Very true. I never asked for deposits up until about 3-4 years ago. Then the industry changed and ghosting by clients became common place. And I learned you can't just ask for $50 - they will walk away from that. They walk away for $200 sometimes but at least I got something for the effort and blocked time.

Right now I have a guy wanting a double Domme session with 3-4 vanillas and he won't put up a deposit ("for privacy reasons") and he doesn't have references ("he's been out of the see for too long"). He may be perfectly legit but I am not going to block Dungeon time, my time, another Domme's time and line up multiple friends to watch on his word.