waivers.tattoo vs Fresha: what your tattoo shop pays per artist, and the 20% on a marketplace client

Fresha is $14.95 a month for each team member clients can book, so a 3-artist tattoo shop pays $44.85 a month. A brand new client found on Fresha's own marketplace costs a one-time 20% of their first booking. Ours, waivers.tattoo, is $50 a year for the whole shop, with no marketplace and no fee on any client. I make it, so read the pages rather than me. Every claim below about Fresha links to Fresha's own page as it read on 2026-10-29.

What does Fresha do well?

Fresha is a full booking and payments system with a marketplace behind it. Its pricing page lists the calendar, waitlists, a POS, consultation forms, reviews, gift cards and memberships on both plans, with free unlimited email notifications and a monthly allowance of texts. Its calendar link is wide: it can "create a two-way link between your Fresha business calendar and external calendars like Google, Apple, or Outlook". And the marketplace brings people: Fresha says "Tens of thousands of appointments are made daily on the marketplace".

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

The Independent plan is $19.95 a month for a one-person business. Team is $14.95 a month for each team member clients can book, so a 3-artist shop pays $44.85 a month. Online card payments are 2.79% + $0.20. And on the same page, a "One-time fee applied to brand new clients who discover your business via the Fresha marketplace": "20% one-time commission Minimum fee of $6 per client applies".

That marketplace is part of booking online at all. Fresha's fees article says "To take bookings online through Fresha via your website and social media pages, your profile must be listed on the Marketplace." And the fee can follow a client to your own link: it covers "those who view your Fresha marketplace profile first and then choose to book through another online channel including your website or social media pages."

Here, your booking page comes with your waivers.tattoo account: $50 a year for the whole shop, or $5 a month. No artist adds a fee, no client carries a commission, and there is no marketplace to list on. The year covers unlimited waivers, your link page at yourshop.L.tattoo and 1,000 emails a month to your clients, and your first 10 waivers are free.

How does a tattoo client book?

On Fresha, its booking article says "Clients need to create or log in to a Fresha client account to book and confirm an appointment online."

On your booking page, nobody makes an account. Your client picks the artist, or any artist, the session, a day and a time from your hours, writes a line about the idea, and leaves a name, a phone number and an email. You pick "Ask first", where you confirm each request, or "Book straight in". They get an email with Add to calendar and a link to cancel, and you get one for every booking.

How does the deposit hold the time?

On Fresha the deposit is a percentage or a fixed amount, and its payments article says "Once deposits are enabled, clients will need to pay a deposit to confirm their booking, securely saving their card to their wallet."

Here, each session carries a fixed deposit you set, and the time is held while your client pays it on your deposit page. No card is saved. 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 pays our $3.99 fee by default, and your share carries Stripe's 2.9% + 30¢ and 50¢ toward payouts, so a $100 deposit costs your client $103.99 and leaves $96.18 in your balance. You can pay the $3.99 yourself, and your client pays exactly the deposit. If a no-show disputes a deposit we collected for you, we answer the dispute with the policy they ticked.

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, and no client is anyone's commission. Each one 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 every client as yours, with no marketplace between you, and an artist's Google Calendar blocking their times both ways, with a feed for Apple Calendar or Outlook.

You give up Fresha's reminders by text and email before the appointment, and its waitlist. You give up a saved card with no-show and cancellation fees charged to it, and its POS, if your POS is Fresha. You give up busy times from Apple and Outlook blocking your page, which Fresha's two-way link brings in. And you give up the marketplace, with the clients it finds and the 20% they cost.

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" or "Book straight in".
3. Set your hours and sessions, and each session's "Deposit" and amount.
4. Press "Start taking deposits" under "Deposits": your legal name and a tick of the terms.
5. Each artist presses "Link your Google Calendar" from their own sign-in.
6. Replace your Fresha link in your bio with yourshop.bookings.tattoo, or your L.tattoo page, whose "Book now" opens it.

Keep Fresha for the appointments already booked there, and every new one lands on yours.

On Fresha a tattoo shop pays by the team member and by the client the marketplace finds. Here the shop is $50 a year, and every client is yours from the waiver.