How do I make sure I actually get paid?
By Jeff, Founder, SIGNL · October 30, 2026
Get the rate, the deliverable and the pay date in writing before you post, and never rely on a promise to pay after. The safest structure is payment collected up front and held until your post is live, and that is exactly how SIGNL runs paid bookings: the business pays when it books, SIGNL holds the money, and it releases to you when your post is live. You keep 97 percent of your own listed rate, starting at a $50 floor.
Held money, not a promise. If a business has not paid up front, or put it in escrow, you have a hope, not a payment. On SIGNL paid bookings the money is already collected before you visit and released only when your post is live.
The three ways the money disappears
It is rarely one villain. It is three ordinary failure modes, and each one is preventable with one sentence agreed before the visit.
The slow pay
"We will pay after it performs" or on a 60 or 90 day cycle. Performance is undefined, the cycle resets, and the creator is the only one who did the work. If the pay date is not a calendar date, it is not a pay date.
The ghost
The post is live, the business loved it, and the contact stops replying. This is why "payment on delivery" without a hold is still a promise. The money has to be somewhere it cannot wander off.
The moving deliverable
One post becomes three revisions, a second platform, a usage term nobody mentioned. A deliverable that grows after the price is agreed is a price cut wearing a friendly face. Lock the deliverable in the same message as the rate.
What goes in writing before you post
Five lines, in one message, before the visit. If a business will not put these in writing, that is your answer about the deal.
1. Your rate. The exact number, and whether the visit is comped or paid (never both on one visit: see is a comp enough, or do I owe cash too?). 2. The deliverable. On SIGNL that is always the Standard Visit: 1 post or reel plus 1 story that shares the post. 3. The deadline. 48 hours is the standard, one week the outside limit. 4. The pay trigger. When the post is live, not when the campaign ends. 5. The usage. A paid booking on SIGNL includes one standard license: 90 days of repost and ad use. Anything beyond that is a separate, separately priced agreement.
A deposit is the other standard protection, and it is common in creator work: a portion up front, the balance on delivery. It is weaker than a full hold, because the balance can still wander, but it beats a handshake. If a brand offers neither a deposit nor a hold, treat that as information about how the brand pays people.
How the hold works
On a paid booking, the business pays when it books. SIGNL holds the money. When your post is verified live, the money is released to you, and you keep 97 percent of your listed rate. If the visit or the post never lands, the business is refunded in full.
That last sentence matters as much as the first. The hold protects both sides: the creator knows the money exists, the business knows it only leaves when the post is live. And because the payment is held by the platform, there is nothing to chase, invoice, or follow up. The same discipline runs on the comp side in reverse: the comp is handed over at the visit, so nobody owes anybody anything afterward except the post itself, which is tracked to the same 48-hour standard.
One more note for the tax side of this: money you receive and meals you are comped are both income, just in different forms. Read are comped meals and free services taxable income? and keep the simple log it describes.
Questions, answered straight
Does SIGNL hold payment for paid bookings?
Yes. On a SIGNL paid booking, the business pays when it books, and SIGNL holds the money until your post is live, then releases it to you. If the visit or the post never lands, the business is refunded in full. Neither side has to chase the other.
When do I get paid on SIGNL?
When your post is live. The Standard Visit is 1 post or reel plus 1 story that shares the post, posted to a 48-hour standard with one week as the outside limit, and payment is released once the post is verified live. You keep 97 percent of your listed rate, which starts at a $50 floor.
What does SIGNL charge creators?
SIGNL is free for creators. Always. You never pay to join, to list, or to get booked. The only creator fee anywhere in the system is 3 percent of a paid booking, taken from the payout. Comped visits carry no fee at all.
Can a business pay me partly in comp and partly cash on one visit?
Not on SIGNL. An offer is one lane or the other: a comped visit, where the meal, service or experience is the pay, or a paid booking at your listed rate. The two lanes never combine on a single visit, which keeps the deal, the disclosure and the payment simple.
What should I do if a business off a platform never pays me?
Start with a short written invoice and one firm follow-up naming the rate, the deliverable and the date it was due, both taken from your original written agreement. Keep every message, screenshot the delivered post, and do not post again for that business until you are paid. For larger amounts, a local small-claims filing is the next step, and your written agreement is what makes it winnable.
Get paid without the chase
Set your number with how much a small creator should charge, or browse the Learn hub.