How much should a tattoo deposit be? Real numbers for artists

Most US artists take $50 to $100 for a small piece or flash, $150 to $250 for a half day and $200 to $500 for a full day. It comes off the price. It doesn't come back if the client changes their mind, and it moves to a new date once.

You know how this one goes. "Love it, I'll send the deposit tonight." You hold the Saturday, you sketch it that evening because you're excited about it too, and by Tuesday the thread has gone quiet. The Saturday is still held. The drawing sits in a folder nobody will open again.

Size it to the time you're holding, not to how nice the client seems in the DMs. Most artists don't work out a percentage every time. They keep a flat number for each size of job:

Some artists use one hour of their rate instead. If you charge $180 an hour, the deposit is $180. It goes up on its own when you raise your prices, and it's easy to say out loud: the deposit is one hour of my time.

The mistake I see most from newer artists is a deposit that's too small. Forty or fifty dollars is cheap enough to walk away from, and people do. Artists who raise theirs, from $50 to $100, or from $100 to $200, keep reporting fewer no-shows afterwards. One artist on r/TattooArtists put it about as plainly as it can be put: people don't care about losing $100, but they always care about $200. One artist bumps theirs again every November and December, when cancellations pile up around the holidays.

It isn't universal. Some artists skip the deposit for regulars and referrals they trust, and one said they almost never take one and their cancellations didn't change. That can work when you know your clients. With strangers from Instagram, I wouldn't risk it.

Take one bigger deposit at the start and hold it until the last session. That's what most artists do. It's usually $250 to $300 for a sleeve and up to $500 for a back piece, often two or three times what you'd take for a single sitting.

The other way is a deposit for every sitting, $50 to $100 each. It protects each date on its own, which matters with a client who likes to move things around. The cost is asking for money every time. Pick one and tell the client which at the start, so the last session doesn't turn into a surprise conversation.

No. Almost every US studio policy we read says non-refundable in plain words. One we found refunds with a week's notice, and it's the exception. Here's how it works at most shops:

That last one is the line I'd never bend. If you're the one who breaks the date, the client shouldn't pay for it. As one artist put it: if I had to cancel, that's on me.

Real emergencies happen, and most artists bend for them. Bending usually means moving the deposit to a new date without asking for another one. It rarely means sending the money back. One artist on r/TattooArtists said that in 20 years they'd refunded four deposits, and three of those were deaths or a family tragedy.

Put a time limit on a moved deposit, too. Anything from three weeks to six months is normal. Three months is a sensible middle.

No. The rule I've booked by for 15 years: no drawing until the deposit lands. The artists I booked for mostly drew a day or so before the session and showed the design day of, with the client there to react. Small changes happen on the spot. A big change means rebooking. Draw it a month early and send it over, and you've opened a month of edits. Draw it before any money arrives and you're doing free work for someone who may never book. There's a short piece on that rule if you want the longer version.

Yes. Take it off the final total and say so when you ask for it. "It comes off the tattoo" makes it part of the price instead of an extra charge.

A smaller group of artists charges a separate drawing fee, usually $50 to $100, that doesn't come off. That works too, as long as the client hears about it before they pay. On a project that runs over several sessions, the deposit normally comes off the last one.

For most first-year artists the hard part is asking at all. Plenty of them say they feel guilty taking a deposit, like they haven't earned it yet. You have. The date you're holding is a date you can't give to anyone else.

What makes it easy is writing it once and sending the same words every time, before any money moves:

Send it with the quote, again with the payment link, and once more in the confirmation. After that nobody can say they didn't know.

There's a second reason to have it in writing. When a client wants their money back, the policy they agreed to before paying is what you point to. One artist refused a refund under their policy, the client filed a fraud claim with Zelle, and the artist's Zelle got shut off. A written agreement won't stop someone from filing a claim, but without one it's your word against theirs.

$50 to $100 for a small piece or flash, $150 to $250 for a half day, $200 to $500 for a full day. Some artists use one hour of their rate instead.

Usually not. It moves to a new date once if the client gives 48 hours' notice. If the artist cancels, the artist refunds it or moves it, the client's choice.

Yes, it comes off the final price. On a piece that takes several sessions it usually comes off the last one.

The artist keeps it. Many ask for the full price up front before booking that client again.

Checked October 2026. Numbers come from artist threads on r/TattooArtists and r/TattooApprentice (2022 to 2026) and US studio and artist policy pages. It's what artists report, not a survey.

Gal, founder of Collabo.ink, the booking app for tattoo artists. For 15 years I booked sessions for dozens of artists, some of them among the best known in the world. Collabo.ink takes your bookings and deposits, so you can focus on what matters: tattooing.