Booking a piercer, laser practitioner, or PMU practitioner from the web

Step by step

1. 1

   Open the practitioner's link in your browser

   The practitioner shares a link in the form inkmap.app/their-username — you'll usually find it in their Instagram bio, on a Linktree, on a business card QR code, or on their website. Open it in any modern browser, on a phone or a computer; the page is responsive either way.

   The page shows the practitioner's name, where they're based, their bio, three of their featured posts, and their social links. Below the introduction, the booking form opens directly — there's no separate Book Now button to tap, the form just sits there.

   If you see a "still setting up online bookings" message instead of a form, it means the practitioner hasn't finished turning on online bookings yet (or hasn't set up the required details). Their social links are still on the page so you can reach out off-platform. If you're signed in to InkMap in that browser, you'll also see a "Notify me when bookings open" button — tapping it lets the practitioner know you'd like to book, which often nudges them to switch bookings on. If instead the page says bookings are paused, the practitioner has temporarily closed their calendar (sometimes with a date they expect to reopen).

2. 2

   Fill in your contact details

   The first form step asks for name, email, city, and country. The email is what the practitioner will use to message you and where every notification goes — typo-check it before moving on, because you can't change it from the web after submitting.

   If you already have an InkMap account and you're signed in to InkMap on the same browser, you'll see a banner at the top of this step that says "We've filled in your details from your InkMap account" — name, email, city, and country are auto-filled from your account. You can edit them before submitting if anything's outdated. If you're not signed in, the fields just start empty.

3. 3

   Pick the service you want

   The second step is the practitioner's service menu. The way it's grouped depends on the discipline:

   • Piercer — services are grouped by category (new piercing, universal services, other).
   • Permanent makeup practitioner — services are grouped by body area (eyebrows, lips, face, other).
   • Laser practitioner — the menu is flat.

   Each service shows three pieces of info that drive the rest of the booking:

   • Price — what you'll pay the practitioner. Picking multiple services adds the prices.
   • Duration — how long the slot needs to be. This is what the next step uses to figure out which slots fit on which days.
   • Deposit (if there is one) — some services include a deposit, shown next to the price on the service card. Picking two services with deposits adds them both.

   If the practitioner hasn't set up online payments yet, any service that requires a deposit shows up greyed out and can't be selected, with a short note explaining why. Web deposits can only be paid by card through Stripe, so a practitioner who hasn't connected Stripe can't take a deposit from a web booking. You can still book any of their deposit-free services, contact the practitioner directly to arrange it another way, or get the InkMap app and book there — the app lets you pay a deposit manually.

   You can pick more than one service if you want them done in the same appointment — the total duration and total deposit update at the bottom of the screen as you go. There's no upper limit on how many you can stack, but very long combinations may not fit any slot in the agenda; the next step will quietly show fewer slots if that happens.

4. 4

   Pick a date and a time slot

   The third step shows the practitioner's calendar — month by month, with bookable days highlighted. The calendar starts you on the first month that has at least one bookable date, which is useful when their availability window pushes the earliest slot weeks out.

   Days the practitioner doesn't work, days outside their booking window, days fully booked, and days they've explicitly marked unavailable (vacations, conferences) all show up greyed out. Tap a greyed date and a small message tells you why it's not available. Tap a bookable date and the time slots list below the calendar fills with the slots that fit your chosen service duration.

   The slot list reflects everything the practitioner has set up:

   • The slots come from their weekly hours (and any lunch break) on their availability card, narrowed by their booking window (how far in advance and how close to the date they accept new bookings).
   • Slots already taken by other confirmed bookings are removed automatically. The practitioner's own off-platform commitments from their calendar (events they're attending, holidays) are also blocked.
   • The break between clients the practitioner has set shows up as gaps between slots — you'll see slots like 10:00, 10:30, 11:15 instead of a perfectly continuous strip if they've set a 15-minute buffer.

   Tap a slot to lock your selection. The form remembers it; if you go back to change the service or the date, your slot pick updates accordingly.

5. 5

   Add references and notes (laser and PMU only)

   This step is short and only shows up for laser and permanent makeup bookings:

   • Reference images — for laser, photos of the tattoo to remove. For PMU, the area you want work on, plus any inspiration shots. Optional but useful — it lets the practitioner confirm the brief before the appointment so there are no surprises on the day.
   • Additional notes — a free-text field for anything the practitioner should know before you arrive: jewellery preferences, allergies, prior sessions elsewhere, anything else.

   Piercer bookings skip the references step. Both fields are optional everywhere; you can submit without them.

