Make your tattoo price list.
PNG at full Instagram size. Prices stay clear of the story buttons and the profile grid crop.
Design
Fine lineYou
Rates
Leave any rate empty to keep it off the list.
Flash sizes
Title and links
Price list
Deposit and small print
Deposit, touch-ups
Deposit to book
Headings and wording
Section names, rate names, deposit
Leave a box empty to use the wording shown in it.
Branding
Small maelo.app mark on
Free. No sign-up. Nothing you type leaves your browser.
Structure
How to lay out a price list
A good price list answers the question people ask most, "how much?", before they open your DMs. It does not need to price every possible tattoo. It needs to set expectations, so the people who message you already know roughly what they will spend.
Read it top to bottom the way a client does. Start with your minimum, because it is the one number everyone needs. Then your hourly rate and any half day or full day rate for bigger work. Then your flash, priced by size. Finish with the small print: your deposit, your touch-up policy, and how to book.
Use one currency and say which one. "$150" means something different in Toronto, Melbourne and Austin, so put the code beside your first price. This tool does that for you, and leaves pounds and euros alone because the symbol already says it.
Your minimum
What a minimum is for
Your minimum is the least you charge for any tattoo, however small. It covers the parts of a session that cost the same whether the piece is a dot or a palm-sized rose: setting up and breaking down your station, new needles, ink caps, gloves, wrap and the time it all takes.
Most artists set it at roughly one hour of their rate, and many put it first on the list because it answers the smallest requests in one line. Write it plainly. "Minimum $120 CAD" is clearer than a paragraph about small tattoos. If you are not sure what your hourly rate should be, the tattoo rate calculator works it out from your costs and the hours you actually tattoo, and links straight back here with your numbers filled in.
Flash
Pricing flash in tiers
Flash is easiest to price by finished size. Three tiers cover most sheets: small, medium and large, each with a size range people can picture, like up to 5 cm or palm sized. Add a fourth for pieces that need a full session.
Price the size, not the drawing
A client choosing from your sheet wants to know what their pick costs at the size they want. Placement and colour can still move a price, so say so in the note at the bottom.
Use "from" when a tier is a range
If a medium can be a quick linework piece or a detailed one, write the starting price and quote the rest. Leave it off for a sheet where every design has a fixed price.
Keep custom work separate
Custom pieces need a conversation first. List your rates for them, and point people to your booking form for a quote.
New year, new prices
When to update your prices
Most artists review their prices once a year, and January is when clients expect it. Supplies, rent and your own skill all move, and a small yearly change is easier for clients than a big jump every few years.
Give people notice. Post the new list a few weeks ahead with the date it starts, and honour any quote or deposit you have already taken at the old price. Then change it everywhere on the same day: your highlights, your link in bio, your booking page and any printed sheet in the studio. Two different price lists in the wild means awkward conversations at the counter.
If you book through Maelo, your prices live in your appointment types, so updating them there updates every new quote at once.
Questions
Tattoo price lists, answered.
Is the price list maker free?
Yes. There is no account and no email to give, and nothing you type leaves your browser. A small maelo.app mark is on by default, and one switch turns it off.
What sizes does it make?
An Instagram story at 1080 by 1920 pixels, a feed post at 1080 by 1350, and a print sheet for A4 or US Letter at 300 dpi. You can download the sheet as a PNG or print it straight from the page. There is also plain text to paste into a link in bio page.
Should tattoo artists post their prices?
Posting your minimum, your hourly or day rate and your flash prices saves you answering "how much?" in your DMs all day, and it filters out people who were never going to book. Custom pieces still need a quote, so say that on the list and point people to your booking form.
How is the currency shown?
The first price on your list carries the currency code when the symbol alone is ambiguous, like "$150 CAD", and the rest use the plain symbol. Pounds and euros need no code because the symbol already says it.
Should I write "from" before my prices?
Use "from" when a size tier covers a range of work, so the price is a starting point rather than a promise. Leave it off for flash with a fixed price. The switch in the Flash section adds it to every flash price at once.
How often should I update my prices?
Most artists review them once a year, and January is the usual time. Post the new list a few weeks ahead, honour any quote or deposit you have already taken at the old price, and change it everywhere on the same day.
Next
Pair it with a deposit policy
Your price list says what a tattoo costs. Your deposit policy says what happens when someone cancels. Write yours with the deposit policy generator, or work out a fair amount with the deposit calculator.