Where the money sits, and who decides
Trust is what happens to the money and to the decision when something goes wrong. Here is exactly how both work, and what we do not have yet.
Live payments are not enabled yet. The rules below describe the payment workflow, currently a simulation. No real money is collected or protected.
- Money sits in the payment processor’s balance, not in an Actuallize bank account.
- Your data sits in a database in Frankfurt, Germany (EU).
Where the money sits
When a client pays for a delivery, the money moves into the payment processor’s balance and stays there — held, not spent — until the client approves the work. Nobody, including Actuallize, can spend it before then.
The moment the client approves, the professional’s share is paid out: the client’s full number minus Actuallize’s fee, which is shown to the professional on its own line.
Payment costs (card, bank and payout charges, set by the payment processor — not by Actuallize) sit on a separate line, at cost. 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.
One statement, both sides. You each see what was paid, what arrived, and every line in between. Nothing is hidden from either of you.
If a project ends before a delivery is made, the protected money goes back to the client. It never sits in limbo.
The 14-day clock
Every delivery carries a visible countdown, the same way an online return window works. It runs for 14 days from the moment the delivery is sent.
If the client neither approves nor asks for changes before it runs out, the delivery approves itself and the professional is paid.
The clock pauses the instant the client asks for changes, and the instant either side reports a problem. It never runs out under an active conversation.
Approval is per delivery, judged against the acceptance criteria written into the brief.
How a dispute is ruled
“Report a problem” freezes the countdown and the payment, and opens a structured resolution — in the same project chat, not a separate ticketing system.
- 1
Both sides record their position — what was promised, what was delivered, what they think should happen.
- 2
The acceptance criteria agreed at the start of the delivery stand as the neutral reference — not either side’s memory of the deal.
- 3
A human operator reads both sides and rules — pay the professional in full, split the payment, or send the work back for a revision.
There is no arbitration fee. Where we add AI, it will only ever advise the operator; a person decides.
Restrictions and appeals
A restriction is a warning, a suspension, or a ban. Every restriction states its reason in writing. You can appeal by replying to that notice or by emailing hello@actuallize.com. A person — not a system — reads the appeal and answers within 3 working days. Automated signals (for example, contact details pasted into a chat) can raise a flag for review; they never restrict an account on their own.
Money in an open project of a restricted account follows the same rule as an ended project: approved work stays paid, protected money that was not yet approved goes back to the client, unless an operator rules otherwise on the facts.
Never here.
No pay-to-bid. Sending a proposal never costs anything. There are no Connects, credits, or bid limits.
No promoted-listing tax. Nobody can pay to rank above you, and nobody can pay to reach a client first.
No silent bans. Every restriction states its reason, and a person reviews an appeal within 3 working days.
No activity tracking. No screenshots, no keystroke logs, no online dots, no last-seen.
No separate client fee. The client pays the number on the brief. The professional's fee sits on its own line, visible to them before money moves.
No AI that approves or rules. A person approves the work; a person rules a dispute. Where we add AI, it only ever advises.
Every line above is true today and enforced in the product or by written policy. If one ever changes, the changelog says so that day.
Security and data
- Your data lives in a Postgres database in Frankfurt, Germany (EU). The application runs on Cloudflare’s network. Uploaded files are stored in Cloudflare object storage.
- Every connection is encrypted in transit; the site sends a strict-transport header so browsers refuse plain HTTP.
- Passwords are stored as a hash, never in plain text.
- Sign-in attempts are rate-limited.
- Card and bank details are entered with the payment processor and are never stored by Actuallize.
- A delivered file cannot be opened by the other party until it has cleared the upload gate. Files that could run code (for example HTML or SVG) are never shown inline.
- What is never collected: screenshots, keystrokes, activity timers, online status, last-seen. Time, where it is billed, is described work.
- No advertising cookies and no cross-site tracking. One session cookie keeps you signed in.
- Project data is not used to train third-party AI models, and we do not sell personal data.
What we don’t have yet
As of 2026-09-11. This list shrinks in the changelog, never quietly.
- No SOC 2 report and no third-party penetration test yet.
- No two-factor sign-in yet.
- No third-party malware scanner behind the file gate yet — the gate holds files until they clear, but the scanning step is not wired to an outside engine. Do not open files you were not expecting.
- No separate support desk. One inbox, a person answers.
- The Terms name no country of registration yet; counsel review is under way.
- 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.
Report a security issue
Who is behind this? Read the founder’s note →
Two doors. One chat.
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