Terms & Booking Conditions

1. Agreement to These Terms

These Terms & Booking Conditions (“Terms”) are an agreement between you (“you,” “your,” or the “Client”) and RVK Tattoo LLC (“RVK Tattoo,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) covering your use of https://rvk.tattoo (the “Site”) and the tattooing and design services we provide (the “Services”).

By using the Site, submitting a booking request, or paying a deposit, you confirm that you have read and agree to these Terms. Paying a deposit is your acceptance of these Terms. If you do not agree with them, please do not book an appointment.

These Terms are not your consent form. Before we tattoo you, you sign a separate informed consent and release in the studio. That signed document governs the procedure itself — the risks you are accepting and the release you are giving. These Terms cover everything around it: the booking, the deposit, the design, the pricing, and the website. Where the two differ about the procedure, the signed form governs.

2. Who We Are and Where We Work

• Legal entity: RVK Tattoo LLC, registered in the State of Missouri, United States. You can verify us on the Missouri Secretary of State business registry.
• Artist: all tattooing is currently done by Lia Revkova, personally. We do not subcontract your tattoo to anyone you did not book with.
• Where we work: Lia works independently out of BarryTheNeedle, 2048 Campus Dr, St Charles, MO 63301. BarryTheNeedle operates the premises. While you are there, the studio’s own house rules apply to you in addition to these Terms.
• Licensing: tattooing in Missouri is regulated by the Office of Tattooing, Body Piercing and Branding within the Division of Professional Registration. Both the practitioner and the establishment must hold current licenses, which are displayed at the studio.
• Appointment only. We do not take walk-ins and we do not publish studio hours, because Lia is not at the studio except for booked appointments.

3. This Website Does Not Book Your Appointment

The Site is for information. It does not take bookings, hold a calendar, or process payments. The form on our contact page is for questions; a message sent there is not a booking and does not reserve a time. Before the form sends, it asks you to tick a box agreeing to these Terms and our Privacy Policy.

Every “Book Now” link takes you to Porter, a third-party booking and studio-management app operated by Porter Apps, Inc. Your intake form, your appointment, your messages with Lia, your consent and waiver forms, and every payment all live in Porter.

This means two sets of terms apply to a booking: Porter’s (Terms of Use, Privacy Policy) for the app itself, and ours for the tattoo. Where Porter’s terms cover the platform and ours cover the Service, both apply. Nothing on the Site or in Porter creates a booking until we have accepted your request and you have paid the deposit.

Two things are worth knowing before you pay:

• Porter treats deposits as final. Its terms say that deposits taken through the platform are not refunded or credited by Porter, and that any refund is at the discretion of the artist you booked with. In practice that means this page is the only document that decides whether a deposit comes back to you. There is nothing behind it that will overrule us.
• A 3% card fee is added to every payment in Porter, the deposit included. It appears as its own line when you pay. Section 5D explains it, and says what happens to it if we refund you.

Porter is provided for use by people located in the United States.

4. Age and Identification

Bring a valid, unexpired, government-issued photo ID to every appointment — a driver’s license, state ID, passport, or military ID — including if we already know you. This is not a formality we can waive: Missouri regulation requires the practitioner to verify a patron’s age from picture identification.

If you cannot produce acceptable ID, we cannot tattoo you, the appointment ends, and your deposit is forfeited. Please check your ID before you travel to the studio.

Adults: if you are 18 or older, your own ID is all we need.

Missouri law also makes it a crime to misrepresent yourself as another person’s parent or legal guardian in order to obtain a tattoo for them.

Clients Aged 16 and 17

We will consider clients aged 16 and 17, but only where all of the following are true:

• A parent or legal guardian attends the entire session, from check-in to aftercare, and does not leave the studio at any point.
• That parent or legal guardian signs the written informed consent form in front of Lia at the studio. It cannot be signed in advance, sent ahead, or signed by anyone else.
• Both the young person and the parent or legal guardian bring valid government photo ID, and we keep a copy of the adult’s ID with the consent form, as Missouri regulation requires.
• We can see documentary proof of guardianship where the accompanying adult is not a parent.

If any one of these is missing on the day, we cannot proceed and the deposit is forfeited. We may also decline any request involving a minor at our discretion, for any lawful reason.

We do not tattoo anyone under 16, and we cannot make an exception. Please do not book on behalf of someone under 16 — the appointment will be cancelled and the deposit forfeited.

