Nebraska
Nebraska lets a shop keep a deposit as liquidated damages, a sum agreed in advance, when a cancellation’s loss is hard to pin down in advance and the deposit is a reasonable estimate of it, or reasonably proportionate to the loss that actually happened. No statute governs them in a service contract; the common law, the rules courts build case by case, does, and reasonableness can be judged as of the agreement. Where the loss is easy to measure and the deposit more than covers it, Nebraska calls it a penalty. So a deposit sized to what a no-show costs, not to the tattoo’s full price, and shown before payment, is on firmer ground.
Does a non-refundable deposit hold up in Nebraska?
The law’s word for a set sum agreed in advance is liquidated damages.
No Nebraska statute governs liquidated damages in a service contract; the common law does. In Kozlik v. Emelco, Inc. (1992), the Nebraska Supreme Court upheld an employment contract’s promise of the employee’s regular salary if he was fired without cause, and applied to that service contract the rules it had first stated for purchase contracts. A set sum counts as liquidated damages only where the loss the parties could foresee is hard to pin down and the amount is a reasonable estimate of the probable loss, or reasonably proportionate to the loss actually caused; where the loss is easy to measure and the sum more than enough to cover it, it is a penalty, and reasonableness can be judged as of the time the contract was formed.
“This court has consistently upheld the right of contracting parties to privately bargain for the amount of damages to be paid in the event of a breach of contract, provided the stipulated sum is reasonable in light of the circumstances.” Kozlik v. Emelco, Inc., 240 Neb. 525, 483 N.W.2d 114 (1992)
Showing your refund policy
No refund-policy disclosure statute was found. The Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act’s full list of practices (Neb. Rev. Stat. § 87-302) and the Consumer Protection Act (§§ 59-1601, 59-1602 and 59-1609) were read, along with a search for a Nebraska return-policy posting law; none requires a posted refund or cancellation policy.
Body-art rules and money
Nothing about client deposits, cancellations or refunds in the body art rules (172 Neb. Admin. Code ch. 44, Body Artists and Body Art Facilities, as amended effective June 14, 2023). Their only money is the license fee, which they leave to another chapter, and the documents, inspections and facility standards they require say nothing about client payments or receipts.
Read: 172 Neb. Admin. Code ch. 44, § 012 · 172 Neb. Admin. Code ch. 44, § 013
This page summarizes public law in plain language, with the source each point comes from, read at the source on 2026-09-23. It is not legal advice.