Ask a tattoo artist what a booking costs and the honest answer has conditions: by the hour, by the piece, by the artist, and it depends what your skin does. Ask an appointment app the same question and it hands you a service menu with fixed prices and a fifteen-minute grid. Tattooing is the one trade where the product is decided in conversation and paid for before it exists — which is why the booking flow, not the portfolio, is where studios lose money.
The fix is not another app. It is deciding which questions are permanent (the policy), which are monthly (the books), and which are daily (a flash drop, a cancellation slot), and putting each one where a client will find it without sending a message.
The seven questions that decide whether a DM is worth sending
A studio's inbox fills with the same seven questions. Each has a different lifetime, and that is what decides where it lives.
| What the client asks | Where it belongs | How often it changes |
|---|---|---|
| “How much?” — a band, an hourly rate, a minimum charge | The page | Seasonally, when the rate moves |
| “Deposit? Refundable?” | The page, word for word as the booking form says it | Rarely — and every change is a business decision |
| “How old do I have to be? What ID?” | The page | Only when the law or the house rule moves |
| “Are your books open?” | The top line of the page | Monthly, in one edit |
| “When is the next flash drop / guest artist?” | The page, plus the Instagram post that points at it | Weekly, sometimes hourly |
| “Where are you, are you open, do you take walk-ins?” | The page — address, hours, door, parking | Rarely |
| “What do I do after?” | The page, and the aftercare card handed over with the tattoo | Rarely |
Notice what is not in that table: the work. Instagram is the portfolio, and it is better at being one than a website will ever be — the grid, the reels, the healed-versus-fresh comparisons, the comment section where someone tags a friend. The page's job is to stand behind the grid and answer the questions the grid cannot: a photo does not say what an hour costs, what the deposit is, or whether a 16-year-old with a note from home can be tattooed at all.
One link, one job. A studio that puts six links under the bio (portfolio, reviews, aftercare, shop merch, YouTube, email) has rebuilt the decision problem in miniature. One link to a page that answers the seven questions, with a link out to the portfolio at the top, is fewer taps to the only thing that converts: a paid deposit.
The deposit clause, in four facts
A deposit is where a maybe becomes a booking, and it is also where most of a studio's disputes come from. The clause that survives a chargeback is short and complete, and it is four facts, not one:
- The amount — a flat figure, not a percentage of an estimate that does not exist yet.
- What it pays for — usually reserved time and the drawing; and whether it comes off the final price or sits on top (almost always off).
- The window — how much notice moves the deposit to a new date, and what happens after it (48 or 72 hours are the two figures you will find in the wild).
- What happens if the artist cancels — refund, or priority rebooking. Studios forget this one, and it is the first thing a client asks when it happens.
Three working artists' own booking pages, read on 14 November 2026, show how little the wording needs to vary to be complete. One states a $100 non-refundable deposit that secures the calendar slot and is applied to the final cost, payable through the artist's deposit service within 48 hours of accepting the time, and movable if the client gives at least 48 hours' notice. A second charges by the hour ($185/hour), takes the same $100 non-refundable per appointment, rolls it to a future date with 72 hours' notice, and forfeits it for a no-notice 15-minute lateness. A third opens her books on the first of each month for the following month, posts a form that is live for three days, and requires the same $100, non-refundable, off the final cost.
Those are practice, not law, and the numbers are not the point. The point is that all three publish the four facts before taking a card, in public, on a page a stranger can read at 1am. That is also what consumer-protection practice asks for: the terms visible and agreed before payment, because a policy explained afterwards in a DM thread is a negotiation, and a policy on a page is a fact.
Why it is worth the trouble, in the numbers the industry publishes: one vendor's planning benchmark puts a tattoo studio's no-show rate at 8–20% (typical 13%) with $250–550 of scheduled value lost per miss — the lost chair time plus drawing that may never be used again. A studio-management vendor's analysis of 831 recorded no-shows found 71% of them had no deposit paid at all, and that even where a deposit was retained the average net loss was still around €212 per missed appointment. Deposits do not stop no-shows; they change who absorbs the cost. Both of those sources sell software, so read them as benchmarks to check against your own booking data, not as an audit.