5. Booking, Deposits, and Payment

A. How Booking Works

1. Click “Book Now” on the Site to open our intake form in Porter.
2. Tell us about yourself and the tattoo you want. Your name, phone number, and email are required so the app can send you appointment updates.
3. Submit the request. We review it and either accept it or come back with questions first.
4. Once accepted, you pick a date and time and pay the deposit. The appointment is not held until the deposit is paid.
5. We work on the design with you.
6. You come in and get tattooed.

Our books open one month at a time. We may be able to accommodate a more urgent date; ask, and we will discuss it with you.

B. Deposits

• A deposit of $50 to $100, plus the 3% card fee, is required to hold an appointment. Larger or more complex pieces may require more; we will tell you the amount before you pay it.
• The deposit is non-refundable. It compensates us for reserving your time on the calendar, preparing your design, and turning away other work for that slot — none of which we get back if the appointment does not happen.
• The deposit counts toward the final price of your tattoo. On multi-session work it is applied to the final session.
• One deposit per tattoo, even if you are booking several in one day.
• Deposits are not transferable to another person.
• A deposit stays valid for six months from the day you pay it. If you have not been tattooed by then, it expires and a new deposit is needed to book.
• A deposit holds a place in the calendar; it does not buy the artwork. Drawing your design is part of the service you are booking, not something the deposit purchases separately. If a booking does not go ahead, the design does not come with you. See Section 13.

C. Pricing

• We price per project, not per hour. There is no hourly rate.
• Our minimum is $150, which comes to $154.50 once the 3% card fee is added. Every quote we give you states the total you will pay, fee included.
• We give you a price before we start. A quote can only be final once the design is finished, since size and detail drive the price. If you ask for significant changes to an agreed design, the price may change, and we will tell you before we begin.
• Package discounts are available when you book more than one tattoo at once, or when you book together with a friend. Ask us.

D. Payment

• All payments go through Porter. The deposit and the balance are both taken in the app.
• A 3% card fee is added to every payment. Porter adds it at checkout, on top of the price we quote, to the deposit and to the balance alike, and it shows as a separate line on your receipt. It is a card processing fee: it covers part of what it costs to accept your card, and it is never more than that cost. We say so here, in our FAQ, and beside every price we publish, so the number you see is never lower than the number you pay.
• If we refund a payment, the fee comes back with it. A refund is always the full amount you paid, in the situations in Sections 6 and 12 where we refund at all.
• The balance is due at the end of your session.
• Tipping is optional and never expected. It is appreciated when it happens, and it changes nothing about the work, the price, or how soon we can book you in again.

E. Scams and Impersonation

Accounts impersonating tattoo artists are common, and artists whose work travels on Instagram and TikTok are the usual target. All of the following is true of us, every time:

• We take payment only through Porter. Never Venmo, Zelle, Cash App, PayPal, wire transfer, gift card, cryptocurrency, or a direct message. If an account claiming to be us asks you to pay any other way, it is not us.
• The only fee on any payment is the 3% card fee shown in Porter. Nobody collects a fee on our behalf, and nobody will ask you for a “booking fee,” “processing fee,” or “confirmation fee” outside the app.
• We will never message you first to offer you an appointment or a slot that has just come free. Booking starts with you, through “Book Now”.
• Nobody takes deposits on our behalf. There is no assistant and no booking manager. You only ever deal with your artist, inside Porter.
• Nobody can move you up the waiting list for a fee, and we do not sell discounts.
• Check the handle. Our only website is rvk.tattoo, and our only handle on Instagram and TikTok is @rvk.tattoo. Extra letters, underscores, or periods mean it is not us.
• If anything feels off, stop and email legal@rvk.tattoo before you send anyone money.

RVK Tattoo LLC is a registered Missouri company, and you can check that yourself on the Missouri Secretary of State business registry.

