Questions.

What coil does

Coil really texts my clients on its own?

Yes. Day-of: aftercare and a tip link. Days 3 and 14: heal check-ins. Week 5: a touch-up reminder before the free touch-up runs out. Week 6: $25 off their next piece if they send a healed photo. Week 12: a quiet “thinking about another piece?” Plus 48-hour and 24-hour reminder texts before every booking. Every message is written in your voice. You can pause any of them from your dashboard.

Wait — my cancellations actually fill themselves?

Yes. When a client picks “asap” or “flexible” on your inquiry form, they get a checkbox to opt into your waitlist. When you cancel an appointment, coil texts the top five on the waitlist a one-tap claim link. First one to pay the deposit wins the slot (Stripe handles the race, so you don’t end up with two people claiming it). No story posts, no DM scramble — the race runs itself.

What does coil decide for me?

Nothing, unless you switch it on. Three optional helpers: (1) each new request gets scored against your portfolio, so you see “92% match” or “37%, you don’t do this style” before you read it. (2) When you quote, coil shows what you charged for similar work before — your numbers, not an industry average, and never a price you didn’t set. (3) Healing photos texted to your coil number get sorted: normal ones get a calm reply right away, anything that looks wrong comes to you with the photo. Your pricing, your style calls, and your final word stay yours.

How does the coil phone number work?

Want a business phone number? Hit one button in your settings and coil sets one up for you — separate from your own cell. You put it in your IG bio or hand it to clients in person. Your personal phone stays private. When clients text it, the message lands in the right thread inside /dashboard/messages. You reply from coil and the client sees a normal text from your number. They don’t install anything. Don’t want a second number? Skip it — the rest of coil works the same. You can still send aftercare texts, deposit links, and tip nudges from your existing line.

Site, inquiries, consent

Does it replace my website?

Yes. Every artist gets a real portfolio site at yourname.coil.tattoo. The Pro tier lets you use your own custom domain on top of that.

Does it replace my inquiry form?

Yes. The form catches placement, references, size, budget, timeframe, and contact details before anything hits your inbox. Lazy “can you do a tribal” DMs filter themselves out before you see them.

Can clients book their own time?

Only if you want them to. You open the days you're actually working, block by block, and clients pick from your real openings. Nothing repeats unless you say so, so a week you're guest spotting stays shut. Leave it switched off and every request comes to you to schedule by hand, the way it works now.

Does it work with the calendar I already use?

Both directions. Your coil sessions show up in Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, or Outlook, and anything you block off in your own calendar stops being offered here. Hold a Thursday afternoon for the dentist and no client can take that slot. Coil only reads your calendar. It never writes to it, and nobody but you ever sees what's on it.

Can I bring my existing clients over?

Yes. Export your book from Square, Booksy, or a spreadsheet and import the CSV on the Clients page — names, emails, phones, notes all come across, and importing the same person twice updates them instead of duplicating. Walk-ups you can add by hand in fifteen seconds. Booking and aftercare texts work for imported clients right away; promo texts (flash drops, guest spots) only go to clients who've given written consent — you attest at import, or they opt in through your inquiry form.

Does it handle consent?

Yes. Every booked session generates a signed link. DOB, medical flags, design approval, signature, timestamp, IP address, all stored. Piercer chairs swap the design-approval question for jewelry-material consent.

Can clients upload their photo ID at intake?

Yes. Flip on “Photo ID at consent” in your account settings and every consent form asks the client to upload a government-issued photo ID (driver’s license, passport, state ID) before they can sign. Stored privately, only you can see it inside coil, never rendered on the printable receipt. Off by default — some states require it, some don’t, some shops want a copy on file regardless.

Money and deposits

How does the two-stage deposit work?

It's optional. You set a small first deposit amount in your settings. Then every new request gets a “Start drawing — request $50” button. The client pays a small refundable deposit before you spend three hours drawing. If you both pass within the refund window, it refunds. If they book, the full booking deposit lands on top of it. The point: you stop eating the four hours of drawing for the client who flakes.

Where did you get the tip-rate numbers?

Honest answer: we don’t have enough live users yet to publish real numbers. The 30% → 60% line in the math section is our guess, not a measurement. The reason it works is simple — most clients who would have tipped never get around to it because the moment passes. A post-session text with a one-tap Stripe link catches the ones who would have. Once we have enough live accounts to point at real numbers, we’ll publish them.

Do I have to use Stripe?

No. Stripe is there for cards, tips, and the waitlist deposit flow. Venmo, Zelle, Cash App, PayPal, and cash all work for manual deposits — coil composes the request, you send it however you actually message clients.

Do you take a cut?

No. Coil is one flat price each month. We don’t touch your deposits, balances, or final price. The client never pays a coil fee. If you use Stripe for cards, Stripe charges its own card fee. That’s Stripe, not us.

Shops, piercers, apprentices

What about shops?

Shop tier is $49 per chair per month, with a two-chair minimum. You get a roster inbox, walk-in queue, commission splits, monthly payout sheet, the shop math page, and apprentice approvals. Every artist on your roster still gets their own coil site.

What’s apprentice mode?

Shop tier only. You flag a roster artist as an apprentice from the roster page. Their bookings — whether they make them manually or convert them from an inquiry — sit in a “pending approval” queue instead of going live right away. The shop owner reviews, approves, optionally re-prices with one line of explanation. Quiet teaching tool, brand protection, and it kills the chronic under-pricing problem in one move.

Piercers?

Piercers run on coil at the shop tier. Same chair, same site, same inbox. The inquiry form swaps to piercing vocabulary (helix, septum, nostril, etc.), the consent template asks about jewelry instead of design approval, and the aftercare cadence stretches out to match how piercings actually heal — months, not weeks.

What happens if I leave the shop I’m at?

Everything stays with you. Your URL, your portfolio, every inquiry, deposit, review, client record, your waitlist, touch-up credits, and referral codes — all of it. The day a shop removes you, your public site stays live and you get 30 days to pick a solo plan. Even if you bounce between shops every six months, yourname.coil.tattoo never changes.

Conventions and guest spots

Conventions and guest spots?

Convention events get a QR-tokened booth landing page — walk-ups scan, fill 30 seconds of info, and land in your inbox as a tracked lead. Guest spots get a “promote” action that texts past clients in that city when you arrive. First announcement only, so you’re not spamming the second time you visit.

Does my data feed somebody else’s model?

No. Your portfolio and past prices are only ever used to show you your own numbers — that's it. The Flake Network only stores scrambled versions of emails and phones (never the real thing). Cross-shop checks return counts, not names. Once enough artists in your city are on coil, you'll see it light up. Until then we're just keeping records.

Am I in the public directory?

Yes by default. The /discover page lists every working tattooer on coil, searchable by style, city, and availability. You can flip it off in your settings any time.

Data and privacy

Can I get my data out?

Yes. Income, clients, inquiries, sessions, waitlist, referral redemptions — all of it exports to CSV from your dashboard. Cancel any time, your exports stay yours.

Is it a full POS and payroll system?

Not yet. Coil tracks your deposits, tips, balances, income, commissions, and payouts. Full in-person POS and full payroll come after the next milestone.