The page cannot charge the card. A one-page site is static text — it states the clause and links to the tool that takes the money (Square, Stripe, Venue, Booksy, the studio's own payment link). What it adds is the version of the terms the client read before paying, on a page that is not a chat thread. If a deposit is taken by bank transfer with no written terms at all, the studio has the risk without the defence.
Age and ID: the line that saves a wasted drive
This is the single most expensive omission on a studio page, because the cost lands on a stranger: a 17-year-old reads “DM me”, drives forty minutes with a parent, and is turned away at the door because the state does not allow it or the shop does not do it. Thirty seconds of text prevents it.
For tattoos, 18 is the age at which a client can sign for themselves in every US state. Below that, it depends where the shop stands — and the differences are not marginal. A plain-language survey of all 50 states and DC, published 14 September 2026 and linking each state's own statute, counts 18 states with no parental-consent route at all (California's statute says “regardless of parental consent” outright), 32 that allow it with conditions, and Hawaii as the one plain written-consent state. Six name a floor under 18: 16 in Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee and DC, and 14 in Idaho. The conditions range from a notarised form to the parent standing in the room, and some states allow a minor only to cover an existing tattoo. Two further layers sit on top: a county can be stricter than its state (Baltimore City and Clark County both are), and a studio can be stricter than either. None of that is legal advice; it is a reason to write your own rule down and make it visible.
Piercing is a ladder rather than a line, and studios publish wildly different ladders. One shop's public policy: 18+ with photo ID for nipple, surface, oral and genital work; 13+ with a parent present and both IDs for cartilage and septum; 16+ for navel, eyebrow, bridge and industrial; lobes for children from four, case by case. Another: 18+ for microdermal, surface, nipple and intimate; 13+ for lobes, cartilage, navel, facial and oral with consent; under-13 lobes only. A third: lobes from eight, helix 13+, nostril 14+, septum and navel 16+, everything else 18+. The same 15-year-old can walk into one of those shops for a nostril and be refused at the next — which is exactly why the rule has to be on your page, not implied by a state statute the client has never read.
For brow studios the equivalent line is the patch test. Tint, lamination and lash-lift products require one 24–48 hours before the appointment, no patch test means no treatment, and in most studios that is an insurance condition rather than a preference. Studios also commonly refuse tint and lamination under 16 and ask about pregnancy. On a page, that is two sentences: “Tint and lamination need a patch test at least 48 hours before. No test, no treatment. Under 16 we do not tint or laminate.” Without them, the client books, arrives, and leaves.
The one line that changes every month
Books open, books closed, waitlist, guest artist, flash drop — this is the part of a studio's page that is different from a restaurant's, because the supply is one person's calendar and it opens and closes on a rhythm. The studios that handle it best publish the rhythm instead of the status: books open on the 1st for the following month, the form is live for three days, allow two weeks for a reply. A client who knows the rhythm stops messaging “any slots?” on the 14th.
Flash drops are the same principle at a faster clock. A sheet of ready-to-tattoo designs released for a weekend is a same-day audience: the useful page is one where a single line at the top reads “flash drop Saturday 10am — these six, first come by deposit” and the sheet itself sits below it. That is an edit that takes under a minute from a phone, and it is the reason the page's address must never change: the QR on the studio window and the link in the bio keep pointing at the same place while the content behind them moves.
The paper, for a studio with no tables
Our kit is built for restaurants, so it is honest to say what comes out of it for a shop with no tables: the six table-only pieces (table cards, table tent, 70 mm stickers, menu screen, delivery-app notices, Wi-Fi cards) are dropped, and the studio gets the live page plus eight files for the same money. The four that matter in a studio:
| Printed piece | Code width | Where it works in a studio | Scans from |
|---|---|---|---|
| A4 poster — window, door, or the wall by the desk | 126 mm | Someone on the pavement deciding whether to come in, or waiting outside before opening | ~1.2 m |
| 70 mm sticker on the mirror, door frame or counter | 40 mm | A client already inside, phone in hand, mid-visit | ~40 cm |
| Aftercare card, corner code | 20 mm | A sheet going home in a pocket — the scan happens later, at home | in the hand |
| Print policy sheet, A5/A4 | — | The price band, deposit, age rule and patch test, on the desk where the question is asked | — |
Two studio-specific warnings on the paper. Glass reflects. A code stuck on a shop window under a streetlight or a downlight is the classic failed scan; put the poster on the frame or the door, or print matte rather than gloss. And a studio's “price list” is a policy, not a menu: minimum charge, hourly rate, session lengths, deposit, age rule. That is what the print piece should carry, because a fixed price list for custom work is a promise you cannot keep. The millimetre arithmetic behind those widths — the four-module quiet zone, the 0.17 mm laser-printer floor, why “fit to page” silently shrinks an A4 code to 94% — is in the print sizes guide.