6. Rescheduling, Late Arrival, and No-Shows

• Moving your appointment: tell us at least 48 hours before your appointment and we will move your deposit to a new date once, subject to availability.
• One move. If you need to change the date a second time, or you cancel the rescheduled appointment, the deposit is forfeited and a new one is required to book again.
• Less than 48 hours’ notice, or no notice at all: the deposit is forfeited.
• Running late: please tell us. If you arrive more than 20 minutes late we may not have enough time left to do the work properly, and we may have to treat the appointment as a no-show and reschedule it. That is a judgment call, not an automatic penalty — a delayed piece done badly helps nobody.
• If we cancel or reschedule on you: if we cancel your appointment and cannot offer you a new date, we refund your deposit in full, card fee included. If we move your appointment with less than 48 hours’ notice, you may choose between keeping the deposit on a new date or having it refunded.
• Group and multi-tattoo bookings: a package or group discount is priced across the whole booking. If someone drops out, or one of several planned pieces does not go ahead, the discount may no longer apply and the remaining work is priced on its own. We will tell you what it comes to before we start, never after.
• Illness: if you are unwell, tell us as early as you can. We would rather move an appointment than have you come in sick, and we will use common sense about the deposit.

7. Your Design

• Every tattoo we do is custom. We do not work from flash sheets, and we do not copy another artist’s work.
• We draw your design from the brief you give us in Porter. Talk to us about references, placement, and size early — that is the cheapest time to change direction.
• You will see the design before we start tattooing, and we will make reasonable adjustments to it. Substantial redesigns requested at the appointment may need to be rescheduled, because the time booked is the time we have.
• If you supply reference artwork, you are responsible for having the right to use it. We will not copy another artist’s tattoo or a copyrighted image without proof of permission.
• Please don’t send an AI-generated image as the design. Reference photographs, objects, handwriting, and rough sketches are all genuinely useful. An AI render is not — it is usually un-tattooable at the line weights we work in, its provenance is unclear, and drawing the thing is the part you are paying for. Describe what you want instead and let us draw it.
• We may decline a request that we do not think will work as a tattoo, will not age well at the size or placement you want, or that we are not comfortable making.

8. Before Your Appointment

You must tell us about anything that affects whether you can safely be tattooed. This includes, but is not limited to:

• pregnancy or breastfeeding;
• diabetes, epilepsy or seizures, heart conditions, or a compromised immune system;
• blood disorders, or blood-thinning or anticoagulant medication;
• allergies, including to latex, inks, or adhesives;
• a tendency to keloid scarring;
• skin conditions at or near the placement — eczema, psoriasis, sunburn, peeling, cuts, infection, or a mole you want us to work around;
• recent vaccinations or cosmetic procedures;
• any numbing cream you have used or intend to use — tell us in advance, because it changes how skin takes ink.

We are tattoo artists, not medical professionals, and nothing we say is medical advice. If you are unsure whether a condition affects you, ask your doctor before you book.

You may not be tattooed while under the influence of alcohol or drugs. In Missouri this is not our preference — it is the law. RSMo 324.520 prohibits tattooing anyone who is under the influence of intoxicating liquor or a controlled substance, and we will refuse service, with the deposit forfeited, if you appear to be. Please also eat beforehand and get a decent night’s sleep; it makes a real difference to how the session goes.

Do not bring extra guests. The studio is a small working space. One support person is usually fine if you ask us in advance; children are not. A parent or legal guardian attending under Section 4 is not a guest — they are required.

9. Aftercare and Healing

• We go through aftercare with you at the end of your session and give you instructions to take home. If you have questions later, message us in Porter — at any point, for as long as you like.
• Once you leave, healing is in your hands. Following the aftercare instructions is your responsibility, and it is the single biggest factor in how the tattoo settles.
• A tattoo typically takes two to four weeks to heal on the surface, and longer underneath.
• Contact a doctor, not us, if you see signs of infection. Then tell us, so we know.

10. Touch-Ups

We stand behind our work. Touch-ups on our own tattoos are free within three months of the session, on these conditions:

• the aftercare instructions were followed;
• the touch-up is to the same design — changes to the design, size, or placement are new work and are priced as such;
• you book the touch-up like any other appointment, subject to availability.

Free touch-ups do not cover:

• hands, fingers, feet, elbows, knees, necks, ears, and faces, which fade, spread, and drop ink for reasons that have nothing to do with how the tattoo was done;
• cover-ups and work over scarred skin, where the result depends on what is underneath;
• damage from sun exposure, tanning, swimming, picking or scratching, or otherwise not following aftercare;
• tattoos made by someone else;
• normal fading over the years — every tattoo softens with time, and that is not a fault.

A free touch-up covers work that did not settle the way it should have — a line that dropped out, a patch that healed light. It is not a redesign, an addition, or a defence against time.

Touch-ups after three months, and anything on the list above, are quoted as normal work.

11. What We Can and Cannot Promise

Tattooing is a hand-made process on living skin, and skin is not paper.

