← Appointment deposit calculator
What percentage deposit should you charge? Here is the arithmetic at five common rates.
Every service business asks this before setting a policy. There is no universally correct percentage — the ones businesses actually charge range from about 15% up to 40% or more for high-cost or high-no-show services. What changes, predictably, is the dollar deposit, the balance still due, and how much cash a year of bookings secures. See the numbers first, then decide.
Five deposit percentages on a $150 service
| Deposit % | Deposit due at booking | Balance due at service | Secured cash per year* |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15% | $22.50 | $127.50 | $13,057.20 |
| 20% | $30.00 | $120.00 | $17,409.60 |
| 25% | $37.50 | $112.50 | $21,762.00 |
| 30% | $45.00 | $105.00 | $26,114.40 |
| 40% | $60.00 | $90.00 | $34,819.20 |
*At an unchanged 11.16 completed bookings a week (12 weekly bookings × 93% booking rate × 52 weeks). The calculator does not lower this rate automatically as the percentage rises — that assumption is yours to set, because only you can estimate how a bigger deposit changes who actually books.
Deposit and balance move in lockstep with the percentage: deposit is simply price × percent, and balance is whatever is left of the price. The number that is easy to miss is the last column — the spread between a 15% and a 40% deposit on secured cash is $21,762 a year on this one example, before any change in how many people book at all.
Two things push most small service businesses toward the low end of that range: a lower deposit is a smaller ask of someone who has not experienced the service yet, and it reads as less risky to a first-time customer deciding whether to commit. Two things push toward the high end: a service with expensive material or prep cost that is wasted on a no-show, and a customer base that already trusts the business enough that the percentage rarely changes their decision to book.
Open the calculator, put in your own service price, bookings per week, and booking-rate assumption, and read your own deposit, balance, and secured-cash figures before you write a policy. Nothing you enter is uploaded.
This page is arithmetic, not legal, tax, or financial advice. It does not tell you what percentage to charge or claim a policy is compliant with your local rules or payment provider's terms.
Common questions
What percentage deposit should I charge for an appointment?
There is no single correct percentage — 15% to 40% are all common in practice. The trade-off is mechanical: a higher percentage secures more cash per booking and covers more of your cost if someone no-shows, but it is also more money a new customer has to commit before they have used your service, which can lower how many people complete the booking. Pick a starting percentage, watch your actual completion rate for a few weeks, and adjust.
Does a higher deposit percentage always secure more money over a year?
Only if your booking rate stays the same, and this calculator does not assume that for you. Raising the percentage from 25% to 40% on a $150 service raises the deposit from $37.50 to $60, which — at an unchanged 93% booking rate on 12 weekly bookings — raises secured cash from $21,762 to $34,819.20 a year. If a higher deposit actually turns away bookings, you have to lower the booking-rate assumption yourself to see the real comparison; the tool will not do that adjustment for you.