Your creator check

When bidding ends, the bids in your slots are your winners. Before you say their names to your audience, you get 48 hours to look at the list. That's your creator check. You can say yes or no to each winner, and pick extra bids into the shout-out. If you're happy with the list as it is, you don't have to do anything at all: everyone you leave alone is charged when the check ends.

How it works

1. Bidding ends. The deadline is hard. Whatever is in your slots at that moment are your winners, and your Orbit's page shows "Check your winners" with the time left.
2. Say yes to a winner with "Charge now". That sponsor is charged straight away.
3. Or say no with "Decline". That sponsor is removed and not charged, or refunded in full if they already were. The first of your next in line moves up into the free place and pays their own bid.
4. Pick, if you want. Any bid below your winners can be picked into the shout-out, up to 5 on an Orbit. A pick is charged its own bid, like the winners.
5. Or do nothing. Anyone you haven't declined is charged automatically when the 48 hours end.
6. "Charge all now" ends the check early. It charges every winner still waiting, and once you confirm, you can't pick anyone else. If nobody is left for you to charge, the same button says "Finish checking".

A winner paying from a bank account doesn't wait for your yes: their payment starts on its own when bidding ends and takes about 4 business days to land. They show as "Bank payment clearing", and you mention them like anyone else.

Next in line

The 3 highest bids below your winners are next in line, and each of them is told so. Your Orbit's page lists them: "Next in line: @d $30 · @e $28 · @f $25", for example. When a place frees up, because you declined a winner or because a winner's payment failed and wasn't fixed within 1 day, the first of them moves up after 2 hours' notice. Anyone in the line can step out for free.

74 hours after the deadline the line closes. After that a place that frees stays empty, and your final list arrives by email. Record after it does.

Picks

A pick is your choice, not a paid slot. Use it for a question you want to answer, or a company you'd happily name anyway.

• You can pick only during your check. Once the check ends, or you press "Charge all now", picks are over.
• A pick adds a place to the shout-out. It never pushes out a winner who paid for a slot.
• It is marked on your Orbit's page as your pick.
• You can't pick a bid that's already one of your winners.
• Some sponsors only want a top slot. Their bid shows "Top slot only" and can't be picked.
• You can unpick until the pick has been charged.

Why it works this way

Why there is a check at all. You're about to say these names to your audience. You get one look at the list before anyone is charged, so you never read out a sponsor you would have refused.

Why silence charges. Most lists are fine as they are. Doing nothing should get you paid, so the list settles itself when the check ends.

Why the next in line moves up. A no shouldn't cost you a paid place. The next highest bid fills it at their own price, and they've had notice that they might.

Why a pick can't push anyone out. Sponsors pay for rank. If you could swap a paying winner for a bid you liked better, a slot would mean nothing.

Why the line closes. You need a list that won't change before you record.

What can go wrong

• Your payouts aren't connected. Nobody can be charged until Stripe can pay you. The check says "Connect payouts by …, or your winners can't be charged." If you haven't connected by the line close, the winners who weren't charged are released. See Setting up payouts.
• A winner's payment fails. They get 1 day to fix it, and the page shows "Payment failed · fixing until …". Unfixed, their place goes to the next in line if the line is still open. A failed pick is never refilled.
• Nobody is left in line. A declined winner's place stays empty, and you have one fewer sponsor.
• You decline after the line has closed. The sponsor is still refunded in full, but nobody moves up any more.
• Older bids and contract budgets are still held on the sponsor's card. You can charge those from 6 hours after the deadline, because until then their sponsors can still cancel for free.

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