Payments
A deposit that actually holds the chair
Inkdesk calculates each deposit as a flat fee or a percent of the quote, floors card charges around the usual $20-plus processor minimum, and collects payment through Stripe Connect on your shop's own connected account. Once it's paid, the appointment confirms; later you can apply it to the session, refund it, or forfeit it under your cancel policy — and every state shows up next to the booking, not in a separate payment app.
Why "just Venmo me a deposit" stops working past five chairs
A single artist can track deposits in their head or a notes app. The moment you have three artists and a front desk, that system breaks: nobody agrees on who paid, screenshots get lost in a group chat, and a client who never sent anything shows up certain they're 'good.'
The fix isn't a stricter policy taped to the counter — it's making the deposit a fact the whole shop can see. Paid, pending, forfeited, or refunded should be a status on the appointment, not a memory one person carries.
That's the actual job a deposit does for a shop: not just extracting money upfront, but converting a verbal maybe into a record everyone — front desk, artist, and owner — can check without a group chat archaeology project.
The breakdown gets worse the moment more than one person is authorized to take a deposit. A guest artist collects cash at a convention booth, a manager takes a card over the phone, an artist screenshots a Venmo confirmation into a private chat — and now three different formats of 'proof' exist for three different bookings, none of them searchable, none of them tied to a cancel policy anyone can enforce consistently. When a client disputes whether they paid, the shop's only defense is whoever happened to remember the conversation, which is not a defense at all once that person is off for the week. A single deposit record per appointment, visible to whoever's on shift, removes that entire category of argument before it starts.
How the deposit amount gets calculated
When a booking hits deposit pending, Inkdesk works out the amount from artist-level overrides first, then your shop's percent-of-quote or flat rule. If the computed number comes back at zero, Inkdesk treats it as not yet determined — which is exactly right while a custom piece is still being priced, instead of demanding a deposit against a number nobody set.
Whatever the math produces gets floored so card charges clear a practical minimum, typically around $20 or more, so a five-dollar flash deposit doesn't fight your processor's rules. The client pays a Stripe PaymentIntent on your shop's Connect account directly.
Once Stripe confirms the payment, the appointment moves to confirmed and the deposit event can fan out to calendar sync and notifications. States stay explicit the whole way: pending, paid, applied, forfeited, refunded.
Flat or percent — which one fits your shop
Flat deposits work for flash and short sessions where the price band is predictable — everyone knows a $50 flash piece takes a $20 deposit, no math required. Percent of quote fits custom sleeves and multi-session work once an artist has actually priced it.
Plenty of shops run both: a shop-wide default plus artist-level overrides for guest spots or a chair that's booked out months in advance and can afford to ask for more upfront. Whichever you pick, keep the language on your booking page and consent screen matching what checkout actually charges.
If you pass card processing fees to the client, say so before the PaymentIntent, not after. A deposit that surprises someone at checkout is how you earn a chargeback dispute instead of a booked appointment.
Why route deposits through Stripe Connect instead of a personal link
A payment link or personal Venmo account puts the shop's money one screenshot away from a dispute nobody can verify. Stripe Connect keeps deposit money on the shop's own account while Inkdesk computes the amount from the database at the moment the charge is created — a client can't quietly type in a different total than what your rules actually calculated.
It also means staff don't spend Monday morning matching payment app notifications to a client name from Saturday. The deposit lives on the appointment; the appointment lives in the cabinet everyone already opens with Google login.
What a forfeited deposit should trigger next
A forfeited deposit isn't only a bookkeeping entry — it's a freed chair. When a client no-shows or cancels outside your window, marking the deposit forfeited can surface that opening to your waitlist, so the slot doesn't just sit empty until someone happens to notice the day board.
One thing deposits are not: an artist payout mechanism. Deposits are shop-side booking security collected through Stripe Connect. Splitting what an artist earns — commission, booth rent, or a hybrid — is tracked separately in Inkdesk, and Inkdesk does not yet push automatic Stripe payouts to individual artists.
What deposits do — and don't — replace
Deposits replace the awkward 'can you send something to hold your spot' text and the honor-system booking that evaporates by Thursday. They don't replace a clear cancel policy, a reminder before the appointment, or a front desk that actually marks no-shows promptly — deposits work best as one part of a system, not a silver bullet on their own.
Inkdesk includes deposit collection in the $50-per-shop-per-month subscription at inkdesk.online — Stripe's own processing fees still apply to the card charge, same as they would anywhere else you took a card payment. There's no extra per-deposit software fee stacked on top.
It's worth being honest about what a deposit can't fix on its own: a shop with a vague or inconsistently enforced cancel policy will still bleed no-shows even with money on the table, because clients quickly learn which shops actually hold the line and which ones cave to a good excuse. Deposits work as a credible signal only when the forfeit rule behind them is real and applied the same way every time, not waived for whoever pushes back hardest. Pair the deposit with a published cancel window, reminder messaging that repeats the policy, and a front desk that marks outcomes promptly, and the deposit does the job it's actually good at — filtering out the bookings that were never going to happen anyway.
FAQ
Can deposits be a percentage of the quote instead of a flat fee?
Yes. Use percent of quote, a flat amount, or artist-level overrides for specific chairs. Card amounts typically floor around $20 or more so small charges clear processor minimums.
Who actually receives the deposit money?
The shop's own Stripe Connect account. Inkdesk orchestrates the booking and the PaymentIntent — it doesn't hold deposits in a separate wallet or take a cut of the deposit itself.
What happens if a client cancels at the last minute?
Your configured cancel window — commonly 48 hours — plus the refund or forfeit action staff choose determine the outcome. Both actions are logged against the appointment record.
Do we have to collect a deposit on every booking?
No. Custom work can wait until a quote exists. If the computed deposit comes back at zero, Inkdesk treats it as not yet determined rather than forcing a number.
Does the deposit include the artist's cut automatically?
No. Deposits are shop-side booking security on Stripe Connect. Artist compensation — commission, booth rent, or hybrid — is tracked separately, and Inkdesk does not yet automate Stripe payouts to artists.
Can we pass Stripe's card fees on to the client?
Yes, if that matches how your shop already prices card payments. Just say so clearly on the booking and consent screens so checkout doesn't surprise anyone.
Inkdesk is $50 per shop per month — one shop subscription, not a pile of add-ons. Start a free trial or open the live demo with sample data. No credit card required to look around.