How to take a deposit for coaching

1. 01

   Step 1: When the client says yes

   Send the link right after the call, while the decision is fresh. The deposit is what turns the yes into a booking.

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   Step 2: Before the first session

   The deposit holds the client’s place, so it comes before you hold one. Book the first session once it’s paid.

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   Step 3: With your terms, in the same step

   Visa’s rules ask for the client’s express, informed agreement before a deposit is taken: to what you’re selling, the total price, and your cancellation and refund policy, including the date after which the deposit can’t be refunded.

Two numbers hide in the word “deposit”, and it helps to keep them apart: how much the client pays up front, and how much of that you keep if they cancel. The first is about commitment. The second has to be fair.

For the first, ask for a bigger share of a short program and a smaller share of a long one, so a long program never asks for months of fees in advance. The coaching package calculator suggests about 50% for programs of 6 weeks or less, 40% up to 16 weeks and 30% for anything longer, counted toward the price.

The second is usually much smaller: what a cancellation actually costs you, such as a slot you can’t refill and the preparation you’ve done. Everything above that is the client’s money for sessions they haven’t had.

A non-refundable deposit is one you keep if the client cancels. It’s easiest to defend when it’s small, it pays for something real, and the client knew the rule before paying. Three ways to set one up:

In the US, deposits are mostly a matter of state contract law. The general rule, set out in the Restatement (Second) of Contracts, is that an amount agreed in advance, such as a deposit you keep, has to be reasonable compared with the loss a cancellation causes. An unreasonably large sum is a penalty (opens in a new tab), which courts don’t enforce, and each state applies its own version of the rule. The FTC’s Cooling-Off Rule (opens in a new tab), which gives three days to cancel some sales, doesn’t cover sales made entirely online or by phone. It can cover a sale of $130 or more made in person at a temporary venue, such as a hotel room or a convention center, and it covers courses of instruction or training.

In the UK, a deposit term in a contract with a consumer has to be fair under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, or it doesn’t bind them. The Competition and Markets Authority’s guidance on unfair terms (opens in a new tab) says a genuine deposit can be kept in full if it holds a booking, the client is told at the outset that it’s required and exactly when it would be kept, those circumstances are clear and narrow, and it’s normally no more than a small percentage of the price. A large prepayment that’s entirely non-refundable is more likely to be unfair. The same guidance gives a minimum cancellation fee of 30% of the price as an example of a term unlikely to be fair.

In the UK and the EU, individuals who buy at a distance, after a video call or through a link, can also cancel within 14 days (opens in a new tab) without giving a reason, and you refund everything they paid within 14 days of hearing from them. Sessions can start inside those 14 days only if the client asks you to, and if they then cancel, they pay for what they’ve had.

If you don’t tell clients about this right, it lasts up to 12 months longer, and they owe nothing for sessions held in the first 14 days. In the EU, a contract made online since 19 June 2026 must also come with a clearly labelled way to withdraw online, such as a “withdraw from contract here” button, for the whole 14 days.

These rules protect people buying for themselves. A client buying business coaching for their company usually isn’t covered, although in the UK it’s for you to show that they were buying for their business.

1. 01

   Step 1: Make the client’s link

   Enter the client’s name, the deposit you agreed and, if you like, the package’s total price. You’ll see what’s paid and what’s still owed.

2. 02

   Step 2: Your terms come first

   The client reads your terms in full, deposit clause included, and types their name to sign before they can pay.

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   Step 3: Paid into your Stripe account

   They pay by card, Apple Pay or Google Pay, straight into your own Stripe account. IntakePay takes none of the deposit; Stripe’s standard fees apply.