Utah
Utah is unusually favorable to a shop. Since 2012 its Supreme Court has presumed a clause setting damages in advance enforceable and reviews it like any other term, so a client who wants a kept deposit back has to show a general contract defense such as fraud, mistake, duress or unconscionability, for example terms so one-sided they oppress or unfairly surprise. The work is in a clean agreement: the policy shown before payment, in plain words. A policy hidden until after payment is the surprise the test names, and Utah’s consumer rule bars refusing a refund under it. A shop that cancels should not expect “non-refundable” to let it keep the money.
Does a non-refundable deposit hold up in Utah?
The law’s word for a set sum agreed in advance is liquidated damages.
In Commercial Real Estate Investment v. Comcast of Utah II, the Utah Supreme Court held that a liquidated damages clause gets no special suspicion: it is presumed enforceable and reviewed like any other term. The party attacking it carries the burden and can win only through a general contract defense such as unconscionability, which asks whether the terms are so one-sided as to oppress or unfairly surprise, or whether one side overreached from an unfairly superior bargaining position. The label has limits: in Hardy v. Montgomery, the Court of Appeals let stand a ruling that a seller who backed out of the deal could not keep all of a $7,000 payment marked non-refundable.
“courts should begin with the longstanding presumption that liquidated damages clauses are enforceable. ... A party may challenge the enforceability of a liquidated damages clause only by pursuing one of the general contractual remedies, such as mistake, fraud, duress, or unconscionability.” Commercial Real Estate Investment, L.C. v. Comcast of Utah II, Inc., 2012 UT 49, 285 P.3d 1193 · Hardy v. Montgomery, 2018 UT App 133, 428 P.3d 78
Showing your refund policy
R152-11-203 and R152-11-204, Utah’s consumer protection rule on deposits and refunds since September 22, 2026, reach services through the rule’s definitions. Taking a deposit is a deceptive act unless the client gets a receipt at the time with the date, what the deposit is for, the final price, any credit applied including the deposit, for a partial payment when the rest is due, and whether the deposit is refundable and any limits on that. A refund is due in the time the shop states, or within 30 days if it states none. Refusing one is deceptive unless the shop disclosed its refund policy “clearly and conspicuously ... before completing the transaction” and the refusal follows it. The rule borrows that phrase from a federal rule (16 CFR 465.1): online, the disclosure “must be unavoidable”, never behind a link.
“for a supplier to accept a deposit unless ... the supplier provides a receipt to the consumer at the time of the transaction that includes ... (c) the final price of the transaction ... (d) any credit applied to the transaction, including the deposit ... (f) whether the deposit is refundable and any restrictions on refundability” Utah Admin. Code R152-11-203, R152-11-204 (in force since 2026-09-22) · 16 CFR 465.1(c) · Utah Code § 13-11-3
- Your client’s receipt email goes out the moment they pay. It carries the deposit, the fee and the total when they paid it, the whole policy they agreed to, and the line saying until when they can reschedule and keep the deposit.
- The receipt does not carry the price of the tattoo or piercing itself, and the pay screen says the final price is set at the appointment and the deposit comes off it. A shop that wants the price in front of the client before they pay, and on the receipt after, writes it in the note on that client’s own deposit link: the pay screen shows the note, and the receipt carries it.
- Your whole deposit policy is on the pay screen above a box your client ticks, and the Pay button stays off until they tick it. The deposit keeps the exact words and the moment they agreed.
Body-art rules and money
Nothing about deposits or refunds in R392-701, the state’s body art facility sanitation rule. Its only payment word is in recordkeeping: invoices or orders can serve as the list of pre-sterilized instruments.
This page summarizes public law in plain language, with the source each point comes from, read at the source on 2026-10-18. It is not legal advice.