Understanding project deposits
On Tailore a deposit is not a separate product - it is the first payment of the schedule inside your proposal. Here is how to set one, when it falls due, and how it gates production.
What a deposit is on Tailore
A deposit is simply the first payment of the payment schedule in your proposal. A fresh proposal opens with one payment for the whole total, due on approval - staging money before work is an opt-in choice you make with Add a payment. For how the rest of the schedule works, see Platform fees and installment plans.
Labels follow from the shape of your schedule. A single payment for everything is Full payment. A first payment on approval that is less than the total is a Deposit. The only payment left after a partial one is the Remaining balance, and the last row of a multi-payment schedule is the Final balance. Middle rows need a name you write yourself - generic names like "Payment 2" are refused.
Setting the deposit in your proposal
Add a payment
In the proposal form, use Add a payment to split the total. A schedule can have 1 to 4 payments, and the rows must add up to the proposal amount exactly.
Size it as an amount or a percent
Enter the deposit as a fixed amount or as a percent of the total. The amount is what counts; if percentages leave a rounding difference, the final row absorbs it.
Pick the due window
Each payment carries a due window: within 24 hours, 2 days, 3 days, 5 days, or 7 days. The default is Within 3 days after proposal approval, and the clock starts the moment the client approves.
There is no default deposit percentage.
Tailore does not suggest a deposit size. You decide whether to take one at all and how large it should be - a fresh proposal starts as one payment for the full total, due on approval.
Deposit terms and the required note
Every proposal states how the deposit is treated. The options are Refundable until work begins, Refundable until materials are purchased, Non-refundable once work or materials start, and Custom terms.
Every option except the first needs a note.
Choosing anything other than Refundable until work begins requires a plain-language note of at least 20 characters explaining your terms to the client. And a "non-refundable" label "does not eliminate remedies for non-delivery, material defects, misrepresentation, fraud, or rights that cannot be waived" - see the Payment Policy.
The production gate
An unpaid deposit blocks production.
If money you staged before work is still unpaid, the project cannot advance into production. The exact message is: "The deposit hasn't been paid yet - production can't start until it is."
On the client's side the ask appears under a Deposit due heading with a Pay deposit button showing the amount, paid by card through Stripe's embedded checkout on the project page. The client also sees the deadline, that paying reserves the project and lets the studio begin work, and that if it is not paid the studio may release the project.
Common questions
No. Approving the proposal automatically creates the first payment request, but nothing is ever charged automatically - the client pays it themselves through Stripe on the project page.
You can extend the deadline (shortening is refused) and send one manual in-app reminder card - Tailore does not turn it into an email. If it stays unpaid, you may release the project.
Cancellation is settled through a handshake with defined outcomes, one of which is settling by the deposit terms already agreed in the proposal. See Cancellation and refund policy.
A schedule holds 1 to 4 payments in total, collected in order. See Platform fees and installment plans for triggers and requests.
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