The deposit policy that holds, line by line.
Every deposit argument a tattoo artist has ever had comes from a rule that lived in their head. "My rule in my head is a week of silence after I try twice, then the date goes back up and the deposit’s used — but I’ve never written that down anywhere." That sentence, from the invented Wren & Needle notes on the sample page, is the whole problem: an unwritten rule reads as a judgment call, and every judgment call is a DM thread. The deposit page’s job is to make the rule something a client agreed to before money moved.
What the deposit is, in one line
"$100 flat, and it comes off the final price — it is not an extra fee." The sample artist says that forty times a month; the page says it once, at the top, and the forty DMs stop. Amount, how to pay it, what it comes off.
When it is used, listed — not implied
No-show. Silence (two tries, a week, the date goes back up). Late past the 15-minute line. A second move, or a morning-of move. Each on its own line, because a client can only agree to what is written — and the artist can only hold a line that exists.
The reschedule that keeps the deposit alive
"48 hours’ notice and the deposit moves with you, once." The once is the rule’s spine — without it every deposit migrates forever, and every bent rule eats a dead afternoon the artist already paid for in drawing time.
The artist’s side, in writing
"If I have to move us, your deposit never burns, and you pick first from what opens up." The mirror line is what makes the strict side fair — and it is the line clients screenshot when they recommend the studio.
The booking request that answers itself
Placement, rough size, colour or black and grey, two or three references, budget range — the five things, listed, so the artist is not six DMs deep before saying a price. Books that open "the 1st, for the month after next" go on the page too, with the books-closed reply written once.
What this page is not
Not pricing beyond the minimum (each piece is quoted), not the aftercare sheet (the artist’s own, handed over at the session — booking words and skin words never share a page), not a contract. It is the words of the booking, written once, where the client reads them before the deposit moves.
Three questions.
Is a written deposit policy enforceable?
It is quotable, which is what an artist actually needs at 9 AM on a moved date: "the page you booked through says the deposit moves once with 48 hours’ notice." What a court would say is a lawyer’s question; the pack is the words, not legal advice.
Does a strict policy scare off clients?
The clients a strict page loses are the ones who were going to move the date twice. The mirror line — the artist’s own deposit-never-burns side — is what keeps the page readable as fair rather than defensive.
What about touch-ups?
Keep them simple and separate, the way the sample artist landed: free inside three months, booked like any appointment, no deposit. A touch-up rule tangled into the deposit page is how "free" starts needing a paragraph.
Get the sample pack first
The invented Wren & Needle Tattoo pack: the artist’s rough notes and the finished five pages — read both in full on one page.
Your booking page, deposit policy and no-show rules written from your own words within two days, $29 / C$39 / A$45. Booking, deposit and reschedule wording only — no aftercare, no skin advice, not a contract; we contact no client for you.