How much deposit, and what it costs to take it.

Big enough to cover what you lose if the client does not turn up. Two things set that number, and a third keeps small pieces simple.

1. 01

   Your drawing time

   Count the hours you spend designing, redrawing and messaging before the session, at your hourly rate. A deposit below that pays you less for the drawing than the drawing cost you.

2. 02

   The empty chair

   A no-show leaves a slot you can rarely fill at short notice. The longer the session, the more a no-show costs, which is why a percentage of the price scales better than one flat amount on large work.

3. 03

   A floor for small pieces

   For small work a flat amount is easier to explain than a percentage. Maelo asks for at least 50 in your own currency on a paid appointment.

A deposit is part of the price, paid in advance to hold a date. You quote the piece, offer a date, and the client pays the deposit by card before the slot is theirs. On the day you take the balance: the full price minus what they already paid.

Taking it online means the client pays from a link, instead of a bank transfer you have to chase and match by hand. In Maelo you set a deposit for each session when you build the quote. Your client picks a date and pays from their own Client Hub on a Stripe checkout page. The session moves to Booked the moment it clears, and the deposit comes off the price when you collect the balance, so nobody is charged twice.

If a piece runs over several sittings, each session has its own deposit. A client booking several at once pays them together with one card entry, and either every deposit goes through or none do.

Two parties take a cut of a card deposit. Stripe charges processing on every card payment, and its rate depends on your country and the card. Overseas and business cards cost more than the domestic rate the calculator uses, so treat that figure as an estimate. Maelo charges 5% of the deposit and nothing on the final payment. There is no monthly subscription.

You decide who carries those costs. At 0% your client pays your deposit exactly and the fees come out of it. At 100% the price your client sees is raised just enough that you keep your full deposit on a typical domestic card. Anything in between shares the cost. Your client always sees one total before paying, never a surprise line at checkout. The fee guide walks through the split in detail.

That is your call, not a rule of any booking tool. A deposit protects the time you spend before the appointment: the drawing, the messages, and the slot you turned other people away from. A non-refundable deposit protects all of that. A deposit that can move to a new date with enough notice is kinder to clients and still protects you from no-shows.

Whatever you choose, write it down and show it before anyone pays. Say how much notice you need to move a date, how many times a date can move, and what happens if you have to cancel. Consumer rules differ by country, province and state, so check what applies where you work. The deposit policy generator can draft the wording for you.

Ask once you have agreed the idea and the price, and before you start drawing. Asking in the first message puts people off before they know what they are getting. Asking after the drawing is done means you have already spent the time the deposit was meant to protect.

In Maelo the deposit request goes out with the quote. You approve the request, set the price and deposit for each session, and send it. You need Stripe connected to ask for a card deposit, while a quote with no deposit can go out without it. The deposits guide shows each step.