Payment
Transparent payments. Held in escrow.
Every bounty is funded up-front and held by TradeSafe until validation and explicit brand approval clear the work for automatic release. No agencies, no middlemen, no funds sitting with us.
How it flows
Four steps from deposit to payout.
Brand funds the bounty
Brand pays the per-claim reward × number of claims, plus fees, at TradeSafe’s hosted checkout. The funds leave the brand’s account and settle into TradeSafe escrow — not into Social Bounty.
TradeSafe holds the escrow
TradeSafe Escrow (Pty) Ltd, a registered South African digital-escrow service, holds the funds in a regulated escrow account until delivery is accepted. We cannot touch the money.
Validation and approval clear a submission
The hunter submits proof. Automated validation checks the brief where possible, then the brand explicitly approves the work before Social Bounty (acting as AGENT) instructs TradeSafe to release payout.
Hunter is paid by EFT
TradeSafe releases the hunter’s net payout directly to their registered South African bank account. Platform fees are deducted at release and settled to Social Bounty.
Fee breakdown
Worked example on a single-claim R500 bounty.
Current rates under our Free plan. Multi-claim bounties multiply this through — a 5-claim bounty escrows 5× this total at checkout. Pro rates are coming soon and will be published here before launch.
Brand pays
At checkout
- Reward per claim
- you set it
- R500.00
- Brand admin fee
- 15%
- R75.00
- Transaction fee
- 5%
- R25.00
- Global platform fee
- 3.5%
- R17.50
Multiply by your claim count at checkout: 5 claims = R3,087.50; 10 claims = R6,175.00.
Hunter earns
After validation and brand approval
- Reward per claim
- face value
- R500.00
- Hunter commission
- 20%
- −R100.00
- Global platform fee
- 3.5%
- −R17.50
Each approved submission earns the hunter R382.50 — brands can approve up to the bounty’s claim count.
Amounts stored as integer cents. No rounding drift. Full numeric example in the Terms of Service.
Why TradeSafe
Safer than a handshake. Cleaner than a wallet.
Regulated escrow partner
TradeSafe is a registered digital-escrow service supervised under South African law. Your money is held under rules we do not write.
Funds never sit with us
Social Bounty is not a bank. We never hold, store, or re-transmit bounty funds. The money flows brand → TradeSafe → hunter.
Reversible before payout — clear rules after
Rejected submissions and cancelled bounties refund automatically. If a post is removed before the hunter is paid, the escrow reverses. If it happens after payout, we pursue the hunter — suspension, account ban, and withholding their future earnings — but reimbursement to the brand depends on what we recover.
Double-entry audit trail
Every rand is booked into an append-only ledger with matched debits and credits, tied to a TradeSafe transaction and an audit-log row.
Read TradeSafe’s own service terms and fee schedule at tradesafe.co.za.
Payment methods
Pay however you like.
Inbound payments captured through TradeSafe’s hosted checkout. The list at checkout is controlled by TradeSafe and may change without notice.
Card checkout
Debit or credit card where TradeSafe presents card funding.
Bank transfer
Bank-transfer funding where TradeSafe presents that option.
Mobile-presented checkout
Mobile-first payment approval where TradeSafe enables it.
Manual deposit
Bank-deposit references generated inside TradeSafe checkout.
Instalment option
Instalment funding where TradeSafe presents and approves it.
In-person card flow
Card-present funding only where TradeSafe enables it for the transaction.
Hunter payouts settle by EFT to a South African bank account only.
Subscriptions
Pro tiers are coming soon.
Right now, everyone’s on the Free plan. We’re wiring up a TradeSafe-backed subscription rail before Pro Hunter and Pro Brand go live. Pricing will be published here before launch.
Pro Hunter
For serious earners
- Lower platform commission
- Faster payouts
- Access to closed (invite-only) bounties
- Verified hunter badge
- Priority support
Pro Brand
For brands that post regularly
- Lower brand admin fee
- Closed (invite-only) bounties
- Application and invitation management
- Priority support
Everyone starts on Free. No credit card, no trial — just sign up and start.
