Spongle is an influencer marketing platform where brands post a campaign and creators pitch with a 60-second video and their own fee. The whole workflow runs end-to-end on the web today, with iOS and Android coming soon.

Is Spongle free for creators?

Yes. Creators join Spongle for free and keep 100% of their agreed fee. To pitch, you need to be a UK or EU creator (not Poland) with a public account, 1,000+ followers and 1% engagement on a connected social account. The Spongle service fee is paid by the brand on top of the creator fee.

When does the brand pay the creator?

When the contract is signed, the brand’s card is charged in full and the money is held securely with Stripe. The creator delivers their content and the brand approves it, then the creator’s fee is released once the campaign has been fulfilled and the chargeback protection window has closed (seven working days for card, twelve for bank transfer). From there the fee is released into the creator’s Stripe account on the next anchored Monday, or the next working day if that Monday is a bank holiday, and Stripe then pays it out automatically to their linked bank, usually within a few business days. There’s nothing to claim or withdraw by hand. Spongle never takes a cut of the creator’s fee; it’s paid by the brand on top. If the brand rejects a deliverable, the collaboration ends and the creator fee is refunded to the brand — nothing is published.

Do creators have to withdraw their earnings?

No. When a fee is released it lands in the creator’s Stripe account, and Stripe then automatically pays it out to their linked bank account. There’s nothing to claim or transfer by hand. That Stripe account is the secure, verified link to the creator’s bank: they set it up once (a quick identity check plus their bank details, which Spongle never sees), and every payout after that runs on its own.

Spongle is for brands running influencer marketing campaigns and for creators who want to pitch them by video. It isn’t set up for celebrity-tier influencer bookings.

How do creators pitch on Spongle?

Creators record a 60-second video pitch in the Spongle app, propose their own fee, and submit it to a campaign. Brands review pitches and accept the one they want. No agency in the middle.

Why do creators pitch with a video?

It is the heart of how Spongle works. A 60-second video tells a brand far more about a creator’s tone, energy, and fit than a follower count or a media kit can. Creators record their pitch, propose their fee, and submit it straight to the campaign, so brands hire the person, not a spreadsheet.

Who sets the fee: the brand or the creator?

The creator. Brands post a brief without showing a fixed budget, and creators pitch their own fee by video. The brand reviews the pitches and accepts the one that fits. There are no fixed rate cards, and the creator keeps 100% of the fee they agree. The Spongle service fee is paid by the brand on top.

What happens to a campaign post after it goes live?

Once the post is published, Spongle checks that it stays live through the campaign. If the post is taken down, the creator gets a window to restore it; if it is not restored, the creator fee is refunded to the brand. The brand does not have to monitor it themselves.

What happens if there is a disagreement about the content?

If a brand disagrees about a delivered post, they can raise a dispute with Spongle while the payment is still held. We check the record (the approved content, the live post and its monitoring history), the creator can add their side, and we confirm the outcome. The payment stays held until it is settled, and the brand can withdraw the dispute at any time before then.

Can a creator change or withdraw a pitch?

Yes. A creator can edit their pitch while it is still under review, and can withdraw it any time before the contract is signed. Nothing locks a creator in before the agreement is signed.

What does Spongle cost for brands?

Spongle is free to post a campaign. Every brand pays a flat 18% service fee per booking, added on top of the fee you agree with the creator, plus a handling fee. No listing fees, no long-term contracts.

Where does Spongle work?

Brands can join Spongle from anywhere in the world. Creators need to be based in the United Kingdom or the European Union (except Poland), because those are the countries we can pay into at the moment. We would like to open this up to more countries, so it is likely to change. If you are a creator somewhere else, it is worth checking back.

What social platforms does Spongle support for deliverables?

Instagram, TikTok, YouTube (long-form and Shorts), Facebook, Threads, and Pinterest. Once a post is live the URL is checked and the post is monitored through the campaign.

