Paid before you start: brands now deposit with Voubox first
· The Voubox team
Creators should never have to wonder whether they’ll get paid. Starting today, brands deposit the money for paid collabs, and for any collab that expects a payment from the brand, with Voubox before the creator starts working. Voubox holds it, and sends it to the creator once the collab is complete.
Why we’re doing this
Most brands on Voubox are great to work with. But we’ve seen collabs where creators did everything that was asked of them, like reserving and sharing a brand’s deal, and the brand never paid. Until now, a creator relied on the brand paying after the work was done. That put all the risk on creators.
So we changed the order. The money comes first, the work comes second.
How it works for paid collabs
- The brand approves you. You apply with your price, and the brand approves you, or you agree on a price together first.
- The brand deposits your fee. Right after approving you, the brand pays your fee to Voubox. Until they do, your collab page tells you “Please don’t start yet”, and its progress bar shows that the next step, Brand deposit, is on the brand’s side.
- You get the go-ahead. As soon as the deposit is in, we email you that you can start.
- You do the work and mark the job done. You can mark the job done only once the deposit is in, and the collab can only be completed once it’s in.
- Voubox pays you. Once the collab is complete, Voubox sends you your fee minus Voubox’s 10%. The collab is complete when the brand confirms it, or 48 hours after you mark the job done if the brand doesn’t confirm or ask for changes.
Paid collabs that go through Voubox are in US dollars. To receive your money, set up payouts in Settings (it takes a few minutes with Stripe). Payouts are available in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, the European Economic Area and Switzerland.
Collabs that expect a payment from the brand
The same goes for any collab where the brand owes you money, for example when the brand pays you back for a product you buy for the collab. The brand deposits that money with Voubox first, and until it does, your collab page tells you “Please don’t buy the product yet”. Once we tell you the deposit is in, you go ahead, and Voubox pays you back in full once the collab is complete.
What if something goes wrong?
Because Voubox holds the money, neither side has to simply trust the other. If a brand thinks the work isn’t done, it can ask for changes, or raise a problem before the money is sent. The payment then stays with Voubox while we look into it with both of you. If a collab is cancelled before the money goes to the creator, Voubox refunds the brand.
For brands
Depositing is part of approving a creator. After you approve someone, their collab page shows a Deposit now button with the amount due for that creator and the card processing fee. The checkout is secure, by Stripe. You can see exactly what each creator costs before you approve them, and you keep the protection of raising a problem before the money is released.
A small number of verified brands that keep a retainer on deposit with Voubox continue to pay creators directly.
Already working on a collab?
Creators who were already working on a collab when this started generally carry on as before; if a deposit is needed, your collab page will show it. The new rule applies to every creator approved from now on.
We built Voubox so that creators can focus on making great content. Getting paid shouldn’t be the hard part.
Questions? Email us at hello@voubox.com or get in touch.