How to choose a deposit for your services
You set a deposit on each service, and the client pays it when they book. It is not an extra charge. It comes off what they owe you at the appointment, so the total they pay for the service does not change.
The worked example we use everywhere on this site is a $60.00 service with a $15.00 deposit. The client's card is charged $17.99 when they book, which is the deposit plus the $2.99 booking fee, and $45.00 is left to settle when they come in.
Start with the time, not the price
A deposit is protecting a block of your day, so size it against how hard that block is to refill. A thirty minute cut at four in the afternoon can usually be filled by somebody walking in. A four hour color correction on a Saturday cannot, and if it goes empty the whole day is short.
- Short, easy to refill services: a small deposit, or none, if you would rather remove every barrier.
- Anything over about ninety minutes: enough that skipping it costs something real.
- Long or specialist work where you buy product in advance: at least the cost of the product you cannot return.
A number most people land on
Somewhere between a fifth and a third of the service price is the range most owners settle at. Below that it stops meaning anything, and above it you are asking a first time client to hand over a lot of money to a page they have never used. The example on this site sits at a quarter.
Things worth deciding at the same time
- Your cancellation window, so a client knows how much notice keeps their deposit. Say it in plain words on your page.
- Whether the deposit is different for a first visit than for a regular. Many owners charge new clients and trust the regulars.
- What you do when somebody cancels for a good reason. Having decided in advance is what stops you deciding badly at eight in the morning.
What a deposit does and does not do
A deposit means a booking costs something to make, so the person making it has decided. That is all it does. It is not a guarantee that nobody will miss an appointment, and anybody selling you one is selling you a feeling. What it changes is who carries the cost when somebody does.
You can change a deposit on any service whenever you like, and the change applies to bookings made after it. If you are unsure, start lower than you think and raise it once you have watched a few weeks.