What would be the approximate cost of a quarter-sized tattoo?

In NYC it’d be from $80—$100 or more, depending on how naive you look.

Depends on how intricate it is. The place I went for my really easy tattoo had a minimum charge of $50 (downtown Denver).

Where you live makes a big difference. Big thing is insist on new needles or buy your own. If you buy your own they can be cleaned and reused. Old needles that have been used on someone else risks hepatitis or other blood born disease.

@WestRiverrat Ok, where on Earth are you getting your tattoos? You shouldn’t go to a place where you have to insist on that, that just be part of the deal. Like when you go to a restaurant and they give you a clean dish because it’s what you do, not because you told them they had to or you’d bring your own. Every place I’ve been to has opened the new needle in front of me. Needles aren’t that expensive if you’re getting them legally – it’s really only if it’s some back-alley prison shit that it becomes an issue.

Mine was a minimum charge of $60. It took about 5 minutes.

@MyNewtBoobs: While most tattoo shops are good about that, not all of them are. Stopping them before they start and watching them bring out the new needle is a ridiculously small annoyance to guarantee your health. There are disreputable and lazy people in the world who don’t give a crap. It’s a moment’s effort.

She doesn’t need to walk in screaming and demanding new needles, but before it touches her skin she should make a point to watch them prepare and ask for it if she didn’t witness it.

@LindsayMarieee13 A lot of shops have $50+ minimums. Call around, find a place in your budget and look at what they’ve done. Don’t toss out a $70 shop because it’s twenty bucks more.

That shit’s forever – the money is worth it. Even on a small one.

@asmonet Ok, but again, it’s like restaurants – checking to make sure the plate/cup/silverware seems clean is a good idea, but you don’t really need to go out of your way to do it, and it’s hardly the norm (especially if it isn’t a dirty, cockroach infested dump).

It depends on where you go. My mom’s was $105, but it was a really cool frog, so it was worth it.

Around $100 plus a lifetime of covering it up once the novelty wears off.

True story: When he was much younger my son asked a man with a tattoo on his arm: “What’s that?”. He replied: “A mistake!”

He then went on to give some excellent advice He said:

If you ever consider getting a tattoo, go out and buy your self a nice pair of socks. Not just any socks, but the best pair of socks you have ever owned. Now you must then wear those socks every single day for a year. You can wash them, of course, but every day you must wear that particular pair of socks. If at the end of the year you still like those socks you are the type of person who can handle a tattoo.

At that size you’ll most likely be paying the shop minimum, depending on the shop it could be anywhere between $50–100.

The shop I go to has an $80 minimum.

I think it depends on the shop, the market/area of the country/urban vs. rural/suburban market you are in and the complexity of the design, in addition to the size of the tattoo. A rose tattoo the size of a quarter is going to cost you more than a tattoo of a circle the size of a quarter. And as others have mentioned, a shop may have a minimum charge, no matter what.

@lillycoyote My experience is the minimum is the price of an hours worth of work. So a fifteen minute tattoo of a circle could very well cost the same as a rose the same size. It just comes down to if the rose takes more than an hour. It would have to be crazy intricate for a tattoo that size to take so long.

Oh, and some shops require a deposit or consultation fee. Probably isn’t and issue here. That’s mostly for bigger custom projects I think.

@fundevogel I got my tattoos when I was very young, and I was very young a long, long time ago so I probably shouldn’t have answered. I will leave the answers up to people with more recent experience
.

@lillycoyote No need, I like it when you pop up in questions.

I recently got my first tattoo and I agree with those who say that the average minimum cost is $50. However, I want to let you know that it is NOT smart to call around asking shops and artists how much they would charge because as I learned – they do not like it and actually get somewhat offended! Be very careful asking price. Do research online to find the safest shops with artists with style similar styles to what you are looking for. Narrow it down to 2 or 3 shops and then go get consultations with the shops you have chosen. Some may not be comfortable doing pieces in certain locations. During these consultations is the appropriate time to ask price – but it should not be the first thing that you bring up. Good luck getting your tattoo! I hope my tattoo etiquette lesson helped you out!!

I have a quarter-sized tattoo. It was $60 – the minimum (usually places have a minimum charge for tattoos).

@ejedlicka: Artists don’t like giving quotes on specific designs because it’s art and there’s a consultation to discuss the tattoo, what it will involve, etc. Calling around to shops and asking what their minimum charge will be is a different question and one that does not provoke frustration on their part. The caller will likey not even speak to an artist in that call – they’ll speak to the shop manager / help.

@asmonet Art that they’re doing specifically so that they can get paid and do things like pay their rent. If you’re paying someone at all for a tattoo, the idea that this is art and above money and pricing has sorta gone out the window. You ask a painter how much it’ll be to stencil some stuff on your wall, they’ll give you a price without throwing a nutty. It’s really not too much to ask that someone, upon seeing the design and knowing what it will entail, give you an estimate – especially if they’re a cash only joint and you need to know how much to have on hand to pay them with.

We’ve forgotten tipping. You should do it.