Payouts and the holding period

Money you collect lands in your account straight away, but it is not withdrawable straight away. Funds are held for up to seven days before you can pay them out. We may release them sooner, and we will not hold them longer than the published maximum without telling you why.

Why funds are held

Mobile money payouts cannot be reversed. Once a payout reaches a wallet, no one can pull it back, including us. The holding period is the only window in which a customer who did not receive what they paid for can raise it while the money is still recoverable.

It protects the people paying you, and it protects the merchants around you: every merchant on the platform is easier to trust when buyers know there is a window in which a complaint still counts for something.

How long you wait

• Not yet verified. You can collect, but you cannot withdraw at all. Completing identity verification is what opens payouts.
• Verified. Funds are held for up to seven days from when the payment completed.
• Trusted. A reduced hold or none at all, granted after compliance review.

The clock runs from when the payment completed, not from when you ask to withdraw. Your dashboard shows the exact date each payment becomes available, and the payout calculator works it out for any amount before you sign up.

Getting your funds sooner

The waiting period applied to your account is set after review by our compliance team. You can ask them to look at your account, and the thing that moves the decision is evidence that you deliver what you sell.

Useful evidence includes:

• Delivery confirmations, tracking numbers, or signed receipts.
• Correspondence with the customer showing the order and its fulfilment.
• Invoices or contracts matching the payments you have collected.
• Proof of the trade you carry on: business registration if you have it, or evidence of the work itself if you trade on your own account.

You can attach evidence to a specific payment from your dashboard, or send it to compliance@whilesmart.com. A consistent record over time is worth more than a single strong document.

When a payment link is reported

Anyone who pays through a link can report it. When a report arrives we may pause the release of funds on that account while we look into it, which can take the hold past the normal maximum. If that happens we tell you, with the reason.

If the complaint is unfounded, the hold resumes its normal course. If it is not, we may return the funds to the people who paid them and suspend the account.

If you paid a seller on WhileSmart Pay

Contact the seller first: most problems are a delay or a misunderstanding, and they can resolve it faster than we can. If that goes nowhere, report the payment link you paid through, or write to support@whilesmart.com with the reference from your receipt.

Report it as early as you can. Once the holding period ends and the money has been withdrawn, there is very little anyone can do.

Related

WhileSmart Pay is for merchants collecting payment for goods and services they supply, whether they trade as a company or on their own account. See who can collect payments for what that covers, and our terms of service for the agreement itself.