Spongle Frequently Asked Questions

Last updated October 1, 2026Version 1.8.2

What is Spongle? Spongle is where indie brands and creators find each other and get the work done. Brands post a campaign, creators pitch for it with a 60-second video and their own fee, and the whole thing runs inside Spongle: the contract, the content review, the payment. The brand pays up front, the money is held while the work happens, and the creator is paid once the post is live and the campaign has run its course. Spongle runs on the web at spongle.co. iOS and Android apps are on the way. How do I create an account? Go to spongle.co Tap "Sign Up" and enter your email, or continue with Google or Apple Verify your email address Choose your role: Creator or Brand Set up your profile Can I have both a Creator and Brand account? Each account is one or the other. If you need both, create two accounts with different email addresses. Which countries can use Spongle? Brands: anywhere in the world, as long as your country is not under sanctions. Brand accounts are for businesses, organisations and sole traders acting for their business, not for personal use. Creators: the European Union and the United Kingdom, for now — with one exception, Poland, which we cannot support yet because our payment provider does not cover it for tax reporting. Creators get paid through Spongle, and being paid in a country brings us under that country's tax reporting rules, so we have started with the places we can handle properly rather than promising everywhere and paying nobody. The countries you can choose from are shown when you pick your country during sign-up. This is very likely to change. We would like to open up more countries, so if you are a creator somewhere else it is worth checking back. Is Spongle free to use? For Creators: yes, completely. You pay nothing to join, nothing to pitch, and you keep 100% of the fee you agree with the brand. No commission, no platform fee taken out of your earnings. For Brands: there's nothing to pay until you hire a creator. When you do, you pay a flat 18% platform fee on top of the creator's fee, plus the Spongle handling fee and any VAT. Posting a campaign is free, and there's no sign-up or activation fee.

