Refund & Cancellation Policy

Deposits

A deposit is set by your artist, is usually around 20% of their estimate, and is credited against the final price of the tattoo. The remaining balance is always paid to the artist or studio in person.

Where card deposits are switched on, you pay the deposit in the app through our payment processor and the rules below apply in the app. Where they are not switched on, the deposit is arranged and paid directly between you and your artist, STNCL does not hold or move that money, and the rules below are what STNCL expects artists to follow — we can review and act on an artist's account, but we cannot reverse a payment we never handled.

Cancellations and refunds

A deposit is fully refunded if you cancel more than 72 hours before the confirmed appointment time. If you paid by card in the app, cancelling in the app triggers the refund to the card you used, which usually lands within five to ten business days. If you paid your artist directly, ask them for the refund in your STNCL conversation; if they refuse, report it to us and we will review their account.

Cancellations made within 72 hours of the appointment, and no-shows, are not refundable: the artist has already reserved that time and turned other work away. If a date has not been agreed yet, the deposit remains fully refundable.

If the artist or studio cancels, reschedules in a way you cannot accept, or cannot carry out the work, they refund the deposit in full regardless of timing. Artists can also refund a deposit at any time as a goodwill gesture.

Report a disputed deposit to STNCL and we will review the artist's conduct and can suspend an account. We can only reverse a deposit that was paid by card in the app; a deposit paid directly to an artist is outside our control. Where a payment is reversed by a card issuer or bank, the outcome of that process governs.

Booking requests are not payments

Sending a booking request, accepting one, or proposing another time does not charge you. When an artist requires a deposit, the amount and controlling cancellation terms are shown before the separate payment step. A booking that requires a deposit is confirmed only after the payment provider verifies payment.

STNCL controls the marketplace refund window stated above for card deposits processed in the app. An artist or studio controls any additional policy it publishes, but that policy cannot remove the marketplace protections stated here. Payments made outside STNCL remain under the artist or studio's own terms and cannot be reversed by STNCL.

Rescheduling

You and your artist can agree a new date at any time. Moving an appointment does not require a new deposit; the existing deposit carries over, and the 72-hour refund window is measured against the new confirmed time.