waivers.tattoo vs CO:CREATE: your tattoo client pays $13 on a $100 deposit there, and $3.99 here

CO:CREATE, a booking tool for tattoo artists, charges the client a $10 booking fee and a 3% processing fee, so a $100 deposit costs them $113. The appointment's time is set after they pay. Ours, waivers.tattoo, lets your client pick the time first and adds $3.99 to the deposit. I make it, so read the pages rather than me. Every claim below about CO:CREATE links to its own help center as it read on 2026-10-29.

What does CO:CREATE do well?

CO:CREATE is made for tattoo artists, and it costs them nothing. Its help center says it in one line: "CO:CREATE is 100% free for Artists." An artist posts pre-drawn designs a client books at the price, takes custom requests through a form that asks for the idea, the placement, the budget and reference images, chats with the client about the piece, and sends pay links for a deposit or a session's balance. A client can pay over time with Affirm or Klarna while the artist is paid in full.

What does a tattoo shop pay on CO:CREATE, and what does it pay here?

The artist pays $0, and the client pays the fees. Its pricing article lists 2: "A $10 Booking Fee, charged once per Booking Request, attached only to your first payment." and "A 3% payment processing fee, applied to every transaction at checkout." On a $100 deposit that is $13 on top.

Here, your booking page comes with your waivers.tattoo account: $50 a year for the whole shop, or $5 a month, with unlimited artists and unlimited waivers, your link page at yourshop.L.tattoo and 1,000 emails a month to your clients. Your first 10 waivers are free. On each deposit your client pays our $3.99 fee by default, whatever its size, so a $100 deposit costs them $103.99.

What your shop keeps runs the other way. CO:CREATE's artist keeps the whole rate. Here, Stripe's 2.9% + 30¢ and 50¢ toward payouts come out of your share, and a $100 deposit leaves $96.18 in your shop's Stripe balance. You can pay our fee yourself instead, and your client pays exactly the deposit.

When does a tattoo client get a time?

On CO:CREATE, after paying. A custom request needs an account, "Booking Requests. Sign in before you Book." per its account article. The artist sends a deposit request, and once it is paid the appointment can be set: its scheduling article says "Schedule Appointment lists Booked requests only." For a client who wants to pick their own time, CO:CREATE suggests another tool: "you can add a scheduling link that automatically sends to Clients right after they pay a deposit".

On your booking page, the time comes first. Your client picks the artist, or any artist, then the session, a day and a time from the hours you set, writes one line about the idea, and leaves a name, a phone number and an email, with no account. The session's deposit holds that time while they pay it on your deposit page. "Ask first" sends each request to you for a yes, and "Book straight in" lets the time be theirs. 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.

Who refunds, and who keeps the client?

On CO:CREATE, "all tattoo sales are considered final and non-refundable", and when an artist wants to give one back, its refund article says "If you choose to cancel a booking or no longer wish to proceed, just let us know and we'll process the refund at your request."

Here, the deposit is your shop's, under your own deposit policy, which your client ticks before paying. You refund from your dashboard, and if a no-show disputes a deposit we collected for you, we answer the dispute with that record.

The client is yours too. 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, the ones who tick a box to hear from your shop get the review ask and the emails you write, and the list exports as a spreadsheet any day.

What does the waiver form ask?

Your state's questions. We read the tattoo and piercing rules of all 50 states and DC and wrote what each asks into the form: 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 client signs on their own phone, from your link page or your QR code, and 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 live calendar your clients book from, a shop page with "Any artist" and each artist's own link, a flat fee your client can see coming, and the refund in your own hands.

You give up CO:CREATE's pre-drawn designs booked at their price, its chat on every booking and its pay links for a session's balance. You give up pay-later for your client, its featured artists marketplace, and the whole deposit reaching you when the client pays the fees.

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. "Ask first" keeps custom work a conversation; "Book straight in" fills the time.
3. Set your hours and sessions, each with 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. Put yourshop.bookings.tattoo where your CO:CREATE link was, or your L.tattoo page, whose "Book now" opens it.

Finish the bookings already open on CO:CREATE there, and the new ones land on yours.

On CO:CREATE a tattoo client pays $13 to put $100 down and waits for a time. Here they pick the time first and pay $3.99 on top.