Return, Cancellation and Refund Policy
Bretterick Studio + Lab 412 S 700 W Ste. 120, Salt Lake City, UT 84104 brett@bretterick.com · (801) 231-4094
Last updated: September 8, 2026
Every tintype is made by hand, one at a time, for the person sitting in front of the camera. That shapes this policy: a booked session is time and materials set aside for you specifically, and a finished plate is a unique object that cannot be resold.
Three different things are sold here and they have different terms. A session is booked with a non-refundable deposit. A workshop is paid in full and is refundable on the notice below. A video consultation is also paid in full and is refundable up to 24 hours before the call. Please do not read one section as covering another — the session and workshop rules in particular are the two people most often mix up, and they point opposite ways.
Sessions
Booking a session requires a non-refundable deposit. The deposit reserves the date and covers preparation — chemistry, plates, studio time — that starts before you arrive. The balance is due on the day of the session.
Rescheduling. You can reschedule with at least 24 hours' notice. Use the reschedule link in your booking confirmation email. Your deposit moves with you to the new date.
There is no fixed limit on how many times you can do that, and I am not going to invent one. If life moves twice, move the booking twice — as long as I have that 24 hours, nothing is lost at my end and there is nothing to charge you for. Your deposit stays with the booking while we are still finding a date. If a rescheduled session has been sitting a long while and you are not sure where you stand, email me; I would far rather you took the session than lost a deposit to a rule nobody ever wrote down.
This is the ordinary path, and it is the one most people are on. It is decided by when you tell me, not by how many times you have asked. Tell me with more than 24 hours to go and you are here. Tell me with less, or not at all, and you are in the paragraph two below — which is a different rule with a hard limit on it.
Cancelling. You can cancel at any time. The deposit is not refunded.
Less than 24 hours' notice, and no-shows. If you move the date with less than 24 hours' notice, or you do not turn up, the deposit is kept — and I will still reschedule you, once.
That one reschedule is a concession, not something the deposit buys. By the time we are inside 24 hours the day has already been spent: the plates are cut, the collodion and the silver bath are mixed for your session and do not keep, and the slot is gone — it was held for you, so nobody else could book it. I am out the materials and the day either way. The deposit covers that loss once. The reschedule is me choosing to give you the date anyway.
It is available one time per booking. If the new date is also missed, the deposit is gone with it and a fresh booking means a fresh deposit.
If I have to cancel. Weather, illness, an equipment failure, a batch of chemistry that has gone off — it is rare, and when it happens you choose: a full refund, or a new date. Whichever you would rather. If the cancellation is mine, you are not out anything.
Workshops
Workshops are paid in full at booking, not by deposit. Everything above about deposits describes sessions and does not apply here. A workshop booking is refundable; a session deposit is not. They are different products with different terms, and it is worth reading this section on its own rather than carrying the deposit rule into it.
- Cancel 2 weeks or more before the workshop date — you are refunded in full. 100%, no fee.
- Cancel less than 2 weeks before — a 10% fee is kept and the rest is refunded. On the $500 four-hour workshop that is $50 kept and $450 back.
Why there is a fee at all, because it is a real cost and not a penalty. Wet plate collodion chemistry is mixed by hand in advance and does not keep. Collodion, the silver bath and the developer are made up for the people who are booked, on a schedule set by the workshop date — and once they are made, they are made, whether or not everyone arrives. Plates are cut and prepared the same way. The 10% covers those materials and that preparation. Cancel outside the two weeks and none of it has been made yet, which is exactly why that cancellation costs you nothing.
The terms above are for the in-person workshop. The two video consultations are a different thing and have their own section below.
If a workshop does not run. Too few people book, I am ill, a piece of equipment fails, a batch of chemistry goes off — if I have to call it off, you choose: a full refund, or a place on a new date. Whichever you would rather. As with a session, if the cancellation is mine you are not out anything.
Video consultations
A video consultation is a call, not a sitting in the studio. There are two — one hour at $75 and two hours at $125 — and, like a workshop, they are paid in full at booking rather than by deposit.
Cancel up to 24 hours before the call and you are refunded in full. No fee, nothing kept. Inside 24 hours, or if you do not join the call, get in touch and we will sort it out.
Why there is no materials fee here, when a workshop has one. The 10% on a workshop is not a penalty — it is chemistry and plates made up in advance, on a schedule set by the date, that cannot be unmade or kept. Nothing is mixed and nothing is cut for a video call. There is no material to lose, so there is nothing to hold back, and charging you for it would be inventing a cost.
Gift certificates
Gift certificates are bought through the store on this site. The certificate is a printed card, posted either to you or straight to the person you are giving it to.
Redeeming one costs nothing. The card carries a link to a booking page, and that booking takes no payment — the session is already paid for. The recipient picks their own date; there is nothing to book at the point of buying.
I would rather you used it than lost it. If you are holding a certificate and are not sure where you stand, email me.
A certificate is not refundable to the person who bought it. Once it is bought and on its way, it is a certificate rather than money waiting to come back. Please buy one meaning it.
It is transferable. If the person you gave it to cannot use it, they are free to pass it to someone who can — I do not need to be told, and nobody will be turned away for holding a card that was addressed to a friend. In practice this is less a permission than a description of how the card already works: there is no name encoded on it, just a booking link and an order number written by hand.
Finished tintypes
A finished plate is unique and made to order, so it cannot be returned or exchanged. You choose your plates during the session, so nothing is delivered that you have not seen.
If a plate arrives damaged, email me at brett@bretterick.com with a photo within 14 days of delivery and I will make it right. Wet plate collodion has visible artifacts by nature — swirls, edge irregularities, comet marks and pour lines are characteristics of the process, not damage, and are part of what the plate is.
How refunds are issued
When a refund is due it is issued manually, through Stripe, back to the original payment method. Refunds are rare, for the reasons above. Allow the usual few business days for your bank to post it.
Questions
Ask me before you book if anything here matters to you. It is much easier to sort out a concern in advance than after a date is held.
Brett Briggs · Bretterick Studio + Lab brett@bretterick.com · (801) 231-4094