# Deposit policy wording you can copy > Wording, not legal advice. Consumer protection and cancellation rules differ by province and state. Change the numbers to your own. Last updated 19 August 2026. 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. ## One: the bio or menu line > 50% deposit confirms your date. Balance due at pickup. It belongs anywhere someone sees prices. The most common way this goes wrong is a customer meeting the deposit for the first time after choosing 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? Yes first, price second, deposit third, reason fourth, question last. Leading with the deposit reads as suspicion; burying it reads as a catch. ## 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. ## Four: the full policy > **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. ## Keep the transfer clause "Non-refundable, but transferable once" is the most useful line in the policy. You keep what covers your costs, and a customer whose plans genuinely changed leaves feeling dealt with rather than punished. Bound it. "Once" and "at least 14 days before" are what stop a transferable deposit becoming an indefinite credit. ## When someone 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 it 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. Repeating a policy in three increasingly long messages reads as negotiation and 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, before she asks. A deposit is non-refundable when she changes her mind, not when you cannot deliver. ## What decides whether it holds She saw it before she paid. You kept the record: quote, agreement and payment, with dates. And you apply it every time, because the exception made for a friend of a friend teaches everyone else that it is negotiable. Reasoning behind the numbers: Source: