I keep hearing about providers who take deposits and then ghost the hobbyist.  At this point, I won’t give a deposit to anyone who would want one.

But let's not paint with too broad a brush. Just because some people act unethically, it doesn't mean everyone in that particular group does so. I mean just because you find out your auto mechanic ripped you off, you wouldn't then deduct that all auto mechanics are thieves would you?  
As with anything, you have to do research. "Buyer beware" is true of every other business and so it applies here too. I only give deposits to women with pristine track records, and lengthy ones as well, and will only give what I can afford to lose. But I hear your point and you should do what you feel is best of course.

I did not build a good reputation here to steal deposits. Please do not disregard some of us who respect your business & are professional working women. I have never scammed anyone out of a deposit. I will gladly refund any deposit if I can not commit, or something happens. We are all not the same.

Yet another deposit thread??

No to deposit

But I wouldn't give my auto mechanic $300 before he even popped the hood.

I will vouch for the Queen. She cancelled a planned trip to my area and I had my deposit back within 5 minutes of her telling me she wouldn't be coming.

I just encountered a deposit scam. Yesterday I made a response to an ad on a different site. No TER review.  
We conversed via texts and they sent a selfie, so everything seemed okay at that point.  
   Then today I sent a text asking for a date for a specific day/time. Guess what, they replied that they need a deposit for 50. I replied that I need another selfie with today's date. They replied: 'that's a lot of fuss for only 50, don't you trust me?'  
   After a little more back-and-forth, I said no selfie, no deposit.  

"But let's not paint with too broad a brush. Just because some people act unethically, it doesn't mean everyone in that particular group does so."

That will also depend on just who is doing the mechanical work. Large shops and chains/dealership won't ask but small shops than know what they need to order and have very limited cash flow and capital might ask for an advance. A bit like a builder for a major renovation on your house.

"mechanics lien."  

"valued" my time, but the bottom line is that they always valued THEIR time more than mine.  An easy test if they want a deposit in case cancel is for me to ask them if I send the deposit, and then THEY cancel on me, do I get double the deposit back, since my time should be as valuable as theirs?  You can guess that their answer is, and that's why I will take their representation of valuing my time with a grain of salt.  Lol

I think deposits are needed sometimes. I do not ask for them all the time but if you are new, have cancelled multiple times or you are on the list as a time waster I will ask for a deposit. It's the scammers that are making it terrible for the good ones.

The problem is giving a deposit to someone who may ghost me as soon as the money clears. This is happening all over the country, and I keep running across reviews where seemingly reputable providers turn out to be scam artists.

Well if you have met them they may not need a deposit. They have their time w you to know if they can trust you or not. Some require deposits to secure the time whether they know you or not. But some want a deposit because you are an unknown.

You are hot !!

There *are* legitimate providers that ask for a deposit (I personally do not). If they ask are a legitimate provider and did scam you, by all means post to warn other clients. This should never happen and bad providers should be called out for this behavior.  
Ways to tell it is a scam and not a real provider:  

Funny she talks about scammers. I had an appointment with her that she blew off then ghosted me. And I'd seen her a few times before.  

I agree with Scarlett with one addition: Personally I'm a no deposit hobbyist. But for those contemplating paying a deposit I would only recommend paying a deposit to a provider with multiple positive reviews on TER from gents with solid review histories. I would not recommend paying a deposit under any other circumstances.

The way around this might be to resort only to same day or next day appointments.

Why thank you

I had a provider who I had a great time with. Planned on seeing her a month later. Seems to have her shit together. Next thing I know she wanted me to give a deposit for my next meeting. He reason was so she doesn’t get evicted. Talk about a total buzz kill. When I said I don’t do this she goes I’ll never ask you for help again. Lol damn right you won’t. Not seeing you now. Shame she had really good game.

I would have called that an advance rather than a deposit.  I have advanced (sugar babes) on occasion.  Though I don't recommend it.

…you make the call or whatever and the provider says all the deposit stuff and you say, “No thanks”, and the next day you get a text from some guy who calls himself Tony and says you’re dissing “his girls” and he’s gonna come and murder your family.  

Your mechanic is operating under strict rules. I as a contractor can charge up to 10% up front for job start costa. BUT I’m obligated to perform under the law. Saying one should be able to charge a deposit because one’s mechanic does is most disingenuous considering that there is no recourse available when the deposit recipient can ghost, which happens A LOT.

If prostitution was regulated the way other industries were, I would have no problem paying a deposit.  This is a false analogy.  A better example that is more on point would be if your weed supplier asked for a deposit to order his next kilo.  If he takes your money and runs, what are you going to do, go to court and claim breach of an oral contract to buy weed?