Escrow Terms

1. About These Terms#

These terms apply whenever you create, accept, fund or take part in an escrow on ChekBuk. ChekBuk is a product of Afria Technologies LLC ("we", "us").

They add to our Terms of Service. If the two conflict on an escrow matter, these terms win. Our Privacy Policy, Acceptable Use Policy and Fee Schedule also apply.

By taking part in an escrow, you agree to these terms and to the details of that escrow shown in the app (the "escrow terms"): its amount, currency, purpose, requirements, expiry and service tier.

2. How an Escrow Works#

An escrow lets two people agree a deal, set the payment aside, and release it only when the agreed conditions are met.

1. Propose. One party creates the escrow and sets the amount, purpose and requirements.
2. Accept. The other party reviews and accepts it (or declines).
3. Fund. The payer moves the money in from their ChekBuk wallet. Nobody can spend it while it's held.
4. Deliver with proof. The beneficiary delivers and uploads evidence for each requirement.
5. Release or dispute. The payer approves release, or either party raises a dispute and we decide.

Time limits#

Fees#

See Fees for worked examples.

3. Our Role#

ChekBuk is not a party to your deal. The deal (goods, a service, a freelance project) is between the payer and the beneficiary. We are not a buyer, seller, agent or guarantor, except for the limited Verified tier guarantee in Section 13. We don't inspect goods, perform services, or confirm a deal is lawful, fair or complete, except where we verify requirements on a Verified escrow.

ChekBuk is not a bank. We are a technology company. Our licensed partners hold escrowed funds, like other ChekBuk balances. We record the escrow and instruct money movements under these terms. Escrowed funds are not bank deposits and are not insured by ChekBuk. Stablecoins are not covered by any deposit insurance and can lose value.

We moderate every escrow. Our staff may view the escrow, its requirements, evidence, messages and attachments. We review flagged or high-risk escrows, resolve disputes and take the actions in these terms. Some moderator money actions above internal thresholds need approval from more than one staff member.

Availability. Features, currencies and payout options depend on your country and are shown in the app. You need a verified ChekBuk account (including identity verification). We may limit amounts, currencies or features at any time, including when our partners or the law require it.

4. Who's Who#

• Payer: puts money in, expects something in return, and approves release when satisfied.
• Beneficiary: delivers what was agreed, submits evidence, and receives the funds on release.
• Creator and counterparty: either party can create an escrow. The other is the counterparty, who must accept before funding.
• Delegates: a payer or beneficiary (the "principal") can appoint delegates to act for them (Section 9).
• Moderator: ChekBuk (Section 3).

5. Creating and Accepting#

When you create an escrow you set:

• Amount and currency. It is held and released in that currency.
• Purpose. A short, accurate description.
• Requirements. What must happen before release. They can apply to the beneficiary ("upload proof of shipment") or the payer ("inspect within 3 days"). You can split an escrow into milestones, each with its own amount and requirements.
• Expiry. An optional date by which it must be accepted and funded.
• Service tier. Standard (free) or Verified (paid) (Section 12).

Describe the deal honestly. You can't create an escrow with yourself or for anything banned under Section 17 or the Acceptable Use Policy.

Inviting someone new. You can invite a counterparty by email. To take part, they must sign up with that same email, pass identity verification (KYC) and any other checks we or our partners need, and accept these terms and the escrow terms. Invitations last 7 days and can be resent a limited number of times. We limit how many you can send. Only invite people who expect to hear from you. You can withdraw an invitation before it's accepted.

Acceptance. The counterparty must accept these terms and the escrow terms (including, for Verified, the fee and who pays it) before funding. They can decline instead. If nobody accepts by the expiry date, or within 7 days if no expiry is set, the escrow cancels automatically. We record acceptance against the exact version shown.

Changes. The escrow terms can change before funding, but the counterparty must accept the new version, even if they already accepted the old one. After funding, terms are fixed unless both parties agree a change in the app or a moderator decides otherwise.

6. Funding#

After acceptance, the payer funds the escrow from their wallet in the escrow currency. If they don't have enough, they must add or convert funds first. Conversions follow the Fee Schedule and the locked-quote process in the Terms of Service.

Once funded, the money leaves the payer's available balance. Neither party can spend, withdraw or transfer it while it's held. Escrowed funds earn no interest. If an accepted escrow isn't funded by its expiry date, or within 3 days of acceptance if no expiry is set, it cancels automatically.

