Deposit Calculator: How Much Deposit Should You Charge?
Enter what a job is worth and what you lose when a customer does not turn up. The calculator returns a deposit that covers that loss, as an amount and as a percentage, and shows what no-shows cost you over a year.
Your numbers
Materials bought for the job, travel, a hired room. Leave at 0 if there are none.
If a late cancellation gets rebooked by someone else about one time in three, enter 30.
The share of bookings that fall through too late to refill.
Result
Deposit to take at booking
$90 (45%)
This covers the $92 a no-show costs you on a job of this size.
- Cost of one no-show
- $92
- No-shows in a year
- 38.4
- Lost in a year with no deposit
- $3,533
- Recovered in a year by this deposit
- $3,456
The yearly figures assume your no-show rate stays the same. If customers who have paid a deposit miss fewer bookings, you save more than this.
Take this deposit automatically at booking
BookingMachine collects the deposit when the customer books and charges the balance when the job is done. Set the percentage once and every booking follows it.
How the deposit is worked out
A deposit has one job: to cover what you lose when a booking falls through. That loss has two parts. The first is money already spent, such as materials bought for the job, travel, or a room you hired. The second is the rest of the job price on a slot that nobody else takes.
The calculator adds the two. If you rebook a cancelled slot half the time, half of the remaining job price counts as lost. The result is then held between 10% and 50% of the job price. Below 10%, a deposit is too small to make anyone think twice. Above 50%, it starts to put off customers who would have turned up anyway.
When the loss is larger than half the job, the calculator says so. In that case a deposit alone will not cover you, and it is worth adding a no-show fee to your cancellation policy for the difference.
Deposit, booking fee or full payment?
A deposit is part of the price, paid early. It comes off the final bill, and you return it if the customer cancels in good time. A booking fee is a separate charge for reserving the slot and is usually not refunded. Full payment up front suits short, fixed-price services where there is nothing left to settle afterwards.
Whichever you choose, state it before the customer pays: how much, when it is refunded and when it is not. A deposit that surprises people causes more disputes than it prevents.
Questions
What is a normal deposit for a service business?
Most service businesses take between 10% and 50% of the job price. Short, low-cost appointments sit at the low end. Jobs with materials to buy, a full day blocked out, or dates that are hard to refill sit at the high end.
Should a deposit be a percentage or a fixed amount?
A percentage is fairer when your prices vary a lot, because the deposit scales with the job. A fixed amount is easier to explain when most of your jobs cost about the same. The calculator gives you both figures so you can choose.
Is a deposit refundable?
That is for your cancellation policy to say, within your local consumer law. A common approach is to refund the deposit in full if the customer cancels with enough notice, and to keep it if they cancel late or do not turn up. This tool is not legal advice.
Is a booking fee the same as a deposit?
No. A deposit is part of the price and comes off the final bill. A booking fee is charged on top for holding the slot and is normally kept whether or not the appointment goes ahead.
Will asking for a deposit lose me customers?
It can put off a few people, and those are often the ones most likely not to turn up. Keep the amount proportionate, explain what it is for, and say plainly when it is refunded.
Keep reading
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Take this deposit automatically at booking
BookingMachine collects the deposit when the customer books and charges the balance when the job is done. Set the percentage once and every booking follows it.