---
title: "Earnings, holds and payouts | Optimize All Academy"
description: "From approved post to money in your account When a reviewer approves your submission, an earning is recorded in your ledger. Understanding how that…"
url: https://optimizeall.com/learn/platform-getting-started/earnings-and-payouts
updated: 2026-10-05
---

Getting started on Optimize All · Getting paid and staying compliant · lesson 6 of 10 · 11 min

# Earnings, holds and payouts

## From approved post to money in your account

When a reviewer approves your submission, an **earning** is recorded in your ledger. Understanding how that earning moves from *approved* to *paid* helps you plan, and it explains almost every "where is my money?" question before you need to ask it.

## The Earnings page, bucket by bucket

Open **Earnings** in your portal. At the top, a row of totals splits your money into buckets. Each has a small help button explaining it; here is what they mean:

| Bucket | What it contains |
|---|---|
| **Pending** | Estimated rewards for posts still being reviewed, plus earnings waiting for a live check or bonus approval. *Not guaranteed yet.* |
| **Approved** | Confirmed earnings that have not been added to a payout yet. New approvals are **on hold for a few days** before they can be paid. |
| **Scheduled for payment** | Earnings included in a payout batch that finance is preparing or paying. |
| **Paid** | Earnings paid out to you, after any recovered reversals. |
| **Reversed** | Earnings cancelled after approval, for example when a post was removed before the required live time. |
| **Lifetime earned** | Everything approved, scheduled and paid to date, net of reversals. |

Below the totals, a table lists every ledger entry. You can filter by **campaign**, **status**, **type** and date range (**From**, **To**). Each entry shows the **original amount**, the **exchange rate**, the **settlement amount** and the **rule version** it was calculated with. A *By original currency* card shows totals in the currencies you earned them in.

## The lifecycle of one earning

1. **Pending.** Waiting for a review decision, a bonus approval or a live check.
2. **Approved.** Confirmed. It first passes a short **holding period**, three days by default. The hold exists because posts can still be removed or found to break the rules shortly after approval.
3. **Scheduled for payment.** When a payout batch is prepared, approved earnings that have passed their hold before the **period cutoff** are included.
4. **Paid.** Finance records the payment with a **payment reference**, and you receive a *payout paid* notification (one of the messages that is always on).

Earnings can also be **reversed** (for example after a failed live check) or **declined** (a bonus that was not approved). If an earning that was already paid is reversed, the amount is deducted from a future payout instead of being taken back from your bank account.

## Payout schedule and minimum

The **Payouts** page says it plainly: *payouts are prepared every two weeks from approved earnings; finance pays them and records the payment reference.* Two rules decide whether you are paid in a given run:

- Only **approved** earnings that have **passed their hold** before the cutoff are included.
- Your payable balance must reach the **minimum payout amount**. Smaller balances simply **carry over** to the next run; nothing is lost.

Open any payout to see its **period cutoff**, **scheduled payment date**, **payment date** and **payment reference**, plus the earnings it contains. If a payment ever fails, the page says so and the earnings of a failed payout **return to your balance**.

Amounts are recorded in the campaign's currency together with the exchange rate used for your settlement currency. A later change in exchange rates never changes an earning that has already been recorded.

## Payout details and security

Before your first payout, open **Profile → Payout details** and choose how you want to be paid: **bank transfer**, **PayPal**, **mobile wallet** or another method. You enter the **account holder name**, where to send the money (an account number, a PayPal email or a wallet phone number in international format), your **preferred currency** and the **country of the account**.

The *What we collect and why* panel explains the security model: the account number, email or phone number is **encrypted when saved**, is **never shown again in full** (not even to you) and is only used by the finance team when paying you. The page shows your *current payout destination* in masked form. If your payout details are missing when a batch is prepared, your payout is held until you add them, so do this early.

## A worked example

*Illustrative.* Sara has three approved posts from two campaigns: two in USD and one in AED. A payout batch is prepared with a Friday cutoff.

- One USD earning was approved on Thursday. Its three-day hold ends on Sunday, after the cutoff, so it stays in **Approved** and waits for the next run.
- The other USD earning and the AED earning passed their holds before Friday, so both move to **Scheduled for payment**. The AED amount is converted at the rate recorded when the earning was created.
- Her scheduled total is above the minimum, and her payout details are complete, so she is included. When finance records the payment she gets a notification and the payout shows its reference.

