How much deposit to charge before booking a client

Most service businesses ask for 25% to 50% of the total price to hold a booking. Go toward 50% when the work is custom, the date cannot be resold, or you buy materials up front. Go lower, around 10% to 30%, for short appointments, large contracts and regulated trades. Whatever you pick, a deposit should be tied to your real costs and written down with clear refund terms. These percentages are rules of thumb, not a legal standard.

What a deposit is for

A deposit does two jobs. It tells you the client is serious, and it covers the cost of saying no to other work. When you hold a Saturday for a wedding or block three weeks for a rebrand, you give up the chance to sell that time twice. The deposit is the client's share of that cost.

It also moves the relationship from talking to doing. Before the deposit, a project is an idea. After it, both sides have something at stake. That is why a deposit works better as a first payment inside a contract than as an informal "send me something to hold the date".

If you want more on how deposits fit into payment terms, see our guide to net 30 terms and deposits.

Starting percentages by type of service

These are the ranges we see most often in practice. They are not statistics and not legal limits. Use them as a starting point, then test them against your own costs.

Two adjustments are worth making. First, charge more for a client you do not know and less for repeat clients with a good record. Second, split a large deposit into two parts if the project is long, for example a booking fee now and a start payment when the work begins. Our guide on collecting a deposit before a project covers the how-to side.

The law pushes toward small and fair

There is no single rule on deposits worldwide, but the direction is consistent: the amount you keep has to match the loss you actually suffer.

In the UK, the Competition and Markets Authority has said that terms are likely to be unfair where a business "keeps a large upfront deposit which bears no relation to its losses", and that "as a general rule, deposits should only be a small percentage of the total cost" (CMA, 2019). The test comes from section 62 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015: a term is unfair if, contrary to good faith, it causes a significant imbalance in the parties' rights to the consumer's detriment (legislation.gov.uk). That applies to consumers, not to business clients, but many studios sell to both.

Which? gives the practical version. The amount a business keeps "needs to be fair and representative of its actual loss", and a business that can resell the booking generally cannot keep the money it saved that way. A genuine reservation fee can be kept, but it is usually a small percentage of the price (Which?).

Some trades have hard caps. In California, a home improvement down payment cannot be more than $1,000 or 10 percent of the contract price, whichever is less (Contractors State License Board). Other regions have their own limits, so look up the rule for your trade and place.

None of this is legal advice. If your deposit is large or non-refundable, have a lawyer read the clause.

Write the refund terms before you need them

Disputes over deposits are almost always about unclear wording. Put these points in your contract and repeat them on the quote.

• What the deposit is. Is it a payment toward the price, or a fee for reserving the date? The ShootProof team explains the difference this way: a retainer is "a fee paid to retain your services for a specific date and time", while a deposit is "a down payment toward a total balance", and in some regions courts may rule that a deposit must be returned if the service was not performed (ShootProof, January 2026). Name it accurately and explain what you are holding.
• When the client can cancel and get it back. A fair rule is a full refund if they cancel within a short window (a few days) of signing and well before the date.
• When you keep it. For example, after the window, or after you have started work. Link it to the costs you have already carried.
• Rescheduling. Say whether one reschedule is free and how much notice you need. A deposit that moves to a new date is better for both sides than a refund and a new booking.
• If you cancel. The client gets the deposit back in full. Say it, because it is the clause clients look for first.
• Partial work done. If you have delivered part of the work, the deposit goes toward it. Show how you calculate it.
• How and when refunds are paid. Name the method and the number of days.

Write it in plain language, not in a block of capital letters. A client who understands the clause is far less likely to dispute it.

Collect the deposit before you hold the date

Order matters. Send the quote, get it accepted, have the contract signed, then collect the deposit. Only after the payment clears is the date held. Anything else puts you back in the position of saving a slot for a promise.

Make it easy to pay. A client who has to ask how will wait. Put a pay button on the quote or the invoice, offer the payment methods your clients actually use, and show the amount and the balance due date clearly. Send a receipt straight away.

Mistakes that cost money

• Charging nothing "to be nice". Free holds are how you lose the date and the other client who wanted it.
• Calling everything non-refundable. A blanket clause that bears no relation to your loss is the kind regulators look at.
• Asking for the deposit by message. A request in chat looks informal. Use an invoice with a number and a record.
• Taking the deposit before the contract is signed. If there is a dispute, you have a payment without terms.
• Forgetting the balance. Put the due date for the rest in the same document as the deposit, so there is no second negotiation.

How Delivvo gets the deposit paid before work starts

Delivvo puts the quote, the contract and the deposit on one page, so a client can agree and pay in one visit. You choose how the quote closes. The presets cover paying everything up front, half, 30%, thirds, or a deposit amount of your own, and the contract sits next to the payment so the client sees the terms they are paying under.

For bookings, the booking page can take a deposit or the full price when the client picks a slot. That is useful for salons, clinics, trainers and photographers who lose money to no-shows. The slot is held once the payment goes through.

When the project is bigger, a payment schedule splits the price into up to twelve instalments, each with its own due date. Each instalment has its own due date and a pay button, and the client sees what is due next without asking.

Clients pay through your own payment processor, whether that is Stripe, PayPal or Square. The money goes from the client to you, and Delivvo takes 0% of it. Every contract and invoice carries a verification code, and you can edit every clause, including the refund terms. Check the final text with a lawyer where the stakes are high.

The deposit is recorded against the quote and the contract, and the client gets a receipt. An automation can remind the client before a payment comes due, so you are not the one writing the awkward message. If a booking is cancelled inside your refund window, you can see what was paid and what is left to return in one place, instead of searching through bank statements. Because the contract text is yours to edit, the refund terms from this post go straight into the document the client signs.

See how payment schedules and the payments setup work together.

For the wider picture, see how payments work and the CRM for service businesses.

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