How do I find campaigns? Open the Campaign Feed and scroll. You can filter by category (beauty, wellbeing, fashion, fitness, food, travel and more), budget range, content type (Instagram posts, TikTok videos, YouTube and so on), location and timeline. Sort by newest, budget or deadline, and save the ones you want to come back to. Who decides my fee? You do. Brands don't show you a budget. You pitch the fee you think the work is worth, and the brand picks the pitch that fits best. You're competing on your idea and your value, never on undercutting a rate card. And you keep 100% of whatever you agree. How do I submit a pitch? Before your first pitch you'll complete your profile, connect at least one social account through its official login (that's how we verify it's yours), and set up Stripe Connect so there's somewhere for the money to go. The account you pitch with needs at least 1,000 followers, an engagement rate of 1% or more, and recent activity (synced within the last 90 days). We check these automatically before you can pitch. Find a campaign you like and read the full brief Tap "Submit Pitch" Record your 60-second video pitch (required, max 100MB) Set your fee Add your details and any notes for the brand Send it for the brand to review Tip: keep it short, look at the camera, and let your personality through. Brands are hiring a person, and the video is how they meet you. Why is the pitch a video? Because a follower count can't tell a brand who you are. Sixty seconds of you talking to camera shows them your tone, your energy and whether you fit their campaign in a way no written note ever could. It's the heart of a Spongle pitch, and every pitch needs one. What happens after I submit a pitch? The brand reviews it. One of these will happen, and you'll get a notification each time the status changes: Accepted: a contract is generated for both of you to sign. Changes Requested: the brand would like you to tweak something. Rejected: the brand went with other creators this time. Expired: the campaign deadline passed before a decision was made. Withdrawn: you pulled your pitch. Can I edit or withdraw my pitch? Yes. While your pitch is still under review you can change your video, your fee and your notes, and the brand sees the updated version. You can also withdraw at any point before the contract is signed. Nothing locks you in until you both sign. What is Stripe Connect and why do I need it? Stripe Connect is how you get paid. It's a secure onboarding flow run by our payment partner, Stripe, and you'll need to complete it before your first pitch. Go to Settings, then Payments Tap "Set Up Payments" Verify your identity and add your bank details Once approved, you're ready to pitch and get paid Spongle never sees or stores your bank details. Stripe handles all of it, and Stripe is PCI-DSS Level 1 certified. How do I get paid? Complete Stripe Connect onboarding (a one-off) Get your pitch accepted and sign the contract, along with the brand Deliver your content as the Approved Bundle (video, caption, hashtags, mentions and thumbnail) in the app for the brand to review The brand approves the bundle, or it auto-approves after 72 hours Publish to your social platform and submit the live post URL. Spongle checks it matches the Approved Bundle Once the chargeback protection window has closed (7 working days from the later of the campaign end date and your last verified delivery for card-funded campaigns, 12 working days for bank-transfer-funded ones), the held funds are released to your Stripe Connect account on the first Monday at or after that You keep 100% of the agreed fee. The platform fee is paid by the brand on top of your fee, never taken out of it. How long do payments take to arrive? Once the chargeback window closes and your payout goes out on the next Monday, the money usually reaches your bank in 1 to 3 business days. Some countries and banks take a little longer. So the longest the whole chain can take is: the 72-hour brand review, then the 7-working-day chargeback window (12 for bank transfer), then the next Monday, then Stripe's payout to your bank. We use Mondays so payouts have the full working week to settle. What happens if I don't add my tax details? The law says we have to tell Revenue what creators earn through Spongle. So before you sign your first contract, we'll ask for your tax details, and for you to confirm they're your own and correct. You only do this once, and you can't sign until they're in. We check the number is in the right format, isn't already on another Spongle account, and that your date of birth matches the one you gave Stripe. If you add a VAT number, we check that too. If something turns out to be wrong with your details after you've signed, we'll ask you to fix it and remind you twice. If it's still not fixed 60 days after the second reminder, the law says we have to hold your pay, pause your account so you can't take on new work, and stop you opening a new one, until it's fixed. If it's still not fixed two years after that, we pay you what we held and close your account. We still report what you were paid, as the law requires. You can update your details any time in the Payments area of your account. Do I need to verify my social media accounts? To pitch, yes. You need at least one social account connected through the platform's official login, on a platform that supports campaign deliverables. There are two ways to add an account: Manual link (URL only): paste your profile URL. Quick, but it shows as unverified and doesn't count towards the pitch requirement. Verified connection: connect through the platform's official login. We read your follower count and, where the platform provides it, your engagement rate, and refresh them from time to time. Verified accounts show a badge on your pitches. Platforms you can verify: Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Threads and Pinterest. Platforms campaign posts can go on: the same six. LinkedIn and Snapchat aren't offered at the moment — neither gives us the audience and engagement figures brands rely on — so they can't be connected or used for campaign content. If that changes, we'll say so here first. What happens if my post goes down or gets edited after the campaign starts? Spongle checks each campaign post roughly every 6 hours during the Minimum Display Period. To avoid reacting to a platform blip or a quick edit, we only act when the next 6-hour check finds the same problem, so it can take up to 12 hours before anything starts. If your post is missing, or has been materially changed from the Approved Bundle, on two consecutive checks: We wait 30 minutes in case you're fixing a typo and re-uploading. No notification goes out during that window. If the post is still missing after that, we send you a breach notification and start a 48-hour cure period. You have 48 hours to put the post back up unmodified, or to open an in-app appeal, which pauses the cure timer while our team takes a look. If the cure window runs out without a fix, the creator fee is automatically refunded to the brand. The platform fee, VAT and Spongle handling fee aren't refundable. Genuine platform problems (Instagram pulling music for copyright, a short outage, that sort of thing) won't be held against you if you appeal. That's exactly what the appeal is for.