## Hands-on

1. Open **Earnings** and read the help text on each bucket.
2. Filter the table by **status** and match three of your entries to the lifecycle above.
3. Open **Payouts** and note the next period cutoff and scheduled payment date.
4. Open **Profile → Payout details**. If you have not added details yet, add them now and check the masked destination afterwards.
5. If an amount looks wrong, open **Support → New ticket** and link the **related payout** or **related submission**. Never paste full bank details into the ticket.

## Common mistakes

- **Missing payout details.** The most common reason a first payout is delayed.
- **Removing posts early.** Reversals reduce future payouts.
- **Reading Pending as money.** Pending amounts are estimates and not guaranteed yet.
- **Sharing your login** with anyone who offers to "manage" your earnings. Staff never ask for your password.
- **Opening multiple accounts** to get around caps or minimums; linked accounts are detected and suspended.

## How to know you have got it

For any earning in your ledger you can say which bucket it is in, why, and roughly when it will be paid.

## Video lecture: Earnings, holds and payouts, step by step

Lecture coming soon · 13 chapters · about 8 minutes. Read the full transcript below.

1. Earnings, holds and payouts
2. Why it matters
3. The delivery depot
4. Example 1: Leo misses the cutoff
5. Example 2: Sara's mixed currencies (illustrative)
6. Watch me: Earnings and Payouts
7. Payout details
8. Quick check: what gets paid?
9. Reversals and failed payments
10. Reading one ledger row
11. Measure it
12. Common mistakes
13. Recap and try this now

## Lecture transcript

### Earnings, holds and payouts

You got an approval notification on Monday. By Friday, payout day, the money isn't in the payout. Did something go wrong? Almost certainly not. You just met the holding period and the cutoff. In this lecture, you'll learn to read your Earnings page bucket by bucket, follow a single earning from approval to payment, understand the two-week payout cycle and the minimum, and set up your payout details so nothing is held back.

### Why it matters

Why does this matter? Because money questions are stressful, and most of them have simple answers already on your screen. When you know what Pending, Approved and Scheduled mean, you can predict your payout almost to the day. You stop opening support tickets for things that are working as designed, and you spot the rare real problem quickly.

### The delivery depot

Here's the mental model. Think of an earning as a parcel moving through a delivery depot. Pending is the parcel waiting at intake, still being checked. Approved means it's been accepted, but it rests on a holding shelf for a few days, three by default, in case the post is removed or a problem surfaces. Every two weeks a truck leaves: that's the payout batch. Only parcels that finished their shelf time before the cutoff get on the truck. That's Scheduled for payment. When the truck delivers, finance records a payment reference and the parcel is Paid.

### Example 1: Leo misses the cutoff

A simple example. Leo has one approved earning. It was approved on a Wednesday, and the cutoff for this payout period is Friday. The three-day hold ends on Saturday. So on Friday it's still on the shelf, in Approved, and it simply goes on the next truck two weeks later. Nothing is wrong, and nothing is lost. The same logic explains a small balance. If your payable total is below the minimum payout amount, it carries over and joins the next run.

### Example 2: Sara's mixed currencies (illustrative)

Now a realistic scenario, with illustrative amounts. Sara, a creator in Dubai, has three approved posts: two paid in US dollars, one in dirhams. The payout batch has a Friday cutoff. One dollar earning was approved on Thursday, so its hold ends after the cutoff. It waits. The other two passed their holds, so they move to Scheduled for payment. The dirham amount is converted at the exchange rate recorded when the earning was created, and a later rate change never alters it. Sara's total is above the minimum, and her payout details are complete. When finance pays, she gets a payout paid notification, and the payout page shows the payment reference.

### Watch me: Earnings and Payouts

Watch me do it. I open Earnings. Along the top: Pending, Approved, Scheduled for payment, Paid, Reversed and Lifetime earned. Each has a little help button; I open Approved, and it says new approvals are on hold for a few days before they can be paid. Below, the ledger table. I filter by status, then by campaign. Each row shows the original amount, the exchange rate, the settlement amount and the rule version. Now I open Payouts. The page explains that payouts are prepared every two weeks. I open one payout: period cutoff, scheduled payment date, payment date and payment reference, and the earnings it contains.

