Creator Payouts & Adding Funds

For brands and agencies paying creators through Cruva campaigns.

Pay creators

1. Add funds under Creator Community → Payments and wait for them to become available.
2. Open the campaign and select the relevant period, if applicable.
3. Review the earned rewards and use the available Pay or bulk payout controls.
4. Check the payment result and history before retrying a payment.

Adding funds does not automatically pay participants. A configured campaign budget is a reward limit, separate from your available balance. Physical prizes are fulfilled by the brand.

Payment timing depends on the campaign type and period. If a creator has not completed payout setup, the payment dialog may offer a held payout: money is deducted from your balance and held until they connect a usable account. Recording an outside payment records money you already paid elsewhere; it does not send a new transfer.

Unpaid creators block new campaigns

You can't create or duplicate a campaign while you owe creators for a finished campaign. Any amount counts; there's no minimum. The Campaigns page shows a red banner with how much you owe and to how many creators, and the campaign builder shows Pay your creators to launch. Pay what's owed and you can create campaigns again straight away. Fast Bank Transfer is usually the quickest way to add the funds.

Only money that is ready to pay counts. A live campaign that is still accruing doesn't block you, and you can always edit existing campaigns. On a Cash or Prize tier, nothing is owed until the creator picks cash.

For the individual campaign rules and payment states, see Payout eligibility, held funds, and outside payments.

Adding funds to your balance

You add funds so you have a balance to pay creators from. The balance is separate from your subscription billing. Go to Creator Community → Payments, enter the amount (there is a minimum per currency, shown under the field), click Add Funds, and pick a payment method.

Which methods you see depends on your shop's region and currency. Bank-based methods are listed first because they carry no Cruva fee; card is always listed last. The Stripe processing fee for the method you pick is shown in the breakdown before you confirm.

Fast Bank Transfer (US, UK, and euro markets)

This is the method we recommend, and it is the default wherever it is available.

• How it works. You don't enter any bank details in Cruva. After checkout, Stripe shows you a local account to pay into: a US routing and account number, a UK sort code and account number, or a SEPA IBAN. You then send the money from your own bank (online banking, your finance team, or your accounts-payable system) using the reference exactly as shown. For euro transfers the beneficiary name must also match exactly.
• Speed. Usually the fastest option. Domestic US wires, UK Faster Payments, and SEPA transfers typically land the same or next business day, and your balance is credited automatically the moment the funds arrive. ACH credits sent from a US bank can take a little longer than a wire.
• Fees. 0.5% Stripe fee, capped at 5.00 in your currency. In the US, a received wire also carries Stripe's flat $15 wire charge, which is included in the total you're shown. There is no 2% Cruva fee on bank transfers.
• Limits. Effectively uncapped, so this is the rail to use for large deposits.
• Good to know. A pending transfer shows in your payment history until the money arrives, with a running total of what has been received if you pay in parts. Until you have sent anything, you can cancel it from the history. You can also download the bank details as an invoice PDF to hand to your finance team, and the "View bank transfer instructions" link reopens Stripe's hosted instructions page at any time.

ACH Direct Debit (US only)

• How it works. You connect your US bank account inside Stripe Checkout, and Stripe pulls the money from it. Most major banks link instantly; if yours can't be linked instantly, Stripe sends two micro-deposits and you must confirm the amounts on Stripe's hosted page within 10 days or the payment fails. Your payment history shows an Awaiting bank verification status with a link while that is pending.
• Speed. The slowest of the three. ACH debits sit in processing for up to 4 business days before the funds become available in your balance, and that is after any micro-deposit verification. If you need to pay creators this week, use Fast Bank Transfer or a card instead.
• Fees. 0.8% Stripe fee, capped at $5.00. No Cruva fee.
• Good to know. Once an ACH debit has been initiated it can't be cancelled from Cruva; you have to wait for it to clear. A debit can also be returned by your bank for a few days after it clears, which would pull the funds back out of your balance.

SEPA Direct Debit (euro markets)

• How it works. The euro equivalent of ACH. You enter your IBAN in Stripe Checkout and authorise a direct-debit mandate, and Stripe pulls the funds.
• Speed. Like ACH, SEPA debits take several business days to clear. Budget up to 4 business days before the balance is available.
• Fees. 0.8% Stripe fee plus €0.30. No Cruva fee.

