Payment protection & Refund Policy

When a brand funds a Campaign, the amount is reserved in the brand's Influora wallet until the approved post is live and its link has been submitted, or a dispute is resolved. Funds move only through payment protection release or a dispute-resolution outcome — there are no informal or on-demand refunds outside that process.

1. How payment protection works

Brands add money to their Influora wallet through Razorpay, which processes card, UPI and net-banking payments. When a brand funds a Campaign, the Campaign amount is reserved from that wallet balance and recorded against the Campaign on Influora's ledger — this reserved amount is what we call payment protection. It does not go directly to the creator, and the brand cannot spend it elsewhere while it is reserved.

Payment protection protects both sides:

• Brands know funds stay secured until they have approved the Deliverable and the post is live.
• Creators know the money is already secured before they start work.

2. The payment protection lifecycle

1. Funding — the brand pays the full Campaign amount into a protected balance before work begins.
2. Delivery — the creator submits the Deliverable through the platform.
3. Review — the brand has 3 working days to approve, reject or request a revision on a submitted Deliverable. Each revision round gives the brand 2 working days to re-review, up to a maximum of 2 rounds. Working days are Monday to Friday.
4. Outcome:

• Approved → approval clears the post to go live; it does not itself pay anyone. Once the post is live and its link has been submitted, the Payout is released, minus the creator commission, and Influora pays the creator by bank transfer (NEFT/IMPS) to the account on their profile within 2 working days of that link. Payments are made in accordance with applicable law.
• Rejected → the brand and creator work through our revision process, or either party opens a dispute.
• No response within the review window → the Deliverable is escalated to the Influora team, who follow it up with the brand. It is never approved automatically and it never triggers a payment.

3. Our refund framing — please read carefully

Funds move only through payment protection release or a dispute-resolution outcome. There are no informal or on-demand refunds outside that process.

This is not a "no refunds, period" policy. It means:

• A brand cannot request money back from the protected balance just by asking — the Campaign has to run through the review or dispute process.
• A creator cannot release their own Payout early — it is released by an Influora workspace Owner or Admin once the approved post is live and its link has been submitted, or by a dispute outcome.
• If a creator genuinely fails to deliver, or a brand's rejection is upheld through our Dispute Resolution Policy, the brand's protected funds are returned to the brand. This is a dispute-resolution outcome, not an ad-hoc refund — see our Dispute Resolution Policy for exactly how this works.
• If a creator's delivery is upheld as meeting the brief, the payment releases the Payout to the creator even if the brand is unhappy for reasons outside the agreed brief.

In short: your money is always protected by a defined process — a release once the live post link is in, or a dispute-resolution outcome. It is never released informally, and it is never simply frozen with no path forward for either side.

4. What can trigger a dispute

• Non-delivery or missed deadlines
• Deliverable that doesn't match the agreed brief
• Quality disagreements
• Suspected fake engagement or fraud
• Payment or technical errors

Any dispute is handled under our Dispute Resolution Policy, which sets out timelines, evidence, and possible outcomes — including fund return to the brand or Payout release to the creator.

5. Platform fees and payment protection

A Platform fee is deducted from the brand's funded amount, and a commission is deducted from the creator's Payout at the point of payment protection release. Exact rates are published on our Pricing page, not in this policy — this document describes the mechanism, not the numbers.

6. Failed or reversed payments

If a payment into a protected balance fails, is reversed, or triggers a chargeback through our payment processor (Razorpay), the affected Campaign is paused until the funding issue is resolved. We do not release Payouts against funds that have not successfully settled in payment protection.

7. Cancellations before delivery

If both the brand and creator agree to cancel a Campaign before any Deliverable is submitted, the funded payment protection amount is returned to the brand, minus any payment-processing charges that cannot be reversed. This mutual-cancellation path is separate from the dispute process described above.

8. Questions or concerns

If you have questions about a specific Campaign's payment protection status, contact support at info@influora.in. For a dispute, use the in-platform dispute flow described in our Dispute Resolution Policy.

9. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as our payment protection process or Indian regulation changes. We'll post updates here with a new "Last updated" date.

*This policy works together with our Dispute Resolution Policy — read both before funding or accepting a Campaign.*