do any of you out there collect a deposit for family shoots? i'm thinking about something small, $50 maybe, when they book, and apply it towards the final. this weekend saw one family no-show, one family cancel the day before, and two seniors that needed to reschedule into september (neither reason was particularily compelling). this weekend is definitely an anomaly, but frustrating none the less. not to mention, this effected my income. even something small might motivate people to keep their commitments. does anybody out there do this, or consider it? all thoughts are welcome.
If you want customers (wedding/senior/portrait/baby/etc) to be committed to working with you, nothing works better than financial commitment. It is pretty standard to charge a "sitting fee" which is NOT applied towards any product/package. You can run your business however you want, but I think you would be leaving money on the table if you didn't have a sitting fee.
The moment you start collecting money upfront and educating them on your cancellation policy is the moment you will stop getting "no shows". If they have nothing to lose by not showing up, then there is no motivation...except that their hope for good photos supersedes their rude behavior.
If a customer wants me to reserve a date for their session, show me the money and its yours
I do a 25% non-refundable deposit when date is booked, and charge a rebooking fee if rescheduled less than 48hrs for portrait sessions (at my discretion) and less than 1 week for events. If the event is moved to a day I'm already booked then I keep the deposit.
I've only had one person not like this after they had already signed the contract. To keep things in perspective next I only do this as a second job.
thanks for the quick replies. spencer - i do charge a session fee, but that's collected at the time of the session. that's the first thing i'm going to be re-thinking.
Michaelparris wrote:
I divide it up into thirds....1/3 upon the booking, 1/3 the day of shoot, 1/3 when they get finished product. First 1/3 is non-refundable...
Ah, another application of the 'the rule of thirds'. Nice.
I don't charge a booking fee on sessions other than weddings. I don't have a large problem with no-shows or late cancelations, because things do come up. It is frustrating at times, but nothing is perfect.
@Michaelparris - I have witnessed a few friends of mine get "stuck" with the product never being delivered, or delivered 6 months after the event for a variety of reasons, such as they haven't picked out which prints to print or the clients haven't picked out their photos for an album for example, and therefore never pay the "last third" or it comes 6 months later.
Who here collects full payment before or on "photo day"? How does that work out for you?
I don't charge at the time of booking (other than weddings), but for seniors and other portrait sessions I charge the day of the shoot.
For example: $250 the day of the shoot. If you order $250 or more in prints within 30 days of the proof gallery being available, you get $215 credit toward your order. If you are outside the 30 days then you lose your $215 credit.
I've yet to have a problem with getting them to order. If they order more than the $215 I bill them and don't order until they pay.
N.Cost wrote:
I don't charge at the time of booking, but for seniors and other portrait sessions I charge the day of the shoot.
This is basically what I do. They pay for the basic package on the day of the session. Then when we get together to place an order they can upgrade to a larger package. This also has the benefit of breaking up the payments. I find that people are more likely to write two $300 checks than one $600 check.
I have not yet had a problem with cancellations. If I did I would move to requiring a deposit in order to hold a date.