Card

• How it works. Standard card checkout. Any debit or credit card accepted by Stripe.
• Speed. In between the others. The charge succeeds immediately and the balance usually becomes available within a couple of business days, once Stripe has settled the funds. It won't be instant, but it is faster than ACH.
• Fees. The most expensive option. You pay Stripe's card rate plus a fixed fee per charge (around 2.9% + $0.30 for a US card, more for international cards), and a 2% Cruva fee. The Cruva fee exists because cards can be charged back; it does not apply to any bank method.
• Good to know. If your card has a per-transaction limit, split the deposit or use Fast Bank Transfer, which has no cap.

Which should I use?

In short: Fast Bank Transfer is the cheapest and usually the fastest, card is fine when you need funds in a hurry and the deposit is small, and ACH or SEPA are the cheapest pull-based options if you don't mind waiting most of a week.

Paying from a different currency

If your shop's region bills in a currency that Cruva's community balance doesn't hold natively, a currency conversion fee is added and shown as its own line in the breakdown before you confirm.

Letting someone else pay

If the person adding funds isn't the one logged in to Cruva (a client, a finance team, a parent company), you don't need to give them access. Pick the method and amount, then either Generate Share Link to get a checkout link anyone can pay, or Generate Invoice to produce a PDF invoice with a pay-here link that never expires. For Fast Bank Transfer the invoice carries the bank details instead. The balance is added to your shop automatically once the payment is made.

Receipts

When a top-up succeeds, two emails go to your shop's billing email (set under the gear icon on the Payments page, Billing Email), or to the owner's login email if none is set. They never go to whoever paid a shared link:

• Stripe's receipt, plus a refund notice if it's refunded. Payments made through a pay-by-invoice link still send Stripe's receipt to the payer's checkout email.
• Cruva's confirmation, listing the amount credited, any fees, the total charged, the method, the date, and a reference, with a link to download the invoice. Cards send it at checkout, bank transfers and direct debits when the money arrives, and pay-by-invoice when it's paid.

Pending loads

Once added, a balance load shows as pending or processing until it clears. Use the cancellation control when it is available for that pending payment. Do not assume every pending or completed load can be cancelled or refunded from the same control. All balances added and processing fees are non-refundable, and if a payment is reversed or charged back after you've paid creators, the shop is responsible for bringing the balance back to positive.

Why I added funds but still can't pay creators

Check whether the deposit is available, whether there is an earned cash reward, whether the correct period is selected and payout is unlocked, and whether it was already paid or recorded externally. Prize-only rewards have no cash payment. A missing creator Stripe account may produce a held payment rather than a blocked payout; read the dialog's result.

Shopify referral payouts

Payouts for Shopify referral campaigns work the same way and come out of the same balance, with two differences: Cruva computes them for you each time a period closes rather than at the end of a campaign, and its 1.5% fee on attributed sales is billed through Shopify Billing on your Shopify invoice. You still click Pay on each row.

Receipts and payment history

The Payments page (Creator Community → Payments, /dashboard/community/payments) shows balances owed across active and completed campaigns, plus a history of past payouts so you can audit what went out, to whom, and via which method.

In the payout history, click the search icon on the Creator column to find payouts by handle, or on the Amount column to find an exact amount. A payout that was reversed shows its original amount struck through with a Reversed badge, meaning the money returned to your balance. A Partially reversed badge means part of it was returned.

Bank support by region

Use the payment options shown for the selected shop's region. Brazil has no community balance at all: Stripe Connect can't disburse to creators there, so Brazilian shops use the outside-payment recording flow in the community payout interface rather than Stripe creator disbursement. Adding a community balance is not proof that every region supports creator transfers. For a specific account or region issue, check the payment result with support.

Tax and 1099 handling

You don't need to collect tax forms from creators or issue 1099s yourself. Cash payouts run through Stripe Connect, and Stripe collects each creator's tax details (such as a W-9 for US creators) during their onboarding, before they can be paid. Tax reporting for those payouts falls on Cruva as the payer of record, not on your brand, so Cruva handles the year-end 1099 filings and delivers the forms to creators.

If a creator asks you for a 1099 or a tax document, point them to their Stripe Express dashboard, or have them contact Cruva support.