7. Evidence and Review#

Submitting. The beneficiary (or their delegate) uploads evidence for each requirement: photos, documents, videos, tracking details or a written description. It must be genuine, relevant and not misleading. File size and type limits apply.

Reviewing. On Standard, the payer approves or rejects each requirement. On Verified, our staff review the requirements we agreed to verify. A rejection should say what's missing so the beneficiary can resubmit.

If the payer doesn't respond. So money doesn't get stuck:

• if milestone evidence is submitted and the payer doesn't approve or reject it within 7 days, the milestone is approved automatically and its share released;
• if the beneficiary submits for release and the payer doesn't release or dispute within 14 days, the escrow is released automatically; and
• if a payer requirement (such as "inspect within 3 days") lapses with no action, it may count as acceptance.

Nothing releases automatically while required evidence is missing or rejected, a dispute is open, or we're reviewing the escrow.

Payers: check your escrows and respond in time. If you're not satisfied, reject the evidence or raise a dispute before the window ends.

8. Messages and Attachments#

Each escrow has a message thread. Everything posted is visible to all participants (including delegates) and to our moderators. Don't share anything you wouldn't want them to see.

Don't post illegal content, threats, harassment, malware, other people's personal data without a lawful basis, or anything else banned by the Acceptable Use Policy. We may remove content and restrict accounts that break these rules.

Moderators may rely on messages and attachments in reviews and disputes. We keep messages, evidence and attachments as part of the escrow record for as long as we need them for disputes and legal, regulatory and anti-money-laundering purposes, as described in our Privacy Policy.

9. Delegates#

Appointing. A principal can appoint another ChekBuk user as a delegate. The delegate must accept. The principal chooses what they can do: communicate, submit or review evidence, or take money actions like funding or releasing. The principal can revoke a delegate at any time, but that doesn't undo actions already taken.

Authority. An action a delegate takes within their permissions counts as the principal's own. Others, including us, may rely on it.

Large money actions need the principal's OK. If a delegate starts a money action (funding, releasing or agreeing a cancellation) of US$1,000 or more, or the equivalent in another currency, it only takes effect once the principal confirms it in the app. If the principal rejects it or doesn't respond within the time shown in the app, it doesn't happen.

The principal stays responsible for everything their delegate does and for choosing someone trustworthy. Delegates must also pass our verification checks and follow these terms.

10. Release#

Funds go to the beneficiary when:

• the payer (or their authorised delegate) approves release once requirements are met;
• a milestone is approved (that milestone's share is released);
• an automatic approval or release applies under Section 7; or
• a moderator decides to release under Section 11 or these terms.

Released funds land in the beneficiary's wallet in the escrow currency, less any Verified fee they pay. On ChekBuk, a release is final. We can't reverse it, except as the law requires or to fix our own error.

11. Disputes#

Raising one. Either party can raise a dispute on a funded escrow in the app if they think the deal wasn't done as agreed. Explain the problem and attach evidence. A dispute pauses release and all automatic timers.

How we review. A moderator looks at the escrow terms, requirements, evidence, messages, attachments and anything else you send. We may ask either party for more and set a deadline. If you don't respond, we may decide on what we have.

Possible outcomes. The moderator may:

• release everything to the beneficiary;
• refund everything to the payer; or
• split the funds in the proportions the moderator thinks fair on the evidence.

Timing. We respond to a new dispute within 72 hours. We aim to decide within 10 business days of having both sides' evidence.

What a decision means. A moderator's decision is final on how the escrowed funds are handled on ChekBuk. It isn't a court judgment or arbitration award. It doesn't decide your legal rights against the other party, and you keep any rights or remedies you have outside ChekBuk.

Disputes about an escrow outcome are handled here, not under our Complaints Policy. Use the Complaints Policy if you're unhappy with how we ran the process.

12. Standard and Verified Tiers#

Standard (free). The parties review each other's evidence. We act as moderator and backstop for disputes, missed deadlines and risk flags, but we don't verify requirements.

Verified (paid). Our staff verify the beneficiary's requirements before they count as met. The fee is 1.5% of the escrow amount, minimum $5, maximum $250 (or the equivalent in the escrow currency, fixed when the escrow terms are agreed). See Fees for worked examples.

