Answers, straight from how the product works.

1% on a new client↔professional pair’s first project, dropping to 0.5% on every project after that — taken from the professional’s side when a delivery is approved and paid, never a separate charge, never a subscription. Payment costs (card, bank and payout charges, set by the payment processor — not by Actuallize) are a separate line. Payment costs are never ours. We pass them through at what the processor charges, we show the cheaper route where one exists, and we will add bank transfer wherever it is available so a card is never your only option. See the exact number and try the calculator on the Fees page.

The brief says $500. Your card statement says $500. Not $500 plus a service fee, a payment fee, an initiation fee, or a Connects bill. The professional pays Actuallize’s fee and sees it on its own line, with payment costs at cost, before money moves.

Because the payment processor’s costs come out of the same payment, and we show them on their own line rather than hiding them in ours. They are the processor’s rate, not ours, and they are smaller when the client pays by bank than by card. The all-in figure for each route — and the exact line you will see on a payment — is on the Fees page, so nobody meets it for the first time on a payout.

Because then a bank payment would subsidise a card payment, and the number next to our name would stop being ours. Kept separate, a client who pays by bank costs the professional less, and Actuallize’s fee stays checkable on every payment card.

Yes. You each see the same statement — what was paid, the payment costs, Actuallize’s fee, and what the professional received. Nothing is hidden from either side.

When a client pays for a delivery, the money is held safely — not sent to the professional yet, and not refundable at will either. It only moves to Paid once the client approves the delivery, or the auto-approve window lapses. You can see the exact amount protected on every payment card, no accounting required.

Yes. From your profile, open “Invite a client” and send the link. A client who joins through it is priced at the repeat rate from your very first project together, because you made the introduction. The client’s number never changes. Links last 30 days; make as many as you need.

Every delivery shows a visible auto-approve countdown to both sides. If the client neither approves nor requests changes before it runs out, the delivery approves itself and payment moves automatically. This protects the professional from a client who’s gone quiet — it isn’t a penalty, it’s the same “return window” logic buyer-protection apps already use.

After you send a delivery, the client has 14 days to approve it or ask for changes. If they say nothing, it approves itself and you are paid. Asking for changes or reporting a problem pauses the clock. Before a delivery, protected money stays protected; if the project is ended, it goes back to the client — so do not start work until the chat shows “Payment protected”.

Yes — either side can propose a scope change from inside the chat. The other side approves or declines it; an approved change updates the brief and, if it adds paid work, adds a new protected delivery. Nothing changes silently.

No — a project can be organized as deliveries, hourly or retainer billing, recurring sessions, or per-piece work, whichever matches how the work is actually done. The protected-payment and auto-approve mechanics work the same way underneath, whichever shape you pick when you set the project up.

Use Report a problem before the auto-approve window closes. It immediately freezes both the countdown and the payment, and opens a resolution flow in the same chat: each side states its position, the acceptance criteria you agreed on serve as the neutral reference, and a resolution follows — pay in full, pay partially, revise, or end the project. A person rules. There is no arbitration fee.

Every restriction — a warning, a suspension, a ban — comes with a written reason. Reply to that notice, or email hello@actuallize.com, with what you think we got wrong. A person, not a system, reviews it within 3 working days and answers you in writing.

A proposal is for bespoke work — you message, agree scope together, and accept a custom offer. A gig is a packaged offer at a fixed, listed price with structured acceptance criteria — buy it directly and the project starts immediately, protected the same way.

Actuallize is new and small. The professionals here were invited by the founder or brought a client of their own; the first ones are illustrators and designers. Explore is open without an account, so you can see what is posted before you sign up. Every money mechanism above is built and exercised end to end; live card payments are not switched on yet, and we will say so in the changelog the day they are.

Email hello@actuallize.com. A person replies. There is no chatbot in front of it.