Legal
CUSTEMS Payment Protection, Refund & Cancellation Policy
This page summarizes CUSTEMS Payment Protection product rules for collaboration payments. A counsel-approved agreement and final payment-provider disclosures are required before production launch. This draft is not a substitute for final legal terms and does not waive mandatory consumer or other legal rights that cannot be waived under applicable law.
Purpose
CUSTEMS Payment Protection helps Artists and Creators collaborate with clear funding, delivery, review, refund, cancellation, and dispute rules. Payments are processed through CUSTEMS' supported payment provider and follow the project's agreed release, refund, cancellation, and dispute rules.
CUSTEMS is not a bank or regulated escrow provider.
Funding
The Artist funds the project through CUSTEMS checkout after both parties accept the project contract. Official deliverables and revisions unlock after funding is confirmed by the payment provider webhook, not by the checkout redirect alone.
Delivery and review
- Creator payment is released according to the project's delivery and review conditions.
- After final delivery, the Artist normally has 72 hours to approve, request an eligible revision, or open a dispute.
- If the Artist takes no action before the review deadline, payment may become eligible for automatic release.
- Projects include the agreed number of revision rounds recorded in the contract (default 3 unless the accepted contract says otherwise).
Missed delivery
If the agreed delivery deadline passes without a qualifying official delivery, a 48-hour grace period applies. After grace expires without qualifying delivery, the payment may become refund-eligible through the supported CUSTEMS refund flow. Project cancellation alone does not move money.
Cancellations and refunds
- Projects cancelled before meaningful work begins may be eligible for a refund under Payment Protection rules, subject to the payment's current status.
- Because work has already begun after a substantive draft or deliverable, cancellation may require review rather than an automatic full refund.
- Supported refund outcomes depend on timers, disputes, and payment-provider settlement, not on client-side clocks alone.
Disputes
Either participant may open a dispute for a serious project issue that cannot be resolved directly. CUSTEMS reviews the recorded project agreement and evidence rather than deciding which artistic preference is objectively better.
- Evidence window: 48 hours
- Supported outcomes: payment released to Creator; full refund approved; payment split between Artist and Creator
- Repeated disputes may trigger internal trust review (for example, three disputes in a rolling 12-month period). This is not an automatic guilt determination.
Rights and refunds
Commercial rights normally become effective on successful payment release according to the project contract. After a full refund, rights that were conditional on payment release are not effective unless the project agreement says otherwise. CUSTEMS does not provide DRM or external usage enforcement.
Off-platform payments
Payments made outside CUSTEMS are not covered by CUSTEMS Payment Protection.
Chargebacks and provider dependency
Chargebacks and other payment-provider default processes may apply in addition to CUSTEMS Payment Protection rules. Exact provider entity names, settlement timelines, and counsel-approved disclosures will be published with the final Terms and payment-provider onboarding package.