• A healed tattoo will not look identical to the drawing, or to the photo taken on the day. Fine lines soften and settle as they heal. This is normal and expected, particularly in the fine line style we work in.
• Blow-out — ink spreading slightly under the skin, showing as a soft or blurred edge — can happen in any tattoo. It is not dangerous, it is not always predictable, and it is not a defect in the work.
• Skin tone, skin type, body shape, age, scarring, and where on the body a piece sits all change how ink takes and how it looks healed. We will tell you honestly if we think a design will not work well at the size or placement you want.
• Fine line ages differently, and you should go in knowing it. Fading, softening, spreading, and the loss of the very finest detail are normal in every tattoo and are most pronounced in fine line work. A hairline drawn today will read a little softer and a little thicker in ten years, and a design built from very small elements will lose some of them first. That is the medium, not a fault in the work, and Section 10 does not cover it.
• We cannot guarantee a specific healed appearance, colour retention, or healing timeline.
• A tattoo is permanent. Removal is expensive, incomplete, and can scar. Please be certain before you sit down.

12. Our Right to Refuse or Stop a Session

We may decline a booking, or stop a session that has started, for any lawful reason, including:

• you are under 16, or aged 16 or 17 without every condition in Section 4 being met, or you cannot produce acceptable photo identification;
• you appear to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs;
• you did not disclose something that affects whether we can safely tattoo you;
• the skin at the placement is not in a condition to be tattooed;
• the design is one we are not willing to make — including hate symbols, and work that copies another artist without permission;
• you are abusive or threatening to us, to studio staff, or to other clients.

If we stop a session for any of these reasons, the deposit is forfeited and any work completed is chargeable. If we decline a booking for a reason that is not your doing, we refund your deposit, card fee included.

13. Artwork and Intellectual Property

• We own the copyright in every design we draw. That is the default position under United States copyright law and we do not vary it: the artist owns the artwork, and you own the skin it is on.
• You get a licence to your own tattoo. You may photograph it, post it, and use images of it as part of your own personal image and social media, forever and at no cost. You do not need to ask us, though a credit to @rvk.tattoo is always appreciated.
• Commercial use is different. If you want to use the design itself commercially — on merchandise, in advertising, in a game, film, or television production — talk to us first so we can agree a licence in writing.
• Please do not take our design to another artist to be re-tattooed, redrawn, or copied, and please do not reproduce it as artwork. Each piece is drawn for one person.
• Custom does not always mean exclusive. We will not knowingly repeat a piece built around your name, your dates, or your personal symbolism. Recurring elements in our style — florals, celestial marks, linework motifs — may appear in other pieces. If you want a design to be genuinely exclusive to you, tell us before we draw it and we will agree that in writing.
• Reference material you supply stays the property of whoever owns it, and you are responsible for having the right to give it to us.
• The Site itself — its text, layout, logo, and the RVK Tattoo name — belongs to us.

14. Photos, Video, and Social Media

Social media is how our work reaches people. We have no gallery on this website, so our accounts — today @rvk.tattoo on Instagram and TikTok — are our portfolio.

• We photograph and film our work. That means photos and video of the finished tattoo, and sometimes of the process — the stencil, the tattoo in progress, and healed results you send or show us later.
• Where it may appear. On our Instagram and TikTok accounts, and on any other platform we use now or in the future — such as Facebook, YouTube, Lemon8, our Google Business Profile (including our replies to reviews), and similar social media and review sites — as well as in our portfolio and on this Site. Your permission covers the photos and video themselves, not one platform.
• We ask you first, and you can say no. Declining costs you nothing and changes nothing about your tattoo or your price. You can decline in advance in Porter, or on the day. You can also say yes to photos and no to video, or yes to the finished piece and no to the process.
• We do not identify you. We do not tag you, name you, or post your face or your voice unless you have specifically agreed to it.
• You can change your mind later. Email legal@rvk.tattoo, or just tell us in Porter, and we will take the photo or video down wherever we posted it. We cannot claw back copies other people have already saved or reshared, and platform caches can take time to clear, but we will remove what is ours.
• If you would like us not to photograph or film a piece at all, say so before the session starts.

15. Using This Website

You may read, print, and share the Site. You may not scrape it, copy its content for your own site, attempt to break into it or disrupt it, or use it to impersonate us.

