Limits on cards and bank accounts
How much one bid can be, how much a new card or bank account can cover, and why a reported card can't be used.
There are a few limits on how much you can bid and how much one card or bank account can cover at a time. Most sponsors never meet them. They exist because a stolen card can place a bid as easily as a real one, and when it does, the creator and the other sponsors pay for it.
The limits
| Limit | How much | Until |
|---|---|---|
| One bid on a card | up to $300 | always. Above it, pay by bank |
| One bid on a bank account | up to $2,000 | always |
| A new bank account | $500 of open bids in total | its first payment goes through |
| A card | $1,000 of your bids in total | it's trusted (see below) |
The totals count only your own bids on that one card or bank account. Someone else's bids never use up your room.
How it works
A new bank account. Until one of its payments has gone through on ShoutOrbit, a bank account covers up to $500 of your open bids at once. After its first payment lands, it can cover any bid up to $2,000. The bid form warns you before you type an amount above it, so you don't find out at the last step.
A card. A card covers up to $1,000 of your bids at once, across every Orbit. That counts bids not yet charged and wins that were charged but not yet paid out to a creator. The limit lifts once a win on that card meets both of these:
- a creator has been paid for it, and it still stands, with no dispute or fraud warning on it
- it was charged at least 60 days ago
One without the other isn't enough. As bids finish, they stop counting and the room comes back.
A reported card. If a bank has reported a card for fraud or disputed a charge on it, on anyone's account, it can't back new bids for anyone. You'll see "This card can't be used for bids. Use another card." Bids already on it that haven't been charged are released, and their sponsors are emailed.
Why it works this way
Why a cap on cards at all. A large card payment is exactly what someone with a stolen card tries. Above $300 you pay from a bank account, which is much harder to fake.
Why a card needs both a payout and time. A stolen card charges as cleanly as a good one, so a successful charge proves nothing. The payout comes days later, and on its own that doesn't prove much either. Most fraud reports arrive within 60 days, so a win that has survived that long, and reached a creator, is a good sign the card is really yours.
Why a new bank account is capped. Until a payment from it has actually landed, there's no proof the money is there, or that the account is yours.
Why a reported card is barred everywhere. One stolen card often turns up saved on several accounts. Barring the card, not just the account, stops it moving on to the next Orbit. When a stolen card wins, a creator plans their video around a sponsor whose money will be taken back, and a real sponsor who'd have taken that slot loses it.
What can go wrong
- "A card can cover up to $1,000 of bids until…" Your card's room is used up. Use another card for this bid, or wait for some of your bids to finish.
- "A new bank account can cover up to $500 of bids until its first payment goes through." Use a bank account that has paid on ShoutOrbit before, or keep this one's open bids under the limit.
- "This card can't be used for bids. Use another card." Add a different card.
- A raise on a final bid is refused. In the last 12 hours your bid can't switch cards. So instead of asking for another card, you're told how high this bid can still go on this card, or that it can't go higher on it.
- "Bids go up to $2,000." That's the most any single bid can be.