Booking software for tattoo studios
Stop losing deposits to Instagram DMs.
A custom sleeve no-shows. Four hours of stencil prep and a full day of chair time. $400 to $800 gone, because the booking lived in a DM thread with nothing holding it. InkRetainer puts a non-refundable deposit behind every booking.
Founding members lock in $99 for life
Booking confirmed
Jordan Ellis
Custom sleeve, left forearm
Sat, Nov 8 · 10:00 AM · 4 hrs
Deposit · $150
Balance due day-of · $450
Non-refundable · Terms accepted · Receipt sent automatically
The problem
Your booking system is a DM thread.
It was never a system. This is what Saturday morning looks like when the chair is empty and the thread went quiet.
@jordan.ink
Seen 2 weeks ago
hey u available??
hello??
@tat.collector
47 unread
can u do this exact design
how much for a full sleeve
@mike_sleeves
Seen 3 weeks ago
nvm found someone else
@sarah.j
Seen 1 month ago
hey just following up on that deposit
sorry something came up
01
The no-show
A four-hour custom sleeve ghosts on a Saturday morning. Stencil prepped, chair blocked all day. $400–800 of revenue evaporates. No deposit was ever collected, because “we’ll sort it out in the DMs.”
02
The chase
Deposits over Venmo. Balances in cash. Balances forgotten. Between clients you’re doing collections work you never bill for, and every “just following up” text costs you goodwill.
03
The double-book
Two clients, one Saturday, one chair. The calendar lives in your head, your camera roll, and three different threads, until the day two of them collide.
The alternative
This is what calm looks like.
One link in the bio. The deposit lands before the appointment exists. Reminders go out on their own. You just tattoo.
Booking confirmed
Jordan Ellis
Custom sleeve, left forearm
Sat, Nov 8 · 10:00 AM · 4 hrs
Deposit · $150 collected
Balance due day-of · $450
Reminder scheduled · Consent form sent
$0
in deposits secured this week*
*Illustrative, based on average shop volume
How it works
Three steps. Zero DMs.
01
Put your link in your bio.
One booking link. Clients pick flash, custom, or consultation, with the right durations and buffers already built in. No back-and-forth about “what day works for you?”
02
Take the deposit up front.
Non-refundable deposits through Stripe before the appointment exists. Custom piece? Take half. Flash day? Flat fifty. Your rules, enforced automatically, not negotiated in the DMs.
03
We handle the rest.
SMS and email reminders, balance-due nudges, digital consent and aftercare forms signed on the client’s phone. You just tattoo.
Do the math
What does a ghost cost you?
Drag the slider. Count the Saturdays that went quiet this month. Average custom session: $600.
No-shows / month
3
$1,800 up in smoke.
That’s $21,600 a year, gone.
What you get
Built for how shops actually run.
Non-refundable deposits, via Stripe
The money lands in your account before the stencil is drawn. Clear terms at booking, receipted automatically. A paper trail a Venmo screenshot can’t give you.
Deposit received
$150Terms accepted · Receipt sent
A booking page per artist
Every artist gets their own link, calendar, and house rules. Guest spots and conventions welcome. Spin up a weekend calendar in another city, tear it down Monday.
inkretainer.com/mara
Flash · 1 hr
Book
Custom · 4 hrs
Book
Consult · 20 min
Book
Reminders that actually send
SMS and email before every session, automatically. No more “hey, are we still good for tomorrow?” at 11 PM.
Reminder: your session with Mara is tomorrow at 10 AM. Reply C to confirm.
Sent automatically · 9:00 AM
Consent + aftercare, digital
Forms signed on the client’s phone before they sit down. Stored, searchable, done. No more paper stack in the back room.
Consent form
Aftercare guide
Signed on the client’s phone
Pricing
$49/mo
One saved deposit pays for the month.
Flat. No per-booking cut, no platform fees skimmed off your deposits. What your clients pay is yours. We just make sure it actually gets paid.
Founding members
$99 for life
The first shops through the door lock the founding rate forever. The waitlist gets in first. After that, it’s $49 a month like everyone else.
Claim founding statusQuestions
Asked by actual artists.
I already take deposits over Venmo. Why switch?+
Because a DM thread isn’t a booking system. No calendar, no reminders, no consent forms, no paper trail when a client disputes the charge. And every deposit you chase is unpaid admin work squeezed between clients.
What if a client disputes a non-refundable deposit?+
They agreed to clear terms at booking and got a Stripe receipt to prove it. That’s a paper trail a screenshot of a Venmo request can’t give you.
Do my clients need to make an account?+
No. They open your link, pick a time, pay the deposit. Two minutes on their phone, done. Then they go back to scrolling.
I do guest spots and conventions. Does this work?+
That’s exactly what per-artist pages are for. Spin up a guest-spot calendar for a weekend in another city, take deposits up front, tear it down Monday.
When does it launch?+
The waitlist opens the doors. Founding members get in first at $99 for life. After that it’s $49 a month like everyone else.