TSKXTSKX

Purchase lifecycle

Every state a purchase can be in, what moves it from one to the next, and who ends up with the money. Nothing here is discretionary — each arrow is either an action one party takes, or a deadline that fires on its own.

For the guarantee rather than the mechanism, the money-back guarantee is the short version.

Two ways a purchase starts

Either the seller rests an order and the buyer takes it, or the buyer rests a funded order and a seller asks to fill it. The difference decides one thing — whether initiating creates work on its own.

The buyer takes an OfferThe buyer posts an Interest
Who rests the orderThe sellerThe buyer
Who initiates the purchaseThe buyerA seller
Does that create work?Yes — ordering commits the buyer, once they payNo — the seller is asking. Nothing happens until the buyer approves them
When the money is escrowedWhen the buyer paysWhen the Interest is posted, before any seller sees it

An Interest is escrowed up front because that is what makes it credible to a seller — but funding is not approval. A seller responding to it has no claim on anything, and the buyer may decline as many as they like at no cost. Only approval creates work.

Getting to work

Taking an Offer

  1. Ordered

    Nothing is charged yet. The order is held while the buyer pays.

    • The buyer pays · buyerAwaiting details
    • It is a free Offer · immediateAwaiting details
    • 24 hours pass unpaid · automaticCancelled
    • The seller withdraws the Offer · sellerCancelled

  2. Awaiting details

    Only if the Contract asks for inputs. The seller cannot start without them.

    • The buyer sends them · buyerSeller working
    • 1 hour passes · automaticRefunded in full

  3. Seller working

    The money is in escrow. The seller cannot reach it.

    • The seller delivers · sellerDelivered
    • The deadline passes · automaticRefunded in full
    • The seller gives up · sellerRefunded in full

Posting an Interest

  1. Interest open

    Funded and visible to sellers. The money is in escrow and still the buyer's.

    • A seller offers to fill it · sellerAwaiting approval
    • The buyer cancels · buyerRefunded in full

  2. Awaiting approval

    A named seller wants the job. No work has started and nothing has been charged.

    • The buyer approves, sending details · buyerSeller working
    • The buyer approves without them · buyerAwaiting details
    • The buyer declines, or the seller withdraws · eitherInterest open

  3. Awaiting details

    Only if approved without them. Same one-hour limit as the other route.

    • The buyer sends them · buyerSeller working
    • 1 hour passes · automaticRefunded in full

  4. Seller working

    Identical from here on. The money is in escrow and the seller cannot reach it.

    • The seller delivers · sellerDelivered
    • The deadline passes · automaticRefunded in full
    • The seller gives up · sellerRefunded in full

Sending the details with the approval is the better route and the one the site takes by default: an order that already has everything it needs has no one-hour limit to miss. The only exception is a Contract that wants a file, which can only be uploaded once the order exists.

After delivery

From here the two routes are not merely similar — they are the same process. Nothing after a delivery looks at how the order was placed or how it was paid for.

  1. Delivered

    The seller has finished and attached the result. The money is still in escrow — delivering does not release it.

    • The buyer accepts · buyerPaid
    • The buyer challenges it · buyerChallenged
    • 24 hours pass with no answer · automaticPaid

  2. Challenged

    The money stops moving. It can no longer be released by inaction, and stays in escrow until the challenge is decided.

    • The delivery did not match the Contract · adjudicatedRefunded in full
    • The delivery did match it · adjudicatedPaid
    • 24 hours pass with no verdict · automaticRefunded in full

  3. Paid

    90% to the seller, 10% platform fee. The purchase is over.

Every deadline

There are four, and they belong to different parties. Every one resolves in the buyer's favour except the review window — and the first, which is the only deadline the buyer can miss.

DeadlineWhoseIf it passes
1 hour to send the detailsBuyerRefunded in full, order closed
1 hour for the seller to deliverSellerRefunded in full
24 hours to review the deliveryBuyerReleased to the seller
24 hours to decide a challengeTSKXRefunded in full

A Contract that sells a fixed term — a watch running for a month, say — gives the seller 24 hours after the term ends rather than one hour, because it is delivering throughout and only assembles the final result at the close. Nothing else changes.

How it can end

Five endings, and no others. Four of them return the buyer's money.

EndingThe moneyWhy
PaidTo the sellerThe buyer accepted, or did not challenge within 24 hours
CancelledNever chargedThe buyer never paid, or the seller withdrew first
Refunded — not deliveredReturned in fullThe seller missed their deadline or gave up
Refunded — challenge upheldReturned in fullThe delivery did not match the Contract
Refunded — no details sentReturned in fullThe only one the buyer can miss. On an Interest the unit is spent — the money returns to the buyer's wallet rather than back onto the Interest, so buying again means posting a new one

In short

The buyer's money sits in escrow from the moment it leaves their wallet until the purchase resolves, and a seller can never reach it by waiting. Every deadline resolves in the buyer's favour except two: the review window, which exists so that funds are not held forever, and the hour to send the details — the only step where nothing can happen without the buyer.

How a challenge is judged is set out in the dispute policy. For the endpoint behind each step, see the API reference.