Deposits: When to Ask and How to Word It

Sellers ask for deposits far too late, usually the week after being left holding something made for one person that nobody else wants. The rule is simpler than it feels: if the work starts before the money does, take a deposit.

When it is clearly warranted

Anything customised, anything with a long wear time, anything where you buy an item specifically for that order. In each case you are spending time or money that you cannot recover if the buyer disappears, and a deposit converts their intention into something real.

How much

Enough to cover what you cannot get back. If you are buying a specific item, the deposit covers the item. If it is purely your time, half is normal and defensible. The number should have a reason behind it, because a figure you can explain is a figure people accept.

Word it as procedure, not suspicion

The wording matters more than the amount. Customs start with a deposit, then the balance when it ships. That is a process, and processes are not personal. Because I have been let down before is true and reads as an accusation before they have done anything.

Say it before the detail

Mention the deposit when the request is first discussed, not after you have spent twenty minutes scoping it. Late deposit requests feel like a change of terms, and that is exactly when a buyer starts wondering what else might change.

Then be strict about it

Do not begin until it lands. The whole value is in the sequence, and one exception teaches you nothing except that you will make exceptions. This is also the point at which the buyers who were never going to pay simply stop replying, which is a good outcome arriving early.

A deposit does not lose you real customers. It loses you the ones who were never going to complete, and it loses them before they cost you anything.