Med spas
Credit card on file or deposit ($50–200 or 20-50%) required for most elective treatments like injectables and lasers; 48-hour cancellation with forfeiture is standard for non-medical services.
Full medical aesthetics fee guideUpdated August 2026
Deposit vs. no-show fee: which should you use?
A deposit is collected before the appointment under terms disclosed at booking, then forfeited, applied, or refunded. A no-show fee is charged after the appointment is missed. Long, custom, or hard-to-refill bookings tend to use a deposit sized as a percentage of the service; short, routine, high-frequency visits tend to use a smaller flat fee, or neither. Most practices end up using both on different slices of the calendar rather than picking one for everything.
Deposit
Collected or authorized before the appointment, under terms the client accepted at booking. Reserves the commitment for the specific slot rather than compensating for a miss after the fact.
- Filters low-intent bookings before they occupy a scarce slot
- Scales naturally with service value (often 20 to 50%)
- Common for long, custom, or first-time appointments
Limitation: asking for money at booking adds friction and can exclude clients who cannot pay upfront if applied to every appointment.
No-show fee
Charged after the appointment is missed, against a card on file or invoiced separately, only when the amount and conditions were disclosed in advance and state, payer, and professional rules permit it.
- No upfront barrier to booking a routine visit
- Usually a smaller, fixed, predictable amount
- Fits short, high-frequency appointments
Limitation: Medicaid programs generally prohibit billing beneficiaries for missed visits, and enforcement after the fact tends to create more disputes than a deposit collected upfront.
Side by side
Choosing the right mechanism for the booking
| Factor | Deposit | No-show fee |
|---|---|---|
| Collected when | Before the appointment, at booking | After the appointment is missed |
| Typical amount basis | Percentage of service, often 20 to 50% | Smaller fixed amount |
| Best fit | Long, custom, first-time, or scarce-slot bookings | Short, routine, high-frequency visits |
| Booking friction | Higher; can reduce completed bookings | None at booking |
| Main risk if mishandled | Access barrier, refund disputes | Medicaid violation, enforcement disputes |
| Setup requirement | Card authorization, refund and forfeiture terms | Written policy, state and payer review |
Real amounts, four professions
What practices actually use
Hair salons
Deposits of $25–100 or 20-50% common for new clients, color, or extensions; 24-48 hour cancellation window with deposit forfeiture is widely enforced.
Full hair salon fee guideTattoo artists
Non-refundable deposit ($100–300 or half the quoted session) mandatory to book; 48-72 hour cancellation policies with full deposit retention are the norm for custom work.
Full tattoo studio fee guideChiropractors
Typically no deposit for adjustments; 24-hour cancellation notice required, with some practices charging modest no-show fees ($25–50). Common insurance and cash-pay mix.
Full chiropractic fee guideSee amounts for all 10 professions in the full how-much-to-charge guide.
Stacking rule: pick one per booking, in writing
Do not let a deposit and a separate no-show fee both apply to the same missed appointment without a stated rule. A common approach: a deposit forfeits or gets applied on a miss, full stop, with no additional fee layered on top. If a booking never required a deposit, a smaller disclosed no-show fee can apply instead. State the exact outcome in the written policy so staff and clients see the same rule.
Questions before choosing
Deposit and no-show fee questions
What is the actual difference between a deposit and a no-show fee?
Timing and mechanism. A deposit is collected or authorized before the appointment under terms the client accepted at booking, then forfeited, applied, or refunded depending on what happens. A no-show fee is a charge applied after the appointment is missed, billed against a card on file or invoiced separately. They can use the same dollar amount and still be different instruments with different disclosure and enforcement requirements.
Can a practice use both a deposit and a no-show fee?
Not on the same booking without a clear rule for which one applies. A common pattern is a deposit for the appointment types where a miss is expensive and hard to refill (long, custom, or first-time bookings) and a smaller flat no-show fee, or none, for routine visits. State stacking rules in the written policy so a client is never surprised by two separate charges for one missed appointment.
Which one should a new client-facing business start with?
Start with an answerable reminder for every booking, since that has the strongest general evidence. Add a deposit only for appointment types where refilling the slot is genuinely hard: long sessions, custom work, scarce specialist time, or new clients with no attendance history. Reserve a no-show fee for shorter, high-frequency visits where a deposit would create unnecessary friction at booking.
Is a no-show fee always allowed if a deposit is?
No, and the reverse is also not guaranteed. Deposits are generally governed by consumer and payment-authorization rules at the time of booking. No-show fees are billed after the fact and face separate scrutiny, especially for Medicaid patients, where billing a beneficiary for a missed visit is generally prohibited regardless of what the deposit rules allow. Check the state-by-state guide for both before publishing a policy.
Does the amount need to be the same for a deposit and a fee?
No. Deposits are commonly set as a percentage of the service (20 to 50% appears repeatedly across professions) because they scale with the value being reserved. No-show fees tend to be a smaller fixed amount because they apply to routine, lower-cost visits. See the full amount guide for typical figures by profession.
Related reading: how SMS reminders compare to deposits as a no-show intervention, the state-by-state legality guide, and the deposit policy templates.
NoShowLine supports practice-defined appointment communications and deposit workflows. Your organization remains responsible for consent, privacy, accessibility, payment and refund terms, and compliance with applicable healthcare, communications, and consumer-protection requirements. NoShowLine does not provide clinical, legal, or financial advice.