How do I create a campaign? The campaign wizard walks you through it: Essentials: title (30 characters, so it fits the Discover card), description, categories and campaign type Cover images: your hero image and any supporting visuals (1080×1080 minimum, JPEG or PNG, max 10MB each) Content and deliverables: the platforms (Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Threads, Pinterest), formats and, where it matters, per-deliverable duration Target audience: age, gender, location, interests and preferred creator size Schedule: your application deadline (at least 3 days ahead) and your campaign end date (at least 7 days after the deadline). Campaigns can run for up to 45 days, counted from launch, or from the day Discover opens if you publish before then. The creator's post has to stay live until the end date Budget: your currency (EUR or GBP) and your campaign budget. Brands outside those regions pay by card in one of those two currencies. A budget is required, and the minimum is 149 in your campaign currency (EUR 149 or GBP 149), not a converted equivalent. 149 is an introductory price and may change later, with notice Review and launch: check everything over and publish Tip: leave your campaign open for at least 7 days so creators have time to find it and pitch. How do I review pitches? You'll get a notification each time a creator pitches. To review: Open the campaign, or go to the Pitches widget Watch each creator's video, and look at their profile, social metrics and fee Accept, Request Changes or Reject When you're weighing pitches up, think about audience fit, engagement, content quality, the idea itself, the fee and availability. Do Creators see my budget? No. Your budget is never shown to creators. They pitch their own fee and you choose the best fit. Setting a budget helps you plan, and it stays private to you. What are the platform fees? One flat rate for every brand: Platform fee: 18% of the creator's agreed fee on each campaign. No subscription needed, no monthly charge. Platform fees are added on top of the creator's agreed fee. Creators always receive 100% of what you agree to pay them. What does a campaign actually cost? As a brand you pay the creator's agreed fee, plus the platform fee, plus the Spongle handling fee, plus VAT where it applies. Here's a worked example. Example: €1,000 creator fee (18% platform fee). Creator fee: €1,000.00 Platform fee (18%): €180.00 Spongle handling fee (6% EUR card rate): €75.32 Subtotal: €1,255.32 VAT: €0.00 in this example (see the note below) Total the brand pays at contract signing: €1,255.32 (where no VAT applies) Creator receives: €1,000.00 VAT note: Spongle is VAT-registered in Ireland (VAT No. IE4749783DH). Irish VAT at 23% applies to the platform fee and the Spongle handling fee, never the creator fee, for Irish brands and EU brands without a valid VAT number. Because the handling fee is a percentage of the total you pay, VAT slightly increases it too. For example, a €250 creator fee for an Irish brand comes to about €330 in total: €250.00 creator fee, €45.00 platform fee, roughly €19.80 handling fee and roughly €14.90 VAT. The exact figure is shown before you pay. EU businesses with a valid VAT number qualify for reverse charge (0% VAT); UK and non-EU brands pay 0% Irish VAT. How does the payment flow work? You accept a pitch and both of you sign the contract Your card is charged in full, straight away, for the total (creator fee, platform fee, Spongle handling fee and any VAT). We don't authorise now and capture later; the charge happens at signature The funds are held with Stripe on the Spongle platform account through the chargeback protection window The creator delivers the Approved Bundle (video, caption, hashtags, mentions and thumbnail) in the app for your review You have 72 hours from submission to approve, request changes (up to 2 rounds) or reject. A rejection ends the deal: the creator fee is refunded to you, and the platform fee, Spongle handling fee and VAT aren't refundable (Terms, Sections 6.4A and 8.7A) Once delivery is verified against the Approved Bundle and the chargeback window has closed (7 working days for cards, 12 working days for bank transfers), the funds are released to the creator's Stripe Connect account on the first Monday at or after that What if I'm not happy with the deliverables? You have a 72-hour review window once the creator submits the Approved Bundle. In that time you can: Approve and Lock: snapshots the exact bundle as the version delivery is checked against. The creator is then cleared to publish. Request Changes: up to 2 rounds. After the second round your next decision has to be Approve or Reject; there are no more revision rounds. Reject: the creator fee is automatically refunded to you and the deal ends. The Spongle fee, the Spongle handling fee and VAT aren't refundable. If you do nothing within 72 hours, the bundle auto-approves and the creator can publish. Important: the platform fee and Spongle handling fee are non-refundable in every scenario. Refunds, where granted, cover the creator fee only. What if there's a problem after the post goes live? Once a post is published and verified, there's a set window in which you can raise a dispute if the delivery doesn't match what was agreed. Opening a dispute pauses the automatic release of the held creator fee. Both sides then get a fixed, time-limited window to submit evidence, after which the outcome is decided against pre-agreed rules: a member of the Spongle team checks the verified facts and confirms whether the held fee is released to the creator or refunded to you. Spongle doesn't judge creative quality. Where the evidence is balanced, the default is to release to the creator, since the post was published and verified against the Approved Bundle. Every dispute is decided within 85 days of the brand paying. If a live post is taken down or materially changed during the display period, the monitoring and cure process described above applies.

