit books your appointment and counts toward your service ($100 for color corrections and installs). Reschedule at least 48 hours ahead and your deposit moves to your new appointment. Cancellations inside 48 hours, and no-shows, forfeit the deposit. Arriving more than 15 minutes late may be treated as a no-show if there's no longer time to complete the service. Booking means you've read and agreed to this policy.
A $20 deposit books your appointment and counts toward your set. Reschedule at least 24 hours ahead and your deposit moves with you. Cancellations inside 24 hours, and no-shows, forfeit the deposit. More than 15 minutes late may be treated as a no-show if there's no longer time to complete your service. Booking means you agree to this policy.
These mirror the rules working artists already write into their own intake forms — non-refundable deposits, design fees, 48-hour windows (a real artist's form). Sizing guidance for the deposit itself is in the deposit guide.
Words don't collect money and screenshots don't win disputes. Even the big platforms concede the limits — Vagaro's own help content admits "there is currently no way to prevent chargebacks even when using the deposits feature." What makes a policy real: the deposit is actually collected at booking, the client's agreement is actually recorded, and when someone disputes it anyway, you can produce the record. That last mile is what TakingClients automates — policy shown before every payment, agreement logged, and a one-tap evidence packet with the policy text, timestamp, and booking IP.
Generally yes in the US, when it's disclosed and agreed before payment — but state rules vary and card networks run their own dispute process. Written disclosure, recorded agreement, consistent enforcement. Not legal advice.
Match it to how hard the slot is to refill: 24h for cuts and fills, 48h for most hair and tattoo work, 72h for day sessions, corrections, and installs.
Up front. After-the-fact fees depend on a saved card that still works, and sellers report them silently failing. A deposit collected at booking already happened — nothing to chase, nothing to fail.
Proof of informed agreement: policy shown before payment, an affirmative yes, and a record of what, when, and from where — plus a charge descriptor the client recognizes.
Your policy shown before every payment, agreement recorded, evidence packet on tap — deposits on the $0 plan. Pro free for your first year through Dec 31, 2026.
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