6. 6

   Read the practitioner's policies and check the box

   The fourth step lays out the practitioner's policies and legal terms — age requirements, deposit refund rules, cancellation policy, aftercare expectations. Each policy is in its own collapsible card. Tap to expand and read.

   The deposit refund rules are particularly worth reading. Whatever they say at the moment you submit is snapshotted onto your booking and applies for the rest of the booking's life — even if the practitioner changes their policies on their profile later, your booking sticks to the version you agreed to.

   At the bottom there's a single checkbox: "I have read and agree to the practitioner's policies." You can't move to the review step until it's ticked.

7. 7

   Review everything and submit

   The fifth and final step is a summary screen — your contact info, the services you picked, the date and slot, the total price, the deposit (if any), your notes, your policy agreement.

   If anything's wrong, scroll down and use the Back button to step back through the form; everything is preserved. When you're happy, tap Submit Booking Request.

   A couple of things worth knowing about the form before you commit:

   • The form autosaves to your browser as you type, with a 24-hour expiry. If you close the tab in the middle of filling it out and come back later, you'll see a "We saved your progress from earlier — Continue / Start fresh" prompt at the top. Pick Continue to pick up where you left off, or Start fresh to wipe and begin again.
   • Drafts aren't visible to the practitioner — only submitting sends the request. Closing the tab or hitting Start fresh costs you nothing.
8. 8

   The success screen — confirmed or pending

   After submitting, what you see depends on whether your services include a deposit.

   • No deposit on any of the services — the success screen reads "Appointment confirmed!" The slot is already locked on the practitioner's calendar; nothing else is required from you.
   • Deposit on at least one service — the success screen reads "Request sent!" and shows a Pay Deposit button below it. The slot is reserved for you, but the booking stays as pending until the deposit clears.

   Two more things may show up on this screen, depending on your account state:

   • Signed in to InkMap on this browser — "Your booking has been linked to your InkMap account". The booking is now visible in your in-app Bookings tab too, alongside any other bookings you have.
   • Not signed in — a "Get the InkMap app for the full experience" card with App Store / Play Store links. Installing the app is optional; everything works from the web link otherwise.

   A few seconds later, an email arrives at the address you submitted. The subject reads "Your appointment is confirmed" (no deposit) or "Your booking request was received" (deposit pending). The email contains:

   • A summary of what you booked.
   • A button labelled Track your booking that opens the booking management page on the web.
   • (If a deposit is owed) a reminder that the slot is held for you until the deposit clears.

   The Track your booking link is your home base for everything else — paying the deposit, messaging the practitioner, cancelling, leaving a review at the end. Bookmark the email or pin the link.

9. 9

   Pay the deposit if there is one

   If your booking is pending because of a deposit, open the Track your booking link and tap Pay Deposit on the booking page. Web deposits are paid by card through Stripe: the button opens a secure payment widget right in the page (saved cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, plus a new card form). You pay there; the deposit is auto-confirmed within seconds and the booking flips from pending to confirmed.

   Paying by card through Stripe is the only way to pay a deposit from the web — there's no "I paid in cash" option on the web booking page. (Manual deposits, where you pay the practitioner directly and they confirm receipt, exist only inside the InkMap app, for registered users.) In practice you'll rarely hit a wall here, because a practitioner who can't take Stripe deposits can't put deposit services on their web form in the first place — those services are greyed out (see step 3). If a deposit was somehow still owed and the practitioner hasn't connected Stripe, the deposit field shows an "online payment unavailable" message instead of the pay button, pointing you to contact them directly or use the app.

   Until the deposit clears, the slot is held but not fully locked. If you don't pay within the practitioner's deposit deadline (set in their policies), the booking can be cancelled automatically — read the deposit rules carefully on the success page.

10. 10

    Between confirmation and your appointment

    Once the booking is confirmed, the booking page replaces the deposit prompt with a clean confirmed view: the date, time, services, total price, and any deposit you've paid.

    Between confirmation and the appointment date, the practitioner might:

    • Send messages through the booking — you can reply right from the booking page.
    • Adjust the date, time, or another field — they can re-open a confirmed field to propose a change. You'll get an email about it; the booking page shows the change with Accept / Reject buttons next to the new value.

    If anything changes on your side before the appointment — you can't make the date, you need to reschedule — the easiest move is to message the practitioner from the booking page and let them re-propose.

11. 11

    Cancel from the web if you need to

    If you need to cancel before the appointment, scroll to the bottom of the booking page and tap Cancel booking. A dialog asks you to confirm and offers an optional reason field. If you've already paid a deposit, the dialog also reminds you that the practitioner's refund rules decide whether the deposit comes back to you.

