Disputes & Payments

Pilot payments run on Stripe Connect in test mode only. No real money can move: the code refuses live Stripe keys. Do not run real paid work through the platform during the pilot.

1. A studio posts a bounty and funds it through Stripe Checkout.
2. The payment is held under platform management while work happens.
3. Creators may start work only after the bounty is funded — never on a promise.
4. When the studio approves (or a dispute resolves in the creator’s favor), the payment is released and the final files unlock.

We deliberately say “funded bounty”, “held payment”, and “platform-managed release” — not “escrow”. Stripe does not provide escrow accounts, and BountySmith is not a licensed escrow service. The funded-bounty workflow is escrow-like, and it requires legal review before any real-money launch.

While a bounty is in progress, the studio evaluates work through previews in the vault. The final deliverable files stay locked — no viewing or downloading — until payment is released.

When a creator delivers, the studio has exactly three options — and they mean different things:

• Request revisions. Normal feedback. The payment stays held and the creator keeps working. This is not a dispute.
• Open a dispute. For when feedback has broken down. Disputes are allowed only while the payment is funded and held, after work has been delivered, and before approval. A creator who has delivered work can open a dispute in the same window too — for example, if approval is being withheld unfairly.
• Approve & release. The payment goes to the creator, the finals unlock — and the decision is final.

An admin reviews the dispute and picks one of three outcomes:

• Release to the creator — payment goes out and the final files unlock for the studio.
• Refund the studio — the held payment is returned, minus the non-refundable payment-processing fee, and the final files stay locked.
• Dismiss — the dispute is closed and work resumes where it left off.

Once payment is released, there are no clawbacks: the studio keeps the finals and the creator keeps the payment. And if a studio takes no action on a delivered submission, it auto-approves after 7 days — review delivered work promptly.

A platform fee — currently 10% — is charged to the studio on top of the creator payout. So the creator receives the full bounty amount, and the studio pays bounty + fee.

BountySmith earns its platform fee only when a bounty is approved and payment is released. If a funded bounty is cancelled or refunded before release, the platform fee is returned to the studio. The payment-processing fee, however, is non-refundable: a pre-release refund returns what the studio paid minus that processing fee (for example, a $550.00 payment with a $16.25 processing fee refunds $533.75). Once work is approved and payment is released, refunds are not automatic — see chargebacks below.

If a funded bounty receives no applicants and its deadline passes (plus a short grace period), it may be automatically closed and refunded — the refundable balance (your payment minus the non-refundable processing fee) is returned to you, the final files stay locked, and no creator payout is sent.

BountySmith tracks reserved funds internally. Your payment may appear in the platform’s payment-processor balance before a bounty is released, but those funds are not treated as company profit until creator payouts, refunds, disputes, and reserves are accounted for. This is an internal ledger and operational safeguard — it is a funded bounty with a held payment and platform-managed release, not a bank-separated or legally escrowed account.

BountySmith runs the funded-bounty workflow and reviews disputes in good faith, but we don’t promise that any particular refund or payout will happen, or that either side will be satisfied. Refund and release decisions depend on the payment’s state and the platform rules described here — a released payment can’t be clawed back, and a non-refundable payment-processing fee always applies. An admin resolves a dispute from the evidence available; there is no guarantee every dispute can be resolved perfectly.

The protections on this page — held payments, the locked vault, admin-reviewed disputes — only apply to work funded and delivered through BountySmith. Arranging payment or delivery off-platform to avoid review, fees, or protected deliverables removes those protections and breaks the Acceptable Use Policy.

A card dispute (chargeback) goes through Stripe and the cardholder’s bank under card-network rules. That process is separate from BountySmith’s dispute process described above, and we don’t control its outcome.

Payment or dispute questions: support@bountysmith.com — see the contact page.