What it costs, against three dated alternatives
Monthly list prices read from each vendor's own page on 14 November 2026, before tax and before card fees. The point of the table is not that the alternatives are bad — two of them do things a static page cannot do at all.
| What you pay for | Per month | 3 years | What a studio actually gets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Linktree Pro ($14 billed annually, $17 monthly) | $14 | $504 | A list of links with analytics. No price band, no hours, no map, no policy text of its own |
| Square Appointments Free / Plus ($0 / $49 a location) | $0–49 | $0–1,764 | A real calendar, online booking, reminders; cancellation policy, no-show fees and a waitlist start on Plus |
| Booksy ($29.99 plus $20 per extra user) | $29.99 | $1,080 | Calendar, deposits, reminders, a marketplace listing — with a 30% one-time Boost fee, capped at $100, on a Boost client's first visit |
| GlossGenius Standard ($24 billed annually, $28 monthly) | $24 | $864 | Booking site, marketing, inventory; forms and waivers start on Gold at $48 a month annually |
| Squarespace Basic ($19 billed annually, $25 monthly) | $19 | $684 | A whole website builder for a studio that needs one page and a policy block |
| MapToSite Card — the page | $0 | $0 | Price band, deposit clause, age rule, books status, hours, map, call button, aftercare text; one credit line in the footer |
| Turnkey kit — page plus eight files | once | $49 / $89 / $149 | The page, the A4 poster, the QR image, the print policy sheet, the Business Profile kit, the edit runbook, review cards, bring-a-friend cards — same tiers, same prices as the fifteen-piece kit |
Read the first two rows together and the honest recommendation writes itself: a studio needs a calendar and a page, and they are two different purchases. Square Appointments' free tier is a real booking calendar at $0 — take it, or keep whatever the studio already pays for. The page is the other half: the part that answers questions at 1am, that a walk-in can scan off the window, and that does not change its address when the tool changes. Paying $504 over three years for a bio link that cannot hold a policy is the one combination that solves neither half.
If you want the arithmetic on your own numbers — your deposit, your rate, your no-show rate — the three-year calculator runs in the browser and stores nothing you type.
What the page will not do
A static page cannot hold a calendar, take a card, verify an ID, collect a signed consent form, or send a reminder. It will not tell a client that Thursday at 2pm just opened up; that is the booking tool's job, and a studio that drops its calendar for a one-pager will lose more than the subscription it saved.
It also will not replace the portfolio. Tattoo clients choose on the work — healed work especially — and a six-photo gallery on a page is not a substitute for an Instagram grid with a thousand posts. What the page does is convert the person who has already chosen: it tells them the band, the deposit, the rule, the door and the next drop, so the DM that follows is “can I have Saturday the 14th” rather than “how much for a sleeve lol”.
The page and the paper, in one order
Send a Maps link, your price band and your deposit terms. Within 24 hours: the live mobile page plus the eight printed files — no table tents, because a studio has no tables — at the same tier price as the fifteen-piece kit ($49 / $89 / $149). Nothing monthly.
Build the page first — thirty seconds, free, no account and no card, and it stays free:
Create a page — free The same argument for a hair salon
Questions we get asked
How much should a tattoo studio charge as a deposit?
There is no legal figure. The three artist pages we read on 14 November 2026 all put $100 on a standard session, non-refundable, applied to the final price, movable with 48–72 hours' notice. Industry write-ups range from $50–100 on small flash to $100–300 or 20–30% of the estimate on multi-session work. The number matters less than the four facts beside it: amount, what it pays for, the notice window, and what happens if the artist cancels.
