Deposit policy wording you can copy
The short version
You need the same policy in four lengths, because it has to fit a bio, a DM, an order form and an invoice, and the four have to agree. All four are below. If you want the reasoning behind the numbers, that is in deposit policies that stick; this page is just the words.
One: the bio or menu line
50% deposit confirms your date. Balance due at pickup.
Nine words. It belongs anywhere someone sees prices, because the single most common way this goes wrong is a customer meeting the deposit for the first time after she has chosen a flavour.
Two: the DM reply
I can do the 14th. It comes to $180. Your date is held once the 50% deposit ($90) comes through, and the balance is due when you collect. Deposits are non-refundable because I buy ingredients and turn down other orders for your date. Want me to send the details?
The order of those sentences is doing work. Yes first, price second, deposit third, reason fourth, question last. Leading with the deposit reads as suspicion; burying it reads as a catch. And ending on a question keeps it a conversation rather than a set of terms.
Three: the order form clause
Next to a required checkbox, because a box she ticked is worth more than a paragraph she scrolled past.
A 50% deposit is due within 48 hours of your quote. Your date is not reserved until it arrives, and I may take another order for that date until it does. Deposits are non-refundable. The balance is due at pickup.
The second sentence is the one bakers leave out and the one that prevents the argument. Without it, a customer who filled in a form reasonably believes she has a booking. With it, the race for the date is stated up front, and nobody is surprised.
Four: the full policy
For a page on your site or the bottom of an invoice. Change every number, and delete any line you will not actually enforce.
Deposits
A 50% deposit is required to confirm any custom order. Your date is not reserved until the deposit is received, and I may accept another order for the same date until then.
The deposit is due within 48 hours of your quote. After that, the quote and the date are released.
Balance
The remaining balance is due at pickup or before delivery. Orders that have not been paid in full cannot be collected.
Cancellations
Deposits are non-refundable. They cover ingredients purchased for your order and the date held on my calendar, and they are not returned if the order is cancelled, regardless of notice.
If you need to move your date, tell me at least 14 days before and I will transfer your deposit to a new date once, subject to availability.
Changes
Design and flavour changes are welcome up to 7 days before your date. After that I have usually started, and changes may not be possible or may cost more.
Allergies
My kitchen is not allergen free. I bake with nuts, wheat, dairy and eggs, and I cannot guarantee any order is free from traces of them.
The transfer clause is the one to keep
"Non-refundable, but transferable once" is the single most useful line in the whole policy. You keep the money that covers what you have already spent, and the customer whose plans genuinely changed walks away feeling dealt with rather than punished. Those are the people who recommend you.
Bound it, though. "Once" and "at least 14 days before" are what stop a transferable deposit becoming an indefinite credit you are still honouring next year.
When someone cancels
Have these written before you need them, because the version you write while upset is always longer and always apologises.
She cancels, inside your policy:
Sorry to hear that, and thank you for letting me know. As on the order form, the deposit covers ingredients and the date, so it is not refundable, but I am happy to move it to another date if you would like. Just say the word.
She asks for the deposit back anyway:
I understand, and I am sorry your plans changed. The deposit is non-refundable, which was on the order form when you booked, and it covers the ingredients I have already bought and the Saturday I turned other orders down for. What I can do is hold it for a future order for the next six months.
Say it once and do not relitigate it. Repeating a policy in three increasingly long messages reads as negotiation, and it invites one.
You have to cancel:
I am so sorry, I am not going to be able to make your cake for the 14th. Your deposit is refunded in full today and it will be back with you within a few days. If it helps, here are two other bakers nearby who do similar work.
Refund in full and immediately when the failure is yours, and do it before she asks. A non-refundable deposit is non-refundable when she changes her mind, not when you cannot deliver, and treating those two the same is how a policy turns into a review.
Three things that decide whether it holds
- She saw it before she paid. A policy first mentioned when someone asks for their money back is a much weaker thing, practically and legally, than one she ticked a box on.
- You kept the record. The quote, the agreement and the payment, with dates. That is what turns "my policy says" into something you can show.
- You apply it every time. The exception you make for a friend of a friend is the one that teaches everyone else that it is negotiable.
Where Preheat fits
Preheat puts your deposit policy on the quote, takes the agreement with the acceptance, and keeps the record without you filing anything. The rule is enforced rather than remembered: the date comes off your calendar when the deposit actually arrives and not when someone says yes. Join the waitlist and we will tell you when it opens.