Escrow Terms

Which one applies to a specific creator is decided entirely by that creator's own account country — not by choice, and not negotiable per project. This isn't a spectrum from "good" to "less good": every other part of using Videoster (finding opportunities, negotiating, signing, the project workspace, content review, delivery records) works identically no matter which of the three applies. Only how the money itself moves is different.

Escrow (payment held, then released) — available only when the creator's account country is the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, or a European Economic Area country (the EU's 27 member states, plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway).

Direct pay (real, on-platform, never held) — for creators whose account country isn't in the escrow list above but can still have a Stripe Connect account through Videoster (this includes real, sizeable markets like Japan, Thailand, Hong Kong, Mexico, and Australia). The brand's payment still moves through Videoster's payment system, straight to the creator's own account — it is a real on-platform payment, just never held or released by us.

Arranged directly, off-platform — for creators whose account country cannot have a Stripe Connect account created for it at all through Videoster. As of this page's effective date, this is a real, substantial group — over fifty countries, including South Korea, India, Brazil, Taiwan, Indonesia, and Vietnam among others. For these creators, Videoster has no payment mechanism to offer at all: the brand and creator agree on how to handle payment themselves, entirely outside Videoster's systems. This is a genuine current limit of the payment infrastructure we use today, not a lesser tier we've chosen to offer — see "What this is, and isn't" below.

Which of the three applies to a specific creator is shown on that creator's own page and in the brief form before a brand ever sends a brief — never only after a deal is agreed.

For an escrow-eligible creator, the brand's payment is captured into Videoster's own account balance, not the creator's. The creator cannot withdraw that money yet — it genuinely is not in their account.

Once the creator marks the work delivered, the brand can review and approve it. Payment is released to the creator when either: the brand approves, or 7 days pass from the delivery notice with no objection from the brand. If the brand raises a concern before either of those happens, release is paused and the matter is reviewed manually before any money moves — it is not decided automatically.

Two real, separate charges apply to an escrow deal, paid by two different parties. The creator's own release deducts Videoster's real commission — flat 9%, same as every other payout mode (see "Fees" in Terms for the full structure) — and nothing else; escrow costs a creator no more in commission than direct pay or an off-platform arrangement does.

The escrow service fee — 5.5% of the agreed value, plus $0.30 — is charged to the brand, on top of the agreed value, at the moment of payment. A brand paying $1,000 through escrow pays $1,000 + the fee at checkout, shown as its own separate line item, not folded silently into one number. This is shown as a real dollar amount during negotiation, before either side signs — not first revealed at the payment screen. The fee is unrelated to the creator's $25/month plan, and unrelated to commission — it exists because holding and releasing money through Stripe has a real cost (card processing on the brand's payment, plus a real cross-border transfer fee on the later payout to the creator) that Videoster does not otherwise recover, and it's billed to the party whose choice of payout mode created that cost. A deal that later splits into several deliverables, each released separately, is charged this fee only once, at the original checkout — not once per later release.

For a direct-pay creator, the brand's payment is charged directly to the creator's own connected account at the moment of payment, in full, minus Videoster's real commission on that deal (flat 9% — see Terms), collected directly from the payment itself, never billed separately. There is no holding period and nothing for Videoster to release, because the money never passed through Videoster's own balance in the first place — but it is still a real payment moving through Videoster's payment system, unlike the off-platform arrangement below. No escrow service fee ever applies here — that fee is escrow-specific, described above.

For a creator in a country where Videoster cannot create a Stripe Connect account at all, no payment of any kind moves through Videoster's systems. The brand and creator agree between themselves how the deal gets paid — bank transfer, an invoice, or whatever method they choose — entirely outside anything Videoster operates, tracks, or has visibility into.

Videoster still charges its real commission on this deal, the same flat 9% as direct pay — but since no payment ever passes through our systems to collect it from, it's billed directly to the creator as a real, separate invoice, due 14 days after signing. No escrow service fee applies here either. Videoster is not a party to the brand's actual payment, does not process it, does not hold it, and cannot help resolve a dispute about it the way we can for a real on-platform charge (see "Refunds and chargebacks" below) — the commission invoice is a separate, real obligation between the creator and Videoster, independent of how or whether the brand's own payment to the creator went smoothly.

This is a real, current limit of the payment infrastructure Videoster uses today — not a product decision to offer these creators less. Every other part of a deal (the brief, negotiation, signing, the project workspace, content review, delivery records) works exactly the same as it does for an escrow or direct-pay creator. We're not able to offer an on-platform payment mechanism for every country yet; we say so plainly here rather than let it be discovered mid-deal.

Escrow deals: because the initial charge lands in Videoster's own account balance, a chargeback filed with the brand's card issuer during the holding period is a dispute against Videoster's own account, and we handle it directly using the real project record (messages, delivery timestamps, approval status) as evidence. If a chargeback is filed after the money has already been released to the creator, Videoster may seek reimbursement of the released amount from that creator.

Direct-pay deals: because payment goes straight to the creator's own account, the creator is the seller of record for that charge and is responsible for handling any refund request or chargeback related to it, the same as they would be for any other charge to their own account.

Deals arranged directly, off-platform: Videoster is not a party to this payment at all, has no record of it, and has no mechanism to intervene in a dispute about it — any disagreement over payment is between the brand and the creator to resolve directly.

Escrow is not a guarantee that a creator's work meets a brand's expectations, and it is not insurance against every possible dispute. It controls one specific thing: when money moves from Videoster's balance to the creator's. Everything else about a deal — scope, revisions, the working relationship — is between the creator and the brand, conducted through the workspace we provide.

This page was written directly by Videoster to describe, plainly and specifically, what our payment system actually does — including where it does not apply, and where no on-platform mechanism exists at all. It is not drafted by outside counsel, and it deliberately avoids promising protection or a payment mechanism we cannot actually deliver for a real, substantial share of our creators.

support@videoster.com