    After confirming:

    • The booking moves to cancelled, with you marked as the cancellation party.
    • Both you and the practitioner get a cancellation email.
    • Any deposit goes through the practitioner's refund-eligibility rules — they may auto-refund, partially refund, or retain depending on what was set when you submitted.

    Cancellation is final — there's no undo. To rebook, start a fresh request from the practitioner's inkmap.app page.

12. 12

    Leave a review after your appointment

    After your appointment date passes, the practitioner marks the work as completed. You'll get a final email titled "Booking completed — [practitioner]" with a Leave a Review button that opens the review form on your booking page.

    The review form on the web takes:

    • Cleanliness rating — 1 to 5.
    • Comfort rating — 1 to 5.
    • Communication rating — 1 to 5.
    • Photos of the finished work — optional, but useful.
    • A written review — open text.

    Once you submit, the review is publicly attached to the practitioner's profile (your name appears as you set it on the booking; you can mark it anonymous if you prefer). You can edit the review later from the same email link if you change your mind, but only the most recent version is shown. Reviews go one direction only — practitioners don't rate clients on InkMap.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need an InkMap account to book?

No. The whole flow — submitting, paying the deposit, leaving a review — works through the email link without an account. If you do have an InkMap account and you sign in on the same browser before submitting, the booking automatically links to your account afterwards and shows up in the app's Bookings tab too. You can also link a booking later by signing in to the app with the same email address you used on the web form.

I picked a date but no time slots show up. Why?

A few things can produce that: every slot is already booked by other clients, the day is too soon (the practitioner's minimum-hours-in-advance window blocks late requests), the day is too far out (their maximum-days-in-advance window cuts off later dates), or the service you picked is too long to fit any of the day's working windows after the break-between-clients buffer is applied. Try a different day, or pick a shorter service if you have a multi-service basket.

I lost my confirmation email. How do I get back to my booking?

Search your inbox (including the spam folder) for emails from bookings@inkmap.app — every email you've ever had on the booking has the Track your booking link. If you genuinely can't find any of them, you'll need to message the practitioner directly (through their social links or, if you have InkMap installed, through the app) and ask them to resend. There's no public lookup-by-email surface on the web for security reasons.

I paid by Stripe but the booking is still showing pending. What happened?

Stripe payments confirm via webhook within seconds in normal conditions. If a few minutes pass and the deposit is still showing pending, refresh the booking page first — sometimes the screen just hasn't picked up the update. If it still looks pending, message the practitioner; they can check the deposit on their side. Money you paid Stripe is never lost; if the booking is later cancelled, refunds run through the practitioner's refund rules and Stripe processes them back to your card.

A service I want is greyed out and says it requires a deposit — why can't I book it?

Web deposits can only be paid by card through Stripe, so if the practitioner hasn't connected Stripe yet, services that require a deposit can't be booked from the web. You have three options: book one of their deposit-free services instead, contact the practitioner directly to arrange the deposit another way, or install the InkMap app and book there (the app lets you pay a deposit manually). The practitioner is nudged in the app to set up Stripe so this opens up.

Why was my booking confirmed instantly when my friend's wasn't?

The instant-confirm path is for bookings that don't require a deposit. If any service in your basket has a deposit, the booking has to wait for the deposit to clear before it can confirm. Your friend's booking probably included a deposit — that's the only difference. The practitioner sets which services need a deposit on their pricing card.

What if I'm under the practitioner's minimum age?

The web booking form doesn't have a built-in age gate — that age check exists in the InkMap app, not on the web form. The practitioner's policies card on the form tells you their minimum age and any parental-consent rule; it's on you to read those and not book if you don't meet them. The practitioner can cancel a booking from someone too young when they see it; the deposit refund will follow whatever their refund rules say. If you're between their parental-consent age and their full minimum age, message the practitioner before submitting to confirm they'll take you with consent paperwork on the day.

Is my data safe? What does the practitioner see?

The practitioner sees your name, email, city, country, the services you picked, your slot, any references and notes you submitted, and any messages you've sent on the booking. They don't see your phone number, exact address, or anything you didn't put in the form. The booking link is a long unique token — only people you forward the email to can open it. If you want to revoke access, the only way is to cancel the booking, since the link stays valid as long as the booking exists.

Can I install the app later and find this booking there?

Yes. Install InkMap, sign up or sign in using the same email you used on the web form, and any web bookings tied to that email will automatically appear in your app Bookings tab. From there you get push notifications, the full chat, and richer booking management. Bookings from the web that you started before installing the app stay where they are; nothing is lost in the move.