Managing bids while bidding is open

While your Orbit takes bids, every bid lands on its page in your dashboard. You don't have to do anything: the highest bids take your slots on their own. But you can see every pitch and every link before anyone is charged, and you can turn down any bid, including the top one, without it costing you or the sponsor a cent.

How it works

1. A sponsor bids. Before the bid shows anywhere, it goes through an automated check. A bid that fails is sent back to the sponsor with the reason, so they can rewrite it. It never appears on your Orbit and nobody is charged for it.
2. It shows on your Orbit. The bids in your slots are listed at the top, ranked. Every other bid is below them under "Not winning yet". Each one shows the sponsor's handle, their pitch, the amount, and the site their link goes to.
3. You look, if you want. You can mark a bid for yourself and leave a private note on it, to help you decide later. Sponsors never see your marks. You can also message a sponsor about their bid.
4. You turn down anything you don't want. Press decline on the bid and confirm. That sponsor is not charged, and the next bid moves up into the slots.

What the automated check lets through

Advertising is the point, so the check is built to let plugs through. A founder promoting their own app, shop, newsletter or event is the normal case, and so is a price, a discount code, a free trial, or a mention of a competitor. A question for you, a joke, a thank-you or a bit of criticism is fine too. A pitch is never refused for being salesy, dull or blunt.

It refuses a pitch that contains:

• hate speech, slurs, or harassment of anyone
• sexual content, or adult services
• threats, or someone's personal information
• a scam: guaranteed returns, "100x" coins, send money to get more back
• illegal goods or services, or pirated or leaked content, or someone else's brand on a knockoff
• violent extremism
• alcohol, vapes, gambling or weapons aimed at children
• swearing, or asking your audience to get in touch off the page ("DM me", "WhatsApp me")
• a link typed into the pitch. Links go in their own box, where they're checked.

The check either lets a bid through or sends it back. There is no in-between pile for you to sort.

Your own blocked words. On your Settings page you can add words you never want in a pitch: a competitor, an ex, a running joke you're sick of. A bid that mentions one, in its pitch or its link, is sent back with "This creator doesn't accept pitches mentioning that." The sponsor isn't told which word, and your list is never published.

Seeing where a link goes

Every link is checked when the bid is placed. A link has to:

• start with https://
• be one link to a public website
• go straight to its page. Shorteners like bit.ly are refused, and so is a link that redirects to a different site.

What you see on the bid is the site it actually lands on, so the name beside the pitch is the place your audience would end up.

Turning a bid down

You can decline any bid, for any reason, including the one in first place. While bidding is open nothing has been charged, so declining simply takes the bid off your Orbit and everyone below moves up a place. The sponsor gets an email saying their bid was removed and they weren't charged.

Their other bids go too. If the same sponsor has more than one bid on your Orbit, all of them are removed by default, because you're turning down the sponsor, not one row. If the page shows their other bids, the confirm has a box listing them, and you can untick it to keep those.

Why it works this way

Why you can turn down anyone, for free. You're the one saying these names to your audience. If you couldn't refuse an association, you would never open an Orbit. ShoutOrbit pays any processing cost, so a no never costs you or the sponsor anything.

Why the check lets advertising through. Most sponsors are founders, and a founder's pitch is an ad for their own product. A check that refused ads would refuse the people you're selling to.

Why links are https only, with no shorteners. You see a link's real destination before you promise to send people there. A shortened link is a destination you can't see, and its owner could swap where it points after you've said yes.

Why links can't go in the pitch. A link in the pitch would skip the check every link in the link box goes through.

What can go wrong

• A bid you don't like gets through. The automated check is a first pass. It can miss things, and if it's ever unavailable, bids go through rather than stopping every sponsor from bidding. You still see every bid, and you can decline it.
• You decline just as bidding closes. For a few minutes after the deadline you'll see "Bidding just closed — try again in a few minutes." Once the winners are settled you can decline any of them during your creator check.
• You decline a winner after they've been charged. They are refunded in full, and ShoutOrbit pays the processing cost. Once a sponsor's share has been paid out to you, it can't be refunded from here.

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