After the pick

When a sponsor picks a request, ShoutOrbit opens an Orbit for that creator, in their Studio, with one slot. The sponsor's budget is its minimum and its only bid. The creator's request is its promise, word for word, and the creator's live-by day is its publish date. Bidding on it closes the moment it opens, so nobody else can bid. From then on it is checked, charged, published, paid out and refunded exactly like any other Orbit.

How it works

1. The pick. Everyone else who sent a request is told they weren't picked. Their chats close. The picked creator's chat stays open as the deal chat.
2. The creator check. The creator says yes or no to the deal, the same check every Orbit has. A yes charges the sponsor's card, though never in the first 6 hours after the pick, because the sponsor is emailed first about what they're about to be charged. Silence charges it when the check ends. The check ends 2 days after the pick, or 4 days after the contract was posted, whichever comes first.
3. The charge. The hold already on the sponsor's card is taken in full. It's the budget and nothing more.
4. Make it and agree the script. Use the deal chat to agree what's said. As on any Orbit, the creator can show the sponsor the script before publishing. See Preview and deliver.
5. Publish by the live-by day, then paste the link, and for a YouTube video or a Twitch broadcast, the time the shout-out starts. The link has to be on a channel the creator had on their account before the pick.
6. Payout. The creator is paid 7 days after the link goes in, and keeps the same share as on any Orbit. The sponsor is asked once whether they were in it.

A pick can't be undone

The sponsor turned everyone else down to pick this creator, and the creator was promised a held budget. So a pick is final. Nobody else can be picked for that contract, and it can't be reopened. What each side can still do:

• The creator can say no during the check. The sponsor isn't charged and the hold is released. With one slot there is no next in line, so the deal simply ends.
• The sponsor keeps a refund button on their receipt, the one every bid held on a card has. See Refunds.

Why it works this way

Why it becomes an Orbit. An Orbit already knows how to charge a sponsor, wait for the link, hold the payout, ask the sponsor whether they were in it, and refund them if nothing is published. Putting a deal through the same steps means a contract sponsor gets every one of those protections, and a creator gets paid the way they already know.

Why the check can end early. The budget is a hold on the sponsor's card, and a hold doesn't last forever. Card networks end it a few days after it's made, and Visa's is the shortest, under five days. If the check ran its full 2 days after a pick made near the end of the contract's window, the hold could be gone before it was charged, and the creator would be making a video nobody had paid for. Ending the check within 4 days of posting keeps the charge inside the hold.

Why the sponsor's budget is the floor. It's the only bid there will ever be, and it's exactly the amount the sponsor agreed to hold.

Why payout waits for the link. The sponsor paid for a shout-out, not a promise of one. The creator is paid once it's published, and the sponsor has 7 days to say it didn't happen. See Payout on delivery.

What can go wrong

• The creator never publishes. No link by the live-by day plus 7 days and the sponsor is refunded in full. The creator is paid nothing.
• The held amount can't be taken. This is rare, because the money was already held. The sponsor isn't charged, there's nobody in line to move up, and a person looks into it.
• The creator can't be paid any more, or their account is suspended. The sponsor isn't charged while that lasts. See Suspensions.
• The sponsor says they weren't in it. The creator's payout pauses while a person looks.
• The link is on a channel added after the pick. It's refused. Use a channel that was on your account before.

Next step