waivers.tattoo vs GlossGenius: what your tattoo shop pays for booking, deposits and a waiver form

GlossGenius puts Forms & Waivers on its Gold plan, $48 a month billed yearly, and takes 3.4% + 15¢ of an online deposit when the shop pays. Ours, waivers.tattoo, is $50 a year for the whole shop, with the waiver form in it. I make it, so read the pages rather than me. Every claim below about GlossGenius links to its own page as it read on 2026-10-29.

What does GlossGenius do well?

GlossGenius is a polished booking site and POS, made for beauty and wellness. Its pricing page offers "login-free client booking", so your client books without an account, and every plan sends confirmations and reminders by text and email: 72 hours before for the confirmation, 24 for the reminder, and its notifications article says "There is no limit or additional cost for enabling the notifications below." A deposit can apply to every client or to new ones alone.

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

Billed for the year, Standard is $24 a month, Gold $48 and Platinum $148. Month to month they are $28, $56 and $168. Forms & Waivers, Google Booking & Reviews and the waitlist start on Gold, so a shop that wants its waiver signed through GlossGenius pays $576 a year, or $672 month to month.

On each deposit, its fee article gives the shop 3 settings. You pay: "card on file, online, or key-in payments are 3.4% + 15¢". Client pays: "your clients will be charged a 3.5% technology fee on their total", and the shop keeps the whole deposit. Or a split of 1% to you and 2.5% to your client.

Here, your booking page comes with your waivers.tattoo account, $50 a year for the whole shop or $5 a month, with the waiver form, unlimited artists, your link page at yourshop.L.tattoo and 1,000 emails a month to your clients. Your first 10 waivers are free.

How does the deposit hold the time?

On GlossGenius, a deposit is "a flat amount or a percentage of the service price", and you choose "whether it applies to all clients or new clients only". The client pays it before the booking is confirmed.

Here, each session on your booking page carries a fixed deposit you set, and the time is held while your client pays it on your deposit page. 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. Your client pays our $3.99 fee by default, whatever the deposit, and your share carries Stripe's 2.9% + 30¢ and 50¢ toward payouts: a $100 deposit costs your client $103.99 and leaves $96.18 in your balance.

Set beside GlossGenius's Client pays, the 2 are close on a $100 deposit, $3.50 against our $3.99, and on a $200 deposit the 3.5% is $7 while ours stays $3.99. With Client pays your shop keeps the whole deposit, where ours takes the card processing from your share. You can pay our fee yourself instead, 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.

How does the booking reach your calendar?

On GlossGenius, Google Calendar subscribes to a link, and its calendar article says "it may take up to 24 hours for your GlossGenius appointments to appear in Google Calendar". And its booking article says "At this time, clients cannot leave a note for the provider regarding their appointment through the booking flow."

Here, an artist presses "Link your Google Calendar" and the link works both ways: busy times on their Google Calendar block their times on your booking page, and each booking lands on a calendar of its own in their account as it is made. Your client writes one line about the idea when they book, and it is on the booking you get by email.

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. Each 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 a booking page with "Any artist" and each artist's own link, your calendar read and written both ways, and a waiver form your clients sign on their own phone.

You give up GlossGenius's confirmations and reminders by text and email. You give up a card on file with a cancellation fee charged to it, deposits for new clients alone, and percentage deposits. And its POS, if your shop checks out on GlossGenius.

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, your sessions and each session's "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 GlossGenius link was, or your L.tattoo page, whose "Book now" opens it.

Keep GlossGenius running for the appointments already on it.

GlossGenius takes a percentage of each deposit and puts the waiver on Gold. Here the waiver form comes with $50 a year, and a deposit costs your client $3.99.