The Site is provided for information. We try to keep it accurate and current, but prices, availability, and policies change, and the version in Porter at the time you book governs your booking.

16. Third-Party Services and Links

We link to Porter, Instagram, TikTok, and Google Maps, and the contact page shows the studio on an embedded Google map. We do not control those services and are not responsible for them, their content, or their availability. Their terms and privacy policies apply once you leave our Site, and Google’s apply to the map. See our Privacy Policy.

17. Disclaimer of Warranties

THE SITE IS PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE.” TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, WE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.

We do not warrant that the Site will be uninterrupted, error-free, or free of harmful components, or that the information on it is complete or current.

This section applies to the Site. The tattooing Service is covered by Section 11.

18. Limitation of Liability

Nothing in these Terms limits our liability for death or bodily injury, for reckless conduct or an intentional wrong, for fraud, or for anything else Missouri law does not allow to be limited. A tattoo is a physical procedure. We do not try to disclaim responsibility for performing it safely, and we would not want a document that did.

Subject to that, and to the fullest extent Missouri law permits:

• we are not liable for indirect, incidental, consequential, special, or punitive damages, including lost earnings or lost opportunity;
• we are not liable for outcomes we told you about in Section 11 — normal healing variation, fading, softening or spreading of fine lines, or blow-out — or for results caused by not following aftercare;
• we are not liable for the acts, omissions, downtime, or data handling of third-party services, including Porter, Google, Microsoft, Instagram, and TikTok;
• for claims of financial loss only — including any such claim based on our negligence or fault, on breach of these Terms, or on dissatisfaction with the design, placement, size, or appearance of a tattoo — our total liability is limited to the amount you actually paid for the session the claim arises from. This does not apply to bodily injury, and does not limit anything Missouri law does not permit us to limit.

19. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless RVK Tattoo LLC, its owner, and its artists (including Lia Revkova) from any claim, loss, or expense (including reasonable legal fees) arising from your breach of these Terms, your misuse of the Site, reference material you supplied that infringes someone else’s rights, or information you withheld from us under Section 8.

20. Complaints

Please tell us first. If you are unhappy with your tattoo, with your appointment, or with anything else, message us in Porter or email legal@rvk.tattoo. Most problems are fixable, and a touch-up appointment usually fixes them faster than anything else will.

Please raise concerns about the work itself within 30 days of your session, so we can see the tattoo while it is still settling and put it right. Waiting until a piece is fully healed and years old makes it much harder to tell what happened.

This is a request, not a deadline, and it takes nothing away from you. Missing it does not stop you raising the problem later, and nothing in these Terms shortens any time limit Missouri law gives you to bring a claim.

If we cannot resolve it between us, complaints about health, safety, or licensing can be raised with the Missouri Office of Tattooing, Body Piercing and Branding within the Division of Professional Registration.

21. Governing Law and Venue

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Missouri, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules.

To the extent Missouri law permits, both of us consent to venue in the Circuit Court of St. Charles County, Missouri. Nothing in this section takes away any right you have under Missouri law — including sections 508.010 and 407.025 — to bring an action somewhere those statutes allow, and nothing in these Terms shortens any limitation period Missouri law gives you.

We have deliberately not included a mandatory arbitration clause or a class-action waiver.

22. Electronic Communications

Messages you send us by email or through Porter are electronic communications. You agree that our replies, notices, consent forms, and appointment confirmations may be delivered electronically, and that they satisfy any requirement that such communications be in writing. The signed consent form you complete before your appointment is a separate document and takes precedence over these Terms where the two differ.

23. Changes, Severability, and Entire Agreement

• Changes. We may update these Terms. The current version is always the one on this page, with the “Last Updated” date at the top. The version in effect when you paid your deposit governs that booking.
• Severability. If any provision is found unenforceable, it is limited to the minimum extent necessary and the rest remains in force.
• Entire agreement. These Terms, our Privacy Policy, our Cookie Policy, and the consent form you sign before your appointment are the whole agreement between us about the Services.

24. Contact Us

• Booking and anything about your tattoo — existing clients: message us in the Porter app
• New clients: start with “Book Now”, or write to us on the contact page
• Legal notice, privacy requests, complaints, and takedown requests: legal@rvk.tattoo
• Studio: BarryTheNeedle, 2048 Campus Dr, St Charles, MO 63301 — by appointment only

RVK Tattoo LLC is registered in the State of Missouri and can be verified on the Missouri Secretary of State business registry.