Are Spongle contracts legally binding? Yes. Our digital contracts comply with eIDAS (EU Electronic Identification and Trust Services Regulation), the Irish Electronic Commerce Act 2000, and the UK Electronic Communications Act 2000. They are legally binding under Irish, UK, and EU law. Each contract includes SHA-256 document hashing for integrity verification, IP address and device fingerprinting, server-side timestamping, and a full audit trail. Either party can sign first. Spongle is not a party to contracts between Brands and Creators. We provide the platform and tools; the contractual relationship is directly between the parties. What is included in a contract? Each contract includes the agreed payment amount, specific deliverables and content requirements, deadline for content delivery, content usage rights, cancellation terms, and signatures from both parties with timestamps. How do I sign a contract? When a pitch is accepted, a contract is generated automatically. Both parties must sign: Review the contract terms carefully (you must scroll through the full document) Tick the required consent checkboxes Authenticate with Face ID, Touch ID, or your password Your signature, IP address, device info, and timestamp are recorded The contract becomes active once both the creator and brand have signed. The brand then funds the contract by paying the total amount, and the funds are held securely by Stripe until the creator delivers and the brand approves. Does Spongle store my Face ID or fingerprint? No. When you sign with Face ID, Touch ID or a fingerprint, the check happens on your own device, inside its secure hardware. Spongle never sees, receives or stores your biometric data. We record only that the check passed, alongside the time, your IP address and your device details, as proof that it was you who signed. If your device doesn't support biometrics, you can sign with your device passcode instead. Can I modify a contract after signing? Once both parties have signed, the contract terms are fixed. For changes, you will need to cancel the existing agreement and create a new one (which may affect payment). When do I get the address for an on-location campaign? Once you and the brand have both signed and the brand has paid. Before that you only see the city, which is shown on the campaign itself so you can judge the travel before you pitch. If the brand never pays, the contract expires and the address is never shared. The same applies to a discount code or voucher. How do I download my contract? Go to Contracts in your dashboard, select the contract, and tap "Download PDF". Contracts are securely stored for 6 years in line with legal retention requirements.

