When a client funds a milestone, the money sits in our escrow account, not the creator's account. Funds release to the creator only when the client clicks “Release”, or when our dispute team directs us to release them. This is the foundation of how refunds work, so it's worth understanding.
If a milestone is funded but not yet released, the client can cancel and get a full refund as long as the creator hasn't yet started work. “Started work” is judged in good faith, usually by whether there's a delivery, an upload, or a documented message confirming kickoff.
Once the creator has clearly started, cancellation moves into the dispute flow so both sides can present what was done and what wasn't. Most cases close in a few days with either a partial refund, a full refund, or a release to the creator.
Released funds are presumed to belong to the creator. To get any of that money back, the client needs to open a dispute. Disputes can be filed within 30 days of the milestone release or, if the whole project hasn't closed yet, whichever is longer. After 30 days the milestone is final.
Our dispute team reviews the evidence and decides. Possible outcomes:
When we refund a payment, we reverse the proportion of platform fee tied to it. If a $500 milestone is fully refunded, the $40 creator-side fee and the $20 client-side fee come back too. On partial refunds the fee reversal is scaled to the refund ratio. We never “keep” the platform fee on money that's been clawed back from the creator.
Payment-processing fees (the percentage Stripe or another partner takes for handling the charge) are passed through to you only when the underlying processor refunds them to us. Most of the time they do. For very small disputes, that fee may be deducted from the refunded amount, but we'll always tell you up front when that applies.
Spectrum Connect doesn't currently sell subscriptions. If we add a paid tier in the future, the renewal cycle and refund window for it will be spelled out at the point of purchase and added to this page.
One-off add-ons (profile boosts, featured placements) are refundable within 24 hours of purchase if the boost hasn't started running, and non-refundable after that since the impressions can't be returned.
ETF Points earned from genuine activity can't be reversed by a refund. If we refund the underlying milestone, we may claw back the points awarded for it (this protects against farming refunds for free points). Cash-outs of ETF Points are subject to the eligibility checks in the ETF Framework, and once a cash-out has been paid out it's not reversible except through a fraud claim.
If you raise a chargeback with your card issuer instead of using our dispute flow, we treat it as a notice that something went wrong. We'll temporarily freeze the related escrow balance and try to talk to both sides. If you win the chargeback, the funds go back to you and we reverse fees as above. If you lose, the chargeback amount plus the issuer's reversal fee may be passed back to you.
Chargebacks for projects you accepted in full are considered abuse and can lead to account suspension. Talk to us first; almost everything is fixable through the in-product flow.
We aim to:
A few situations where a refund isn't available:
Nothing in this policy takes away rights you have under consumer-protection law in your country. If your local law gives you a longer cooling-off period or stronger refund rights than this policy, those rights apply.
Easiest path: open the milestone in the product and click “Request refund” or “Open dispute”. Both buttons start the same workflow and put your case in front of our team. If you can't access the product or your account is locked, email support@spectrumconnect.co with the project ID and a short explanation.