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A flat fee if what you lose is time, a percentage if what you lose is an expense
You'll know whether your deposit should be a flat number or a percentage, and you'll have the exact wording to ask for it without sounding like you don't trust your clients.
By Yodai · Published September 6, 2026 · Updated October 12, 2026
With the real time slot for each published service in place, you still need to decide what guarantees that slot doesn't stay booked for nothing. Someone messages you asking for an appointment Saturday at eleven. You tell them that works, and to confirm you need a deposit. And that's where you freeze: do you ask for $15, or 20 percent of what they'll end up paying?
Knowing how long each appointment really takes also tells you how much you lose if that hour stays empty, and that number is what decides whether the deposit should be a flat amount or a percentage. Not a chart you copied from another business.
What you lose when the slot stays empty
Think about two different businesses. A hair salon books a forty-minute slot. That slot is worth the same whether the customer comes in for a $12 bang trim or a $60 color job: what you lose if they don't show up is the time, not the price of the service.
A wedding caterer, on the other hand, blocks off an entire weekend and buys specific ingredients for that date. There, what you lose isn't a spare hour, it's an order worth several hundred dollars you've already paid for. The lost expense grows with the size of the job.
The rule follows on its own: if what's at risk is time that's worth the same no matter the service, ask for a flat fee. If what's at risk grows with the size of the job, ask for a percentage.
- Same number for any service: it's easy to quote by phone, chat, or on your website.
- Fits an hourly booking schedule: hair salons, physical therapy, single classes, consultations.
- If your prices vary a lot, a low flat fee won't stop someone booking the pricier service from standing you up.
- It adjusts itself to the size of the job.
- Fits orders, events, and rentals where you're already buying or reserving something specific for that date.
- You have to calculate it every time and spell out the math right in the booking message.
Which one should I pick: If your schedule is made up of similar-length slots at different prices, ask for a flat amount, like the price of your cheapest service or what half an hour of your time is worth. If each job involves a different expense or reservation, ask for a percentage of the total, not a flat number.
How much, exactly
The number isn't a mystery once you know what you stand to lose. If you're asking for a flat amount, set it equal to the price of your cheapest service, or to half an hour of your time: that way you cover at least part of what you lose, whichever appointment falls through.
If you're asking for a percentage, there's no single number that works for everyone: it has to be high enough that whoever books thinks twice before standing you up, but not so high that it scares off people who do plan to show up. And if you're also buying supplies ahead of time for that date, raise the percentage to cover exactly that cost.
- You know whether your business loses time or loses a specific expense when a slot stays empty.
- You've chosen a flat fee or a percentage based on that, not by copying another business.
- You have the exact wording to ask for a deposit without it sounding like distrust.
- Next up: how late someone can cancel without losing that deposit.
In Yodai your clients request a time on your site and you confirm it from your dashboard. See how online booking for your business works.
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