Holding periods and disputes

When a creator drives a sale, the commission isn’t paid straight away.

When a creator drives a sale, the commission isn’t paid straight away. It’s held for a while. This page explains why, for how long, and what returns and payment disputes do to it. It’s written for brands and creators alike.

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Why commission is held

Shoppers can return orders, and banks can reverse payments weeks after a purchase. If commission were paid instantly, brands would pay for sales that later fell through, and creators would have money taken back.

Holding the commission first means:

• brands get commission back for sales that are refunded or charged back during the hold
• creators can trust that money which reaches their balance is theirs

While a commission is held, it’s committed from the brand’s budget but not yet released to the creator. It counts in the brand’s Budget Spent figure, together with the Freeq Growth Network’s platform fee for the sale.

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How long the hold is

Hold	Days	When it’s used
Standard release	30	Most orders
Extended review	45	Slightly unusual orders
Hold tier 1	60	Higher risk
Hold tier 2	90	Shopify rated the order medium risk, or other strong signals
Hold tier 3	120	Shopify rated the order high risk, or the strongest signals

Today, normal holds are 30 days. The longer holds are decided by risk checks that currently observe and record only. They apply once enforcement is switched on. A payment dispute (below) freezes a commission either way. See Trust and fraud protection.

The hold starts when the sale is confirmed. A hold can be made longer if new risk information arrives, but never shorter. See Trust and fraud protection for how the risk check works.

Creators see each held commission, its hold label, the reason and its release date on the Earnings page.

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When the hold ends

When the hold ends:

1. The commission is released.
2. A share may be set aside in the creator’s reserve (see below). The rest moves into the creator’s Available to withdraw balance automatically.
3. The sale is marked as settled in the permanent record.
4. The creator can withdraw whenever they like. See Earnings and payouts.

If a creator’s payouts are paused, nothing is released until the pause is lifted.

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Returns and refunds

What happens	During the hold	After the hold
Full refund	The commission is cancelled. The money goes back to the brand’s campaign budget, with the platform fee for that order.	The creator keeps the commission. The brand’s budget isn’t refunded, and the platform fee is kept. The refund counts against the creator’s risk score.
Partial refund	The commission is reduced in proportion to the refund. The difference goes back to the brand’s budget, and the platform fee is reduced by the same share.	As above.

This applies to every campaign, single-product ones included. Refunding any item in the order, or its shipping, reduces the commission by the same share of the order value.

Each refund is processed once only, even if Shopify sends the same message twice.

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Chargebacks and disputes

A chargeback is when a shopper asks their bank to reverse a payment. The brand can challenge it. While the bank decides, it’s called a dispute.

Stage	What happens to the commission
Dispute opened	The commission is frozen. It isn’t released even if its hold ends. Creators see “Dispute hold” and “Held pending dispute”.
Brand wins	The freeze is lifted. The commission carries on as normal (unless another dispute on the order is still open).
Brand loses, commission still held	The commission is cancelled and the money goes back to the brand’s campaign budget, with the platform fee for that order.
Brand loses, commission already released	The money is recovered from the creator’s reserve (or from their FREEQ stake, if they claimed that reserve early). What’s recovered goes back to the brand’s budget. Only a shortfall beyond that isn’t recovered. The platform fee is kept.

Each dispute outcome is applied exactly once.

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The reserve

When a commission is released, a share of it may be set aside in a reserve for that creator and campaign. The reserve exists to cover chargebacks that arrive after the creator has already been paid. It has a cap, so it doesn’t keep growing.

What creators see:

• Reserved money is included in Total earnings but not in Available to withdraw.
• Creators who stake FREEQ can claim reserve money early from the Staking page. If a chargeback then hits that campaign, their stake can be taken. See Staking FREEQ.

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What this means for each side

For brands

• Returns and lost disputes during the hold refund the commission, and the platform fee for that order, to your campaign budget.
• A refund after the hold doesn’t. A lost dispute after the hold is recovered from the creator’s reserve or stake, as far as it covers.
• Held commission is set aside, so you can see what’s committed to creators.

For creators

• Expect money to become available about 30 days after a sale, sometimes longer.
• A longer hold isn’t an accusation. Check the Why column on your Earnings page.
• Once a hold ends, a later refund doesn’t take back the commission in your balance. A lost chargeback can be recovered from your reserve.