Who pays. The escrow terms say who pays the Verified fee: the payer, the beneficiary, or both (split). The fee isn't charged until funding. The payer's share is taken at funding. The beneficiary's share comes off what's released to them.

Refunds of the fee. If the escrow is cancelled before funding, you pay nothing. Once we've verified a requirement, the fee isn't refunded.

What "verified" means. A staff member reviewed the evidence for a listed requirement and reasonably concluded it shows the requirement was met. We verify only requirements marked as ChekBuk-verified, and only on the evidence submitted. Verification is not a guarantee of the quality, legality, value or fitness of goods or services, or of the other party's honesty.

13. Verified Refund Guarantee#

What's covered. On a Verified escrow, if a ChekBuk verifier approved a listed requirement that was clearly not met, and funds were released because of that, the payer can claim a refund, up to the limits below.

What's not covered:

• requirements we didn't verify, including ones the payer reviewed, and anything on a Standard escrow;
• goods, services or matters outside the listed requirements;
• fraud, misrepresentation or collusion by the claimant or their delegate;
• losses from the payer's own approvals, releases or missed windows under Section 7, where we didn't verify the requirement concerned;
• indirect or consequential loss, lost profit, lost opportunity, or anything above the limits below; and
• claims made more than 30 days after release.

How to claim. The payer raises a claim in the app or at support@chekbuk.com within 30 days of release, explaining and showing that the verified requirement wasn't met. We review it and may ask the parties for more information. Two ChekBuk staff members decide each claim.

Limits:

• A refund is capped at the escrow amount.
• One claim per escrow.
• Refunds go to the payer's wallet in the escrow currency.
• We don't take money back from the beneficiary's wallet, but we may pursue them for anything they weren't entitled to, and the payer agrees to cooperate.

14. Cancellation#

Before funding. The creator can withdraw an escrow awaiting acceptance, and the counterparty can decline it. Once accepted, the payer or creator can cancel it. No fees apply.

After funding, an escrow can only be cancelled:

• by agreement: one party proposes it in the app and the other accepts, and the payer gets a refund; or
• by a moderator, for example to resolve a dispute, after a risk review, or when the law or our partners require it.

15. Expiry#

An escrow with an expiry date cancels automatically if it isn't accepted and funded by then. One without an expiry date cancels automatically if it isn't accepted or funded within the windows in Section 2.

A funded escrow doesn't cancel when its expiry date passes. The money stays held until it's released, refunded or cancelled under these terms.

16. Other Fees#

Standard is free. The Verified fee is in Sections 2 and 12 and our Fee Schedule. Our normal fees for deposits, conversions and withdrawals still apply before money enters and after it leaves an escrow. We show every fee before you confirm.

17. Banned Escrows#

Don't use escrow for anything illegal, anything banned by the Acceptable Use Policy, or to hide where money comes from, where it goes or what it's for. That includes sanctioned people or places, illegal goods or services, gambling where it's not allowed, and fake or circular deals. We screen participants against sanctions lists (including OFAC) and may monitor escrows for risk.

We may refuse, pause, freeze, cancel or refund any escrow, and suspend or close accounts, if we reasonably suspect a breach of these terms, fraud or financial crime, or if the law, a court, a regulator or our partners require it. We may not be able to tell you why.

18. Limits on Our Liability#

This adds to the liability limits in our Terms of Service.

• We're not responsible for the deal itself: its performance, quality, legality or delivery, or what the other party or any delegate does or fails to do.
• Moderator decisions are made in good faith on the information available. Apart from the guarantee in Section 13, we're not liable for losses from a moderator decision, a verification, an automatic approval or release under Section 7, or any action taken under these terms.
• Our total liability for any one escrow is limited to the amount held in it plus any ChekBuk fee you paid on it.
• We're not liable for delays or failures caused by our partners, networks, or events outside our reasonable control.

These limits don't apply where the law doesn't allow limits, such as fraud, gross negligence, death or personal injury.

19. Changes#

We may change these terms. We'll give you at least 30 days' notice of material changes, by email or in the app, unless the law or our partners require a change sooner. Changes don't affect escrows already funded before the change takes effect, unless the law or our partners require it.

20. Contact#

For escrow help, use in-app support or email support@chekbuk.com. For legal notices, email legal@chekbuk.com.