Important terms
The short version.
The full story lives in the legal docs — but these are the rules that shape every transaction.
Platform custody
All bounty funds flow through TradeSafe escrow. Social Bounty never holds your balance in its own account. See the Payout & Escrow Terms.
Fees snapshotted at approval
The fee rates in force at the moment a submission is approved are the ones that apply — even if plans change later. Full fee schedule in the Terms of Service.
Integer minor units
All amounts are stored as integer cents — never as floating-point — to eliminate rounding drift. You see the same number we bill.
Refunds & post-removal liability
Rejected or cancelled bounties refund to the original payment method less non-recoverable TradeSafe fees. If a hunter removes a required post before their payout is released, the escrow reverses automatically. After payout, the EFT to the hunter’s bank cannot be reversed. We will pursue the hunter — suspension, account ban, and withholding their future bounty earnings — but a brand is reimbursed only from what we actually recover. Platform fees are not recoverable, so a brand may not be repaid in full even where recovery succeeds. See the refunds clause and Terms of Service.
South African banking only
Hunter payouts settle by EFT to a South African bank account. No mobile-money wallets, no foreign accounts, no crypto.
Tax is yours
Hunter payouts are payments for services — not employment income. No PAYE is withheld. Your tax is your responsibility; details in the tax section.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
TradeSafe Escrow (Pty) Ltd holds every rand from the moment a brand deposits it to the moment it releases to a hunter. Social Bounty is the AGENT on the transaction — we instruct release but we do not take custody.
On a single-claim R500 bounty: R500 reward + R75 brand admin fee (15%) + R25 transaction fee (5%) + R17.50 global platform fee (3.5%) = R617.50 at checkout. For multi-claim bounties, the per-claim total multiplies through — a 10-claim R500 bounty escrows R6,175 up front so all 10 approved hunters can be paid. Each hunter receives R500 minus 20% commission and 3.5% global platform fee = R382.50 net per approved submission.
TradeSafe escrows the full pot at funding time so each approved hunter is guaranteed payable. Reducing claim count after funding is not supported — to change capacity, the brand cancels the bounty (refund follows TradeSafe’s refund channel) and creates a new one. We made this trade-off for ledger integrity: every approved submission must have escrowed funds waiting.
After validation is complete and the brand explicitly approves the submission, the automatic payout process instructs TradeSafe to release. TradeSafe typically settles to the hunter’s bank the same business day. Weekends and public holidays push to the next business day.
The escrowed funds refund to the brand’s original payment method, less any non-recoverable payment-method fees charged by TradeSafe or the paying bank. Refunds follow TradeSafe’s refund channel and typically take 2–7 business days.
Not yet. Our turnover is below the R1 million compulsory-registration threshold under the Value-Added Tax Act 89 of 1991, so no VAT is charged on our fees. We will display a VAT number and give 30 days’ notice before adding VAT if we register.
Once TradeSafe releases a payout to a hunter's bank account, that EFT cannot be reversed — it is a push-only transfer. If a hunter removes a post in breach of a visibility requirement after payout, they become liable to Social Bounty for the amount they were paid. We will ask them to restore the post within 7 days, withhold their future bounty earnings toward the debt, and suspend or permanently ban their account if they don't comply. A brand is reimbursed only to the extent we actually recover funds from the hunter. Platform fees are not recoverable, so a brand may not be repaid in full. We do not provide a platform-funded backstop. Full details in the Terms of Service.
Yes. Every approval, reversal, and super-admin correction is audit-logged. Raise a dispute through the in-app flow or our Complaints & Dispute Resolution process and we investigate on a defined response window.
Ready when you are
Funded up-front. Released after validation and brand approval.
No agencies. No wallets. No credit needed.