Everything about deposits and no-shows for beauty pros

What is a deposit?

A deposit (in Dutch: aanbetaling) is a partial advance payment on the price of an appointment, which the client pays at the moment of booking, not at the treatment itself. If the client simply turns up, the deposit is deducted from the final bill: at the appointment she only pays the remaining amount. So it is not an extra charge on top of the treatment price, but an advance payment on what she would pay anyway.

The difference lies in what happens when the client does not turn up. Without a deposit you have nothing: no compensation for the time you reserved, no compensation for the travel time if you work at clients' homes. With a deposit, at least part of your loss is covered, and the client has a reason to cancel in good time if she can't make it after all.

Restaurants, photographers and personal trainers have worked with deposits for a long time, and many healthcare providers charge for an appointment that is not kept. So it is not a new or unusual idea.

In mobile beauty it is still rare, though: in our research into 129 public price lists of beauty professionals in the Netherlands (October 2026), only a small share mentioned a deposit. None of the 29 mobile hairdressers, and 8 of the 40 makeup artists. If you do ask for one, you stand out.

Why no-shows cost money

At first glance a no-show seems like a minor inconvenience: one appointment that doesn't go ahead. In practice the damage adds up in three ways:

• Lost income. The time slot was reserved for this client, so you couldn't book anyone else in. The income from that treatment is simply gone, not postponed.
• Wasted travel time. If you work at clients' homes, you have often already travelled, or you planned your route around this appointment. That time never comes back, not even if you rebook the client later.
• A disrupted schedule. A no-show in the middle of the day leaves a gap that you usually can't fill with other bookings at such short notice.

With one appointment a week this may seem manageable. Work it out over a whole year, with several no-shows a month, each with lost income and lost travel time, and for most mobile beauty professionals the total runs into hundreds or even thousands of euros a year. Want to know what it costs you specifically? Work it out with our free no-show calculator: fill in four numbers and see the amount straight away.

For a more detailed calculation, with examples per price range, read "How much do no-shows cost a mobile beauty pro?"

How deposits reduce no-shows

A deposit works in two ways at once: it is not just a financial safety net, it also changes the client's behaviour before anything goes wrong:

• Commitment. A client who has put money down for an appointment takes it more seriously than a no-strings booking via an Instagram DM. That alone noticeably reduces the number of no-shows.
• Financial cover if it goes wrong anyway. If the client still doesn't turn up, at least part of your loss is covered, enough to make up for the lost travel time and the reserved time slot.
• A reason to cancel in good time. Because a timely cancellation gets the deposit refunded in full, the client has a concrete incentive to let you know in good time that she can't make it, instead of simply not responding.

The framing matters: a deposit you present to your client as "we ask for this because too many people don't turn up" feels like a punishment. The same deposit presented as "this confirms your appointment and guarantees your time slot" feels like a service. Same amount, same effect, a much nicer client experience.

Legal and GDPR in brief

Asking for a deposit is allowed in the Netherlands, provided you meet a few conditions. In short:

• The deposit amount and the cancellation terms must be visible before the client books, not only in the confirmation email.
• The amount must be reasonable. There is no percentage set in law; in practice 10-30% of the treatment price is considered reasonable and rarely leads to disputes.
• On a timely cancellation (24 hours' notice is common for home visits) you refund the deposit in full. On a late cancellation or a no-show you may keep it, if you communicated that in advance.
• The 14-day cooling-off period for contracts concluded online has an exception for services on a fixed date (article 6:230p of the Dutch Civil Code, BW). Whether that exception applies to your treatment is not always clear-cut. So set out your cancellation rules clearly and have them checked if in doubt.

Separate from that is the AVG, the Dutch name for the GDPR: the data you process about your client to schedule the appointment (name, phone number, address for home visits) falls under the normal GDPR rules for service providers: retention period, legal basis, the client's rights. The payment itself runs through your own Mollie account; Mollie acts as an independent controller for the payment data, separately from how you process the client data for the appointment. See our privacy policy for the full explanation of who processes what and why.

For the full legal background, including the points a judge or the Geschillencommissie (the Dutch consumer disputes committee) looks at in a dispute, read "Asking for a deposit in the Netherlands - what is legal, what is practical". This is general information, not legal advice. If in doubt, consult a consumer law solicitor or the Geschillencommissie.

How to set it up

A good deposit policy only needs to answer three questions. Once those are settled, you never have to improvise per client again:

1. How much notice do you require? 24 hours is the practical minimum for home visits; 48 hours if you have a tight schedule and travel a lot.
2. What does a late cancellation cost? The most common rule: the deposit is not refunded.
3. What does a no-show cost? The deposit is kept: this is the scenario in which you lose the most, so this is where the deposit makes up for the most.

For a step-by-step guide to these decisions, with a sample policy you can adapt, read "Setting a cancellation policy as a mobile beauty pro in the Netherlands".

With pbw.life you set one deposit policy for your business: a fixed amount or a percentage of the treatment price. After that, the deposit is collected automatically via iDEAL (the Dutch online payment method) at the moment of booking, straight into your own Mollie account (Mollie charges its own standard fee for this, currently €0.32 per iDEAL payment, checked 3 October 2026). You also set your cancellation window and whether you keep the deposit on a late cancellation; your client accepts that policy when booking. When the client cancels in time, the deposit is refunded in full automatically; on a late cancellation it is refunded or kept, as your policy says. The help article on deposits walks through every case. Take a look at our pricing or start your 30-day free trial: at signup you link your payment method with a €0.01 check payment, and you can cancel anytime.