waivers.tattoo vs Venue Ink: 10% on every deposit, or our flat $3.99, for your tattoo shop's clients

Venue Ink, booking for tattoo artists, is $0 a month and adds 10% to every deposit, charged to your client by default, so a $300 deposit costs them $330. Ours, waivers.tattoo, adds a flat $3.99 to any deposit, and the shop pays $50 a year. I make it, so read the pages rather than me. Every claim below about Venue Ink links to its own page as it read on 2026-10-29.

What does Venue Ink do well?

Venue Ink is built by and for tattoo artists, and the booking shows it. Its booking forms page collects "design ideas, placement, size, references, and more", and with its auto-scheduling "clients select your available time, fill out the tattoo booking form and pay their deposit in one intuitive checkout flow", where "Clients can’t complete their booking without paying the required deposit." Its pricing page lists built-in chat with unlimited text and email notifications, flash, a link in bio and pay-later with Affirm and Klarna, all on the free plans.

What does a tattoo shop pay on Venue Ink, and what does it pay here?

Solo and Studio are $0 a month, and Venue Ink takes "10% to process deposits and payments by card (charged to clients by default)", its pricing page says. Its FAQ works the numbers: "if you take a $50 deposit, your client will pay $55. You'll get $50 deposited into your bank account and we get $5". Below $25, "if your deposit is under $25 the processing fee is still $2.50". Solo Pro is $50 a month and Studio Pro $150, each at 5%, and Studio Pro adds $35 a month for each active artist past 5 residents or guests. Its deposits page puts it in one line: "just a 10% booking fee on deposits".

Here, your booking page comes with your waivers.tattoo account: $50 a year for the whole shop, or $5 a month, with unlimited artists, unlimited waivers, your link page at yourshop.L.tattoo and 1,000 emails a month to your clients. Your first 10 waivers are free.

What does a deposit cost, each way?

This is where the 2 part ways. On Venue Ink's free plans your client pays 10% on top: $110 for a $100 deposit, $330 for a $300 one. Here your client pays our $3.99 fee on top, whatever the deposit: $103.99 for a $100 deposit, and the fee is still $3.99 on $300.

What your shop keeps is the other half, and it runs the other way. On Venue Ink, with the client paying the fee, the whole deposit reaches your bank. Here, Stripe's 2.9% + 30¢ and 50¢ toward payouts come out of your share, so a $100 deposit leaves $96.18 in your shop's Stripe balance.

How does the deposit hold the time?

On your booking page, your client picks the artist, or any artist, then the session, a day and a time from your hours, writes one line about the idea, and leaves a name, a phone number and an email. The session's deposit holds the time while they pay it on your deposit page, and you pick "Ask first", where each request waits for your yes, or "Book straight in". The money lands in your shop's own Stripe balance the moment they pay, and Stripe sends it to your bank every week once you add one; in some states Stripe asks for your bank first, and your dashboard tells you if yours is one. Your client ticks your deposit policy before paying, and if a no-show disputes a deposit we collected for you, we answer the dispute with that record.

Who keeps the client, and what does the form ask?

Your waiver form puts every tattoo and piercing client on your client list with their visit history. Each gets your thank-you with your aftercare sheet, and the ones who tick a box to hear from your shop get the review ask and the emails you write. The list exports as a spreadsheet any day.

The form asks your state's questions for you. We read the tattoo and piercing rules of all 50 states and DC and wrote what each asks into it: the ID, the health questions, a parent or guardian where your state and you allow minors, and the artist's signature where the rule names it. Your state's page has the rule's words. This is a plain-language summary, not legal advice. Your local health department has the final word. Ask them, and bring your records.

What do you keep, and what do you give up?

You keep a flat fee your client can see coming on any deposit, one shop with "Any artist" and each artist's own link, an artist's Google Calendar blocking their times, and your link page with "Book now", "Sign your waiver" and "Pay a deposit" on it.

You give up Venue Ink's booking form with references, images and medical questions, its chat and its reminders. You give up flash and events, payments past the deposit with tips and pay-later, percentage deposits, and the whole deposit reaching your bank when the client pays the fee.

How do you switch your booking link in one sitting?

1. Set up your shop, or sign in.
2. Open "Links", then "Bookings", and turn on your booking page with "Ask first" or "Book straight in".
3. Set your hours and sessions, and give each session its "Deposit" and amount.
4. Under "Deposits", press "Start taking deposits", give your legal name and tick the terms.
5. Each artist presses "Link your Google Calendar" from their own sign-in.
6. Swap your Venue link in your bio for yourshop.bookings.tattoo, or for your L.tattoo page, whose "Book now" opens it.

Keep Venue Ink for the appointments already on it, and the new ones land on yours.

On Venue Ink's free plans the deposit fee grows with the deposit. Here it is $3.99 on any of them, and your waiver form comes with the account at $50 a year.