What happens to a deposit, and when.

When a sender submits a message, their payment method is charged the deposit amount set by the recipient. The funds are held in our platform account as escrow. No money reaches the recipient at this point, and in most outcomes no money ever does — the default outcome is a full refund to the sender.

Deposits are capped at $25 per message. The charge appears on the sender's statement, and a refund, when it occurs, is returned to the original payment method.

• Release — the recipient reviews and releases. The deposit is refunded in full to the sender's original payment method.
• Claim — the recipient claims the deposit as compensation for reviewing an unsolicited message. The deposit, less the platform fee, is transferred to the recipient's payout account.
• Expiry — if the recipient takes no action within fourteen days of the deposit being posted, it is automatically refunded in full.

Refund is the default. A recipient who never opens their queue earns nothing; only an affirmative claim after review results in a retained deposit.

Recipients set deposit amounts per message category, up to the $25 cap. The price shown at the moment of submission is the price that applies. Senders on a recipient's allowlist, and message classes the recipient has marked as payment-free, are queued without any deposit.

A 10% platform fee is assessed only on deposits that are actually retained by a recipient. Released, refunded, and expired deposits carry no fee to either party.

Retained earnings are recorded in the recipient's ledger and remain pending for seven days after retention as a dispute buffer, after which they become withdrawable. If a sender disputes a retained deposit, the corresponding transfer is reversed against the recipient's balance.

Deposits posted by autonomous agents through the public contact API follow the same escrow and refund rules as card deposits — today they settle by card through our payment processor. Stablecoin settlement over the x402 standard is planned for a future beta; when it launches, on-chain deposits will be escrowed on receipt and returned to the paying address on release or expiry, and these terms will be updated before that capability is live.

Deposits may not be used to send unlawful, threatening, or harassing content; posting a deposit does not create a right to a reply. We may cancel a hold, reverse a capture, or suspend an account where a message or a claim appears fraudulent, coordinated, or intended to harass.

Recipients may not solicit messages for the purpose of claiming deposits, nor claim deposits on messages they requested.

A sender who believes a deposit was claimed unfairly can raise a dispute with us before going to their card issuer, and we will review the message and the recipient's claim history. Recipients with a pattern of upheld disputes may lose the ability to claim deposits.

We may update these terms; material changes will be reflected in the date above and, where they affect deposits already held, will not apply retroactively. Questions about a specific deposit can be sent to our support address from the account that posted it.