Make your cancellation policy
Pick your rules and the policy writes itself, ready to paste into your booking page and confirmation text. Everything stays in this browser.
A template, not legal advice. The limits it warns about come from the unfair contract terms law as NSW Fair Trading and Consumer Affairs Victoria publish it, read 27 October 2026.
Are no-show fees legal in Australia?
Yes, a no-show or late cancellation fee is fine when the client knew about it before they booked and it's a fair match for what the empty slot costs you. What the law catches is a term that's unfair. In a standard form contract, which is what a salon's booking terms are, a term is unfair if "it causes significant imbalance in the parties' rights and obligations arising under the contract", isn't "reasonably necessary to protect the legitimate interests" of the business, and "would cause detriment (whether financial or otherwise)" to the client.
Source: NSW Government, Unfair contract terms (last updated 1 July 2025), read 27 October 2026.
The examples NSW Fair Trading lists include terms that make a client who ends the contract early "pay an excessive amount in compensation or cancellation charges". So a fee for a 45 minute nail fill that's bigger than the fill is asking for trouble, a fee that covers the slot you couldn't refill isn't.
Source: NSW Government, Unfair contract terms (last updated 1 July 2025), read 27 October 2026.
Since 9 November 2023 using an unfair term isn't just void, it's banned, and Consumer Affairs Victoria says penalties "can be as high as" $50 million for businesses and $2.5 million for individuals. No salon policy is getting near that, but a court can still throw out a fee you charged.
Source: NSW Government, Unfair contract terms (last updated 1 July 2025), read 27 October 2026.
Source: Consumer Affairs Victoria, Unfair contract terms (last updated 23 February 2026), read 27 October 2026.
What makes a fee fair rather than a penalty
A court looks at the whole contract and "whether the term is transparent", meaning "in reasonably plain language", "clear, and not hidden". It also weighs terms that cut both ways. That's why the template says the client pays nothing when you cancel, and why the fee is a share of the price, not a fixed punishment.
Source: NSW Government, Unfair contract terms (last updated 1 July 2025), read 27 October 2026.
Nail salon, beauty and massage cancellation policies
The rules are the same for every service, it's the notice window that changes. Pick your main service in the tool and it sets a starting point, 24 hours for a cut, nails, lashes or a massage, 48 hours for a colour or extensions where the slot is long and hard to fill at short notice. Change it to whatever matches how fast you can fill a gap.
A massage room or a lash bed is usually booked in long blocks by one person, so a no-show costs the whole block. A barber with walk-ins can often fill a gap in minutes, and a short window or no fee at all can make more sense there.
Salon deposit policy
A deposit does the work a fee can't, because the money is already in. Kitomba, a salon booking software company, says from its own customer data that salons requiring a 100% deposit see "a 29% reduction in cancelled or no-show appointments on average compared to those that don't take any deposits", and that "One in every 10 appointments results in a cancellation or no-show for the average salon". That's a vendor's own numbers with no sample size given, so read them as a direction, not a promise.
Source: Kitomba (a salon software company, its own customer data, no sample size given), Deposits vs cancellation fees, which is better for salons, 26 September 2024, read 27 October 2026.
Deposits suit long or new-client bookings best. Keep it simple, a set share of the price, taken off the bill on the day, coming back in full when you cancel or the client moves with enough notice.
If you're registered for GST, a cancellation fee carries GST like the service it was for, and it doesn't matter how you collect it. The ATO says "It does not matter whether the fee is charged separately or taken out of deposits or other monies already paid."
Source: Australian Taxation Office legal database, GSTR 2009/3, Goods and services tax, cancellation fees, paragraphs 8, 20 and 45, read 27 October 2026.
Telling your clients
A policy nobody saw before booking is the one that gets disputed. NSW Fair Trading's advice to businesses is to "ensure key terms are clearly drawn to the attention of your customers during the sign-up process".
Source: NSW Government, Unfair contract terms (last updated 1 July 2025), read 27 October 2026.
So put the policy where they book, in the booking confirmation, and in the reminder text the day before. A short line works in the reminder, "Need to move it? Please let us know 24 hours ahead". Booking apps such as Fresha and Square let a salon take a deposit or keep a card at booking, if you'd rather the app collects it. See how Fresha's fees work out before you pick one.
Book clients in and send tax invoicesYamate sells software to salons and tradies. This template is free and asks for nothing.
Related
General information and a template, not legal advice and not tax advice. It reads the unfair contract terms law as NSW Fair Trading and Consumer Affairs Victoria publish it and the ATO's ruling GSTR 2009/3, as at 27 October 2026. Your policy is yours, check it suits your business, and for a dispute ask your state fair trading office.