How secure are payments? Payments are processed by Stripe, which is PCI-DSS Level 1 certified (the highest security standard in the payments industry). We never see or store your card details. Additional security measures include TLS 1.3 encryption for all data in transit, AES-256 encryption for data at rest, and Stripe payment protection for all campaign payments. What currencies are supported? For new campaigns, brands choose EUR (Euro) or GBP (British Pound). Brands elsewhere, including the US, pay by card in one of those two. Campaigns are funded by card, up to €5,000 in total per campaign. Bank transfer funding isn't currently available. Campaigns created while other currencies were offered still display correctly. What is payment protection and how does it protect me? Payment protection means the brand's card is charged at contract signing, and the money is then held with Stripe on the Spongle platform account until the campaign is complete. Stripe holds the funds at every stage; Spongle never takes custody of user money. It protects both sides: creators know the payment is already captured before they start work, and brands know the funds aren't released until the live post is verified and the chargeback window has closed. How the timeline runs: Both parties sign the contract; the brand's card is charged immediately for the total amount The creator delivers the Approved Bundle in the app The brand has 72 hours to review and Approve, Request Changes (up to 2 rounds), or Reject (which ends the deal and refunds the creator fee to the brand; the platform fee, Spongle handling fee and VAT aren't refundable). Auto-approve fires at the 72-hour mark if no action is taken; reminders go out at the 24-hour and 6-hour marks The creator publishes the approved content to the agreed platform and submits the live post URL; Spongle verifies it matches the Approved Bundle Spongle monitors the live post during the Minimum Display Period (roughly every 6 hours) Once delivery is verified and the chargeback window has closed (7 working days for card-funded campaigns, 12 working days for bank-transfer-funded campaigns), the funds are released to the creator's Stripe Connect account on the first Monday at or after that What is Spongle AI and how does it work? Spongle AI is an assistant for brands inside the app. It helps you draft a campaign brief from a one-sentence idea, refine individual brief fields, draft a reply in a message thread, and put together an end-of-campaign report. You always review and edit anything it suggests before saving or sending. Spongle AI never publishes, sends or commits anything on your behalf. What it sees: only the prompts you write and the context you choose to include (the brief you're drafting, the message thread you're replying to). It never sees raw passwords, payment card details or bank account numbers. Who provides the model: OpenAI. Spongle doesn't train the model on your platform activity, and OpenAI's API data-usage policy excludes API inputs from training by default. Full details are in our Privacy Policy. Availability: Spongle AI isn't available at the moment. While it isn't available to your account, the AI buttons are hidden. What is the Spongle handling fee? The brand pays a Spongle handling fee as part of the total campaign cost at signing. It's a flat published rate, not a pass-through of Stripe's raw card fees: Cards: 6% for campaigns priced in euro, and 8% for campaigns priced in pounds sterling or any other currency. The rate depends on your campaign's currency, and you'll see the exact amount before you pay. Bank transfer (SEPA / UK Faster Payments via Stripe): 1.5% plus a small fixed amount per transfer, capped. You'll always see the exact total, creator fee plus platform fee plus Spongle handling fee plus VAT, before you confirm payment on the contract signing screen. What if a payment fails? If a payment fails, check that your payment method is valid and not expired, you have enough funds available, your bank isn't blocking the transaction, and (for creators) your Stripe Connect verification is complete. If it keeps failing, email support@spongle.co with your payment reference.

