Industry
Payments software for tattoo and piercing studios
Tattoo studios live and die on deposits: long chair time, one artist, no way to resell a missed slot. Enterprise Pay Gateway gives you deposit checkout links, per-artist and per-location reporting, aftercare retail and clear dispute handling — with payouts to your own bank, a fixed subscription and a platform fee from 0.20% to 0.75%. Stripe bills processing separately.
Last updated 9 September 2026
Session value
$150–$1,500
Full-day sessions are among the highest tickets in personal services, which makes both deposits and dispute defence worth getting right.
Deposit norm
$50–$200
Almost every established studio takes a deposit. Collecting it through a card link rather than cash creates a record you can point to later.
No-show cost
Half to full day
A missed sitting cannot be filled at short notice, so the deposit is not an extra — it is the studio's only protection.
Where the money leaks
Deposits taken by transfer leave no evidence
Cash and app transfers make bookkeeping messy and give you nothing to show if the client later denies the arrangement. A card checkout with written terms creates the record.
Chargebacks after a finished tattoo
Regret disputes happen. A signed consent, a clear description at checkout and a refund policy shown before payment are what decide the outcome.
Artist splits are calculated by hand
Most studios work out percentages weekly on a spreadsheet. Tagging payments by artist or location makes the split a report rather than an argument.
Aftercare and retail go untracked
Balms, jewellery and merchandise are real margin. Selling them from the same storefront captures the revenue without a second till.
The four payment flows you need
- 1
Consultation deposit
Send a deposit link when the sitting is booked, with the cancellation window written into the checkout description.
- 2
Session balance
Charge the remainder at the end of the sitting through a checkout link or the in-studio QR code.
- 3
Artist and location reporting
Tag payments to the artist or chair so weekly splits come out of a report instead of a spreadsheet.
- 4
Aftercare and merchandise
List balms, jewellery and prints on your storefront page so retail sits alongside session revenue.
What tattoo studio payment processing costs
Stripe bills card processing directly to your account — its published US online card rate is 2.9% plus 30 cents at the time of writing, with different card-present and international rates.
Enterprise Pay Gateway charges a subscription from $49 a month plus a platform fee that falls with volume: 0.75% on Starter, 0.60% on Growth and 0.40% on Pro, with negotiated rates for larger studios and groups.
A studio taking $50,000 a month is usually on Growth: the subscription plus roughly $300 in platform fees, alongside Stripe's processing charge.
Deposits and refund policy that survive a dispute
Write the deposit amount, the cancellation window and whether the deposit is refundable into the booking confirmation and the checkout description. The description is shown at payment and is the strongest single piece of evidence in a dispute.
Keep the deposit proportionate. A modest deposit credited against the session almost never attracts a dispute; charging the full session price for a no-show frequently does.
Keep the consent form, design approval and any messages agreeing to the work. When a chargeback arrives, those documents plus the checkout description are what you submit.
Underwriting notes for body art
Body art is treated as a slightly elevated-risk category by some processors, largely because of regret disputes. Describe your services plainly during verification — vague descriptions are the most common cause of onboarding delays and later reviews.
Keep your dispute rate low by refunding fast on genuine cancellations and publishing your policy where clients see it before paying, not after.
Frequently asked questions
- Can a tattoo studio take non-refundable deposits by card?
- Yes, provided the terms are shown before payment. Put the deposit amount and cancellation window in the booking confirmation and in the checkout description so the charge is defensible.
- How do we handle a chargeback after the tattoo is finished?
- Submit the consent form, design approval, messages and the checkout description showing your policy. Respond before the evidence deadline shown in your dashboard.
- Can payments be split between artists?
- Payments can be tagged by artist or location so your weekly split comes from a report. Payouts still land in the studio's own bank account.
- What does it cost?
- Stripe's processing fee plus a platform fee. Enterprise Pay Gateway starts at $49 a month plus 0.75%, falling to 0.40% at higher volume.
Start taking deposits this week
Create your account, verify with Stripe, and share your first checkout link. Card processing is provided by Stripe under its own agreement with you.