Reference guide

Best practices for both sides.

The quick disclosures and tips scattered across the site cover the moment they're needed — this page is the deeper version, worth a read before your first listing or your first submission, and worth coming back to.

For businesses
For creators

Negotiate or Submit — which fits?

Negotiate works best when you want a specific creator, an ongoing relationship, or you're running a bigger campaign where one-on-one terms actually matter. Submit works best when you want volume or variety fast, or want to discover talent you'd never have found by browsing profiles.

Example: Northgate Auto's compact SUV listing uses Negotiate — one creator, one shoot, real back-and-forth on rate. Their pickup truck listing uses Submit — a pile of authentic reactions edited into ads.

Negotiate or Submit — which to pursue?

Negotiate makes sense once you've got real stats to back up an ask — your rate, your reach, your engagement. Submit is often the faster path to your first paid deal, since there's no follower minimum and no pitch required — you're judged purely on the work you send in.

Suggested or Strict — set the right guidance

Use Suggested when authenticity matters more than exact wording — reaction content, lifestyle content, anything where a creator's own voice is the point. Use Strict when specific facts have to be included — a price, a spec, a detail your business actually needs said correctly.

Suggested or Strict — read it right

If a listing is marked Strict, follow its requirements exactly — those are non-negotiable. If it's Suggested, you've got real creative room — no script required, but structure still helps. A pattern worth borrowing:

Some listings include supplied footage, b-roll or clips a business offers to splice in. Use it or don't — it's source material, not a takeover of your edit. You keep full creative control over the final piece either way.

Pricing it fairly

Base-plus-bonus only makes sense when a creator's own audience is doing the reach — that's why bonus tiers only exist on Creator-posts listings, never on rights-purchase ones. If you're buying content outright, price it as a flat rate instead.

Negotiating it fairly

Back your ask with real numbers, not just a gut feeling — average views, engagement rate, past brand deal rates if you've got them. And weigh what's actually being asked: a business buying perpetual usage rights is asking for a lot more than one organic post, so it's fair to ask for more in return.

Reviewing — and what it triggers

Judge submissions on the work itself, not the follower count next to the name — that's the whole point of the Submit model. Use Not for us to keep your queue clean the moment you know, or just leave it — anything still pending resolves automatically once your deadline passes. Once you approve, the clock on payment starts, not before.

Payment timing — the other half of review

Payment releases once your content has been live for the agreed window — not the moment it's approved. That protects the business from content going up and disappearing right away, but it protects you too: once that window passes, payment releases automatically, and the business can't just sit on it.

Set realistic expectations

Nothing here guarantees results — no platform can. Treat every listing as a calculated, targeted risk, more directed than traditional advertising since you're reaching a real audience through a real person, but a risk all the same.

Not every submission gets picked

That's normal, not a reflection of you — businesses are matching to a specific brief, not ranking creators. What actually compounds over time is your track record: on-time delivery, brief accuracy, content quality. Treat your first few deals as building the reputation your later ones will lean on.