### Payout details

Now, payout details. I open Profile, then Payout details. I choose a method: bank transfer, PayPal or mobile wallet. I enter the account holder's name, the destination, my preferred currency and the account's country. Read the panel called what we collect and why. The account number, email or phone number is encrypted when saved, never shown again in full, not even to me, and only used by finance to pay me. After saving, the current payout destination shows a masked version. One more thing: if these details are missing when a batch is prepared, your payout is held, so set them up before your first approval.

### Quick check: what gets paid?

Quick check, with illustrative amounts. Aamir in Peshawar sees fifty dollars in Pending, twenty in Approved and zero in Scheduled for payment. Tomorrow is the payout cutoff. How much can he expect in this payout? Pause and think. Pending isn't payable yet; it's still being reviewed or waiting for a live check. Approved can be paid only if each earning's hold ended before the cutoff, and only if his payable balance reaches the minimum payout amount. So the honest answer is: somewhere between zero and twenty, depending on hold dates and the minimum. And the fifty in Pending? That's future money, not guaranteed yet.

### Reversals and failed payments

What about reversals after you've been paid? Say a post fails its live check after its earning was already paid. The earning is reversed, but nobody takes money back out of your bank account. Instead, the reversal is deducted from a future payout. That's why the Paid bucket says after any recovered reversals. And if a payment itself ever fails, for example because of a wrong account detail, the payout page says the payment failed, and those earnings return to your balance for a later payout. Your money doesn't disappear. It waits until the problem is fixed.

### Reading one ledger row

Here's a quick way to read one ledger row, because the columns matter. Original amount is what the campaign paid, in the campaign's currency. Exchange rate is the rate recorded when the earning was created. Settlement amount is what that becomes in your settlement currency. And rule version tells you which version of the campaign's reward rules was used. Put together, every number is traceable. If something ever looks wrong, you can point support to the exact row, the exact rate and the exact rule version.

### Measure it

How do you measure whether your money flow is healthy? Watch two things each month. First, the Reversed bucket. It should stay close to zero. If it grows, you're removing posts early or missing live checks. Second, the time from approval to payment. With a short hold and a two-week cycle, most approvals should join the next payout whose cutoff falls after the hold ends, and then be paid on that payout's scheduled payment date, which the Payouts page shows. If an earning sits in Approved across several cutoffs, check your payout details and whether your balance has reached the minimum payout amount.

### Common mistakes

Common mistakes. Forgetting payout details, the top reason a first payout is delayed. Treating Pending as money; it's an estimate and not guaranteed yet. Deleting posts early, which creates reversals that are deducted from future payouts. Sharing your login with someone who promises to manage your earnings. And opening extra accounts to get around caps or minimums, which gets all of them suspended.

### Recap and try this now

Recap. Earnings move from Pending, to Approved with a short hold, to Scheduled for payment, to Paid. Payouts run every two weeks and include approved earnings that finished their hold before the cutoff. Balances below the minimum carry over, and reversed paid earnings come out of a future payout, not your bank. Try this now. Open Earnings, pick three entries and say which bucket each is in and why. Then check your payout details are complete. Next, the rules that protect you and the brands: disclosure and responsible posting.

## Key takeaways

- The Earnings page splits money into Pending, Approved, Scheduled for payment, Paid, Reversed and Lifetime earned.
- Approved earnings pass a short hold (three days by default) and join a payout only if the hold ended before the cutoff.
- Payouts are prepared every two weeks; balances below the minimum carry over and reversed paid earnings are deducted from a future payout.
- Payout details are encrypted, never shown in full, and missing details hold your payout.

## Try it

Open Earnings and Payouts, identify which of your earnings are pending, approved, scheduled or paid, note the next cutoff, and confirm your payout details are complete.

- [Previous: Submitting posts that pass review](https://optimizeall.com/learn/platform-getting-started/submitting-posts-that-pass-review)
- [Next: Disclosure and responsible posting](https://optimizeall.com/learn/platform-getting-started/disclosure-and-platform-rules)
- [All lessons of Getting started on Optimize All](https://optimizeall.com/learn/platform-getting-started)