I totally understand why pro dommes ask for deposits. That said, I'd still rather not be asked for one, just because, if I can not put that risk on myself, why would I? For many years, I had so many options for domination that I just skipped the dommes who charge deposits and went with the ones who didn't. These days, pretty much everyone charges a deposit, so I don't have that option of simply going to a no-deposit domme, so I pay it. It's not really an issue, like I said I understand the business reason, I just didn't see any reason to take that risk on if I didn't need to.

From what I can tell, most dommes, or at least the small number I've seen recently, charge a deposit for new customers but not all customers. I think this is extra-understandable, new customers are the most likely to flake.

One thing I've noted is that most dommes do not write down their deposit policy, and seem to informally administer it however. I've heard of some dommes, as long as you give them sufficient notice, will allow you to shift the appointment to a different day, one time. Others, it seems to be that if you cancel for any reason, at any time, you surrender the deposit, which isn't something I'd ever abide (but again, no hard feelings, just not something I'd do)