How do I change my password? Tap Account, then Privacy & Account, then Change password. On the website, click your avatar, then Settings, then Privacy & Account. You'll need to enter your current password and choose a new one. Passwords must be at least 12 characters, including a number and a symbol. How do I delete my account? Tap Account, then Delete account at the bottom of the screen. On the website, click your avatar, then Settings, then Delete account. A few things to know: You can ask us to close your account at any time — you do not have to finish an active contract first. If a contract, payment or dispute is still open, we will tell you before you confirm, and the permanent deletion waits until that is resolved. Your account is closed and deactivated in the meantime, and we will email you to explain the delay. You have a 30-day grace period to change your mind — signing in is all it takes to restore your account. After 30 days your personal data is permanently deleted, and your name and photo come off your pitches and posts. Some records are kept because the law requires it: contracts, invoices, payments and dispute records for six years, and the name on a signed contract stays with that contract so the signature remains valid. You can request a data export before deleting your account. What data do you collect? We collect what we need to run the platform, including: account and profile information (name, email, role), campaign and pitch data, payment transaction records, communications and messages, device and usage information, and social media data (when you connect accounts: follower count, profile metadata, post URLs and metadata). Sensitive payment data (card numbers, bank details) is processed by Stripe and never stored directly by Spongle. AI providers: when you use a Spongle AI feature (brief assist, message-reply drafting, campaign report), the prompts you write and the context you include are sent to OpenAI to generate the response. Internal AI features used by Spongle staff also use Cloudflare Workers AI (Admin Dashboard assistance) and Google Gemini (internal image generation). We don't send raw passwords, payment card numbers or bank account numbers to any AI provider. See our full Privacy Policy for the complete picture, including the sub-processor table. What control do I have over my data? Quite a lot. You can: Get a copy of the personal data we hold about you. Correct anything that's wrong. Ask us to delete your data, though some records we're required to keep (financial records for 6 years, for example). Export your data in a machine-readable format. Ask us to limit how we use your data. Object to us using your data where we've relied on a legitimate interest. To do any of these, use the privacy settings in the app or email privacy@spongle.co. We reply within one calendar month, and we'll tell you if we need longer. Can I export my data? Yes. Email privacy@spongle.co and we will prepare a copy of your data in CSV and JSON format. This includes your profile, campaigns, pitches, contracts, and analytics data. We respond within one calendar month, and will tell you if we need longer. There's no self-service download in the app yet, so our team handles the request. It makes no difference to what you get or how quickly you get it. What happens to my videos after a campaign ends? Your videos are kept for as long as they have a job to do, then removed: Pitch videos. If your pitch is rejected, withdrawn or expires, the video is deleted around 30 days later. For every other pitch, the video is removed 120 days after the campaign finishes. Either way, we send you a warning 7 days before deletion so you can download a copy. Your pitch record (fee, status, history) is kept. Campaign preview videos. The video you upload for brand review is kept for 120 days from submission, which matches the card payment dispute window, and is then permanently deleted. You'll get a 7-day warning first. Your published post. The live post on your social channel is yours; Spongle never deletes it. We keep verification and monitoring records (post URL, content fingerprint, engagement snapshots) as evidence of what was delivered. Disputes. If a payment dispute, chargeback, referred dispute or content report involving one of your deals is open, deletion of that deal's videos is paused until it's resolved. Your other deals aren't affected. How do I manage notification preferences? Go to Settings, then Notifications. You can control push notifications (on or off for each type), email notifications (transactional, activity and marketing) and in-app alerts. You can also mute notifications for specific campaigns.

When does the creator actually get paid? Payment releases automatically once the dispute window closes: 7 working days after your campaign end date or the creator's last verified post, whichever is later, and then on the first Monday at or after that. If the brand paid by bank transfer it's 12 working days rather than 7. I am a creator. How does the money reach my bank? Spongle pays out weekly. Your payment lands on your Stripe balance when it's released, goes to your bank on the next Monday payout run, and then takes 1 to 3 business days to arrive depending on your bank. I am a brand. What if I do not review the deliverables? The funds release to the creator on their own once the review window closes. You don't need to do anything to make that happen, and nobody is left waiting on you. Can I release the money early? Yes. Once the post is live and verified, you can release it straight away rather than waiting for the window to close, and the creator would much rather you did. Go to Account, then Payments, then Recent Activity, open the held payment and tap Release Payment. You'll be asked to confirm, because releasing early ends your dispute window for that campaign and can't be undone. It isn't available while a dispute or breach is open. Why is money held at all? So both sides are covered. The brand's payment is taken up front and held, which means the creator knows the money is really there before they start work, and the brand knows it isn't released until the work is delivered. It's never held for long, though. Every held payment is either paid to the creator or refunded to the brand within 85 days of the brand paying, even if there's a dispute or a check still going on. The one rare exception is when the law makes us hold a creator's pay because their tax details are missing. Is there a limit on how much a campaign can be? Yes. Campaigns are capped at €5,000 at the moment. That's a limit on us rather than on you, and it comes off as Spongle grows. If you want to run something bigger, email support@spongle.co and we'll sort something out. Is there a limit on how long a campaign can run? Yes. Campaigns can run for up to 45 days, counted from launch, or from the day Discover opens if you publish before then. That's because our payment provider, Stripe, needs held money to be paid out within 90 days of the brand paying, and payday comes a couple of weeks after the end date. For the same reason, if a campaign's end date would put the creator's payday more than 70 days after you pay, we can't take the payment. If that happens, email support@spongle.co and we'll sort it out.