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Free tool for UK barbershops

Barbershop No-Show Cost Calculator

Enter your own numbers to see what missed appointments really cost you each year, and whether a deposit would recover more than it costs.

Uses the method from our guide What a no-show really costs a barbershop. Last updated

YOUR NUMBERS

Example numbers — replace them with your own.

3.8% of bookings

WHAT NO-SHOWS COST

No-shows cost you about £2,635 a year

£53 a week · £17.57 per no-show · about 113 services’ worth of contribution

The shop carries the full £2,635 a year.

Busy vs quiet slots

Loss per busy-time no-show
£9.37
Loss per quiet-time no-show
£21.08

A quiet-time no-show costs you 2.3× more than a busy-time one.

Net yearly effect of a £5 deposit

−£61 a year

With these numbers, a £5 deposit would leave you about £61 a year worse off.

Deposits kept from no-shows (after card fees)
+£709
Extra card fees from split payments
−£770
Value of fewer no-shows
£0
Value of bookings lost
£0

A deposit breaks even if it cuts no-shows by at least 3.2%.

Fairness check: estimated net loss per no-show

Quiet slot £21.08 · Busy slot £9.37

What no-shows cost you each year
Yearly cost of no-shows
ScenarioYearly cost
Without a deposit£2,635
With a £5 deposit£2,697

With a deposit, this includes the extra card fees and any bookings lost.

Estimates based on the numbers you entered. Fixed costs such as rent and fixed wages are not included because they don’t change when one client doesn’t turn up. Not financial or legal advice.

Fine-tune your numbers Products, card fees, busy and quiet slots, chair model

Check your own provider’s rates.

How clients pay in the shop

Cash means no card fee on payments taken in the shop.

For example, a walk-in taking a Saturday morning gap.

Chair model
WHAT IF YOU TOOK A DEPOSIT?
Deposit type
Balance paid in the shop by
Is the deposit kept if the slot is refilled?

Keeping a deposit when you lost nothing is harder to justify under CMA guidance. Read why

There is no reliable public data on UK barbershop no-show rates, so these start at 0%. Enter your own estimate.

There is no reliable public data on UK barbershop no-show rates, so these start at 0%. Enter your own estimate.

Ready to protect your diary?

KERSIVO Starter is £0/month. Public bookings are secured with a £5 deposit or full payment through your own connected Stripe account, with 0% KERSIVO commission. Stripe processing fees apply.

Start KERSIVO Starter Create your cancellation policy

Need Pay at shop or your own website? See Full KERSIVO — £39/month per location

How this calculator works

A no-show doesn’t lose you the full price of the cut. You don’t use the products, you don’t pay the card fee, and sometimes a walk-in fills the gap.

So the calculator works out the contribution you lose — the price minus products and card fees — weighted by how likely each slot is to be refilled. Busy slots are refilled more often than quiet ones, which is why it asks how your no-shows split between the two.

For the deposit, it compares a typical week with and without one: deposits kept from no-shows, the extra fixed card fee when a booking is paid in two parts, any fall in no-shows and any bookings the deposit puts off.

Read the full method and worked example

What it doesn’t include

  • Fixed wages, rent and business rates — you pay them whether or not the client turns up.
  • Clients who rebook later into a slot that would otherwise have been empty.
  • The effect on your reputation or on future visits.
  • Time spent chasing no-shows.

Deposits and the law

UK law doesn’t stop you taking a deposit, but it limits when you can keep one. Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, an unfair term isn’t binding on the client, and the CMA’s unfair terms guidance (CMA37) links fairness to your net loss: keeping a deposit is easier to justify when it reflects what the no-show actually cost you.

Online bookings may also carry a statutory 14-day right to cancel, which a “no refunds” line on the booking page can’t remove. This is general information, not legal advice.

More detail: when keeping a deposit is fair and online bookings and 14-day cancellation rights.

FAQ

No-show and deposit questions

Short answers for UK barbershop owners. General information, not financial or legal advice.

It depends on your price, products, card fees and whether the slot is refilled. You save the products and the card fee, and a walk-in sometimes fills the gap, so the loss is usually less than the full price. Quiet-time no-shows usually cost far more than busy-time ones, because busy slots are more likely to be refilled. Use the calculator above with your own numbers.

It depends on your numbers. A deposit recovers part of the loss when a client doesn’t turn up and may discourage no-shows, but it adds a step to booking and, when the balance is paid by card, a second fixed card fee on every booking that turns up. The calculator shows the break-even point: how far no-shows would need to fall for a deposit to pay for itself.

Small enough not to put clients off. Under CMA guidance, keeping a deposit is easier to justify when it reflects your net loss from the no-show. The calculator shows your estimated net loss per no-show in busy and quiet slots, so you can compare it with the deposit you have in mind.

They’re paid whether or not the client turns up, so they aren’t an extra cost of a no-show. The calculator counts only what changes when one client doesn’t arrive: the price, products and card fees.

Yes, it’s free and there’s no sign-up. Everything runs in your browser: nothing you enter is stored or sent anywhere. If you share a link, your numbers travel only in the part of the link after the # sign.

Want the full method?

The guide behind this calculator walks through a worked example and the UK rules on keeping deposits.

Read the no-show and deposits guide

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