Nevada
Nevada presumes a kept deposit valid: a client who calls it a penalty has to show it is out of proportion to what the shop actually lost. In a real estate sale, the Nevada Supreme Court let a seller keep a $69,700 deposit although the trial court had put the actual loss at $38,000. For a tattoo deposit, an amount set in good faith near what a no-show costs is on firmer ground than one far above it. And a business that allows no refunds has to say so on the sales receipt, the price tag or a posted sign.
Does a non-refundable deposit hold up in Nevada?
The law’s word for a set sum agreed in advance is liquidated damages.
No Nevada statute governs liquidated damages in a service contract, so the common law, the rules courts build case by case, does, and the Nevada Supreme Court treats such a clause as valid on its face: the client challenging it has to persuade the court that it is disproportionate to the damage the shop actually suffered. In Mason v. Fakhimi, a bidder who bought 6 condominium units at auction walked away from a $69,700 deposit, 10 percent of the price; the trial court found $38,000 in actual damages and called the deposit a penalty, and the Supreme Court reversed, because damages from a failed real estate sale are very difficult to estimate with any certainty. The court calls liquidated damages a sum arrived at by a good-faith effort to estimate the actual damages a breach will probably cause.
“liquidated damages provisions are generally prima facie valid, and the party challenging the provision must establish that the provision amounts to a penalty. ... the challenging party must persuade the court that the liquidated damages are disproportionate to the actual damages sustained by the injured party.” Mason v. Fakhimi, 109 Nev. 1153, 865 P.2d 333 (1993)
Showing your refund policy
NRS 598.092(12) makes it a deceptive trade practice for a business that does not allow refunds or exchanges to fail to tell customers so in one of 3 ways: a statement printed on the face of the sales receipt, a statement printed on the price tag, or a sign at least 8 by 10 inches with boldface letters, posted in an open and conspicuous place. Its words reach customers with no limit to goods, though the 3 ways are written for a retail counter. A policy page alone may not satisfy it: a shop whose deposit is not refundable puts that statement on the receipt the client gets for the deposit as well. A deceptive trade practice is consumer fraud in Nevada, and a client who wins recovers damages, costs and attorney’s fees.
“Fails to inform customers ... that he or she does not allow refunds or exchanges by: (a) Printing a statement on the face of the lease or sales receipt; (b) Printing a statement on the face of the price tag; or (c) Posting in an open and conspicuous place a sign” NRS 598.092 · NRS 41.600
- Your client’s receipt email goes out the moment they pay. It carries the deposit, the fee and the total when they paid it, the whole policy they agreed to, and the line saying until when they can reschedule and keep the deposit.
- Your whole deposit policy is on the pay screen above a box your client ticks, and the Pay button stays off until they tick it. The deposit keeps the exact words and the moment they agreed.
Body-art rules and money
Nothing about client deposits, cancellations or refunds in any of Nevada’s 3 body art rulebooks: the state’s, for the rural counties (NAC 444.00701 to 444.00939), the Southern Nevada Health District’s (2022) and Washoe County’s (2017). Their money is permit, exam and variance fees, and the Southern Nevada rules’ only receipts are a shop’s own purchase receipts for single-use and pre-sterilized instruments.
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.