Can a minor get a tattoo with a parent's consent?
18 is the age a client signs for themselves in every US state; below that it depends where the shop stands. A survey of all 51 jurisdictions published 14 September 2026 counts 18 states with no route at all, 32 that allow it with conditions, Hawaii as a plain written-consent state, floors of 16 in Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee and DC, and 14 in Idaho. Counties can be stricter, and a studio can be stricter than both — which is why the rule belongs on the page in one line.
Does a studio need a website if Instagram already has the work?
Instagram is the portfolio and it is good at that. It is bad at the four things a client checks before paying a deposit: price band, deposit terms, age and ID rule, and whether the books are open this month. A page with those four answers saves the studio the same reply forty times a month, and it does not vanish into a request folder.
Can the page take the deposit itself?
No, and we do not pretend otherwise. The page is static text: it states the policy and links to the tool that charges the card. What it adds is that the client read the terms before paying, on a page rather than in a chat thread — the record that matters if a chargeback arrives.
Where should the QR code go in a studio?
An A4 poster in the window or beside the door with a 126 mm code (about 1.2 m), a 40 mm code on a 70 mm sticker on the mirror or door frame (about 40 cm), and a 20 mm corner code on the aftercare card. Print at 100%, never “fit to page”: A4 art on US Letter at fit lands at 94% and the code shrinks.
What does it cost, and what does the studio get?
The page is $0 with no account and no card, and it stays free; Board is $6.99 a month for a six-photo gallery, Sign is $13.99 for a custom domain. A studio has no tables, so the kit is the eight-file version — live page, A4 poster, QR image, print policy sheet, Business Profile kit, edit runbook, review cards, bring-a-friend cards — at $49, $89 or $149 once, the same as the fifteen-piece kit. Nothing here books an appointment; that stays with the tool the studio already pays for.
Related reading: the link in bio for a salon, the millimetres that decide whether a printed code scans, the three-year bill for a bio link, what a barbershop or salon site should cost, and the website field on a Business Profile.
Sources, read on 14 November 2026. Deposit examples: three working tattoo artists' public booking/FAQ pages — a $100 non-refundable deposit applied to the final cost and payable within 48 hours of accepting a slot, movable with 48 hours' notice; $185/hour with a $100 non-refundable deposit, 72 hours' notice to move it, forfeited on a no-notice 15-minute lateness; books opening on the first of each month for the following month with a form live for three days and the same $100 deposit. No-show figures: a tattoo-studio no-show benchmark resource giving a planning range of 8–20% (typical 13%) and $250–550 of scheduled value per miss, and a studio-management vendor's analysis of 831 recorded no-shows in which 71% had no deposit paid and the average net loss after retained deposits was about €212 — both are vendor publications, not an independent audit. Age law: a plain-language survey of all 50 states and DC published 14 September 2026 that links each state's statute (18 states with no parental-consent route, 32 with conditions, Hawaii plain written consent, floors of 16 in Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee and DC, 14 in Idaho; county and house rules may be stricter). Piercing ladders: three US studios' published age and ID policies. Patch testing: three UK brow and lash studios' published policies — a test 24–48 hours before tint, lamination or lash lift, no test means no treatment, commonly an insurance requirement, with tint and lamination refused under 16. Prices: Linktree pricing page (Free $0, Starter $7 annual/$9 monthly, Pro $14/$17, Premium $30/$35); Square Appointments pricing page ($0 / $49 / $149 per location); Booksy US pricing page ($29.99 a month plus $20 per extra user, 30% one-time Boost fee capped at $100); GlossGenius pricing (Standard $24 annual/$28 monthly, Gold $48/$56); Squarespace pricing (Basic $19 annual/$25 monthly) — all before tax and card fees. QR widths (A4 poster 126 mm on a 210 mm page, 40 mm on a 70 mm sticker, 20 mm corner code, version-4 symbol at 33 modules and 41 with the four-module margin, the 0.17 mm laser-printer module floor and the 94% “fit to page” shrink) were measured in, or taken from the standards quoted in, this site's own print files and the QR print guide. Nothing here is legal advice; the local health department has the final word on who may be tattooed.