Knowledge base
How and when you get paid for a marketplace sale
The money is held until the buyer has what they paid for. Here is what happens between the order and your balance, and why the hold exists.
When a buyer orders from you, the money does not go straight to you and it does not stay with the buyer either. It is held, and released when the work is done.
The sequence
- The buyer orders and pays. The order is created against your listing.
- You deliver - the placement goes live, the asset is handed over, the work is done.
- The buyer accepts. For services, if the buyer says nothing, acceptance happens
- Your payable is released into your Zinn® balance.
automatically after a set number of days.
Why the hold exists
It is the thing that makes a marketplace between strangers work at all. A buyer who has to pay a stranger in advance with no recourse will not buy; a seller who has to deliver first with no guarantee will not sell. Holding the money removes both problems at once.
Automatic acceptance, and where it does not apply
Service-type listings accept automatically after a set number of days so that a buyer who simply forgets does not strand your payment.
Asset transfers never auto-accept. Websites, stores and domains all require the buyer to confirm they have the asset. A registrar transfer can take days, and an automatic release part-way through would pay out for something that had not changed hands.
What lands in your balance
The buyer's payment, less our commission, which is shown on the listing before you publish it. Payouts are made into your Zinn® balance, and you draw from there.
If something goes wrong
A dispute pauses the release rather than resolving it one way by default. Neither side gets the money while it is open.
Still stuck?
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