Evidence
54 quotes from 51 people on getting paid, in their own words.
Every public post, review and press quote we collected before building Dealtab, verbatim (lowercase, typos and [sic] kept), each linked to its source. Most are creators speaking for themselves; none of them use Dealtab. They describe the problem, not the product.
54 quotes from 51 people · Reddit 37 · Press and newsletters 5 · Trustpilot reviews of influencer platforms 11 · X 1
How these were collected
- Collected . Nothing is paraphrased inside quotation marks; fragments from one post are joined with “ … ”.
- Reddit posts were read from archive snapshots (the Arctic Shift Reddit archive) and string-matched by script against the archived post. The live post may since have been edited or deleted, so the links should be rechecked before you rely on them.
- Digiday and Substack quotes were string-matched against the page HTML. Trustpilot quotes were confirmed by a second exact-match pass (Trustpilot doesn’t verify reviews). The X post was read from X’s public syndication data.
- Follower counts appear only where the source states them. Posts that go on to recommend a tool are flagged as possible promo.
- Every link was reopened on . 15 Reddit posts or comments have since been removed and 1 couldn’t be found on the live page; each is marked, and keeps its original date and link. Q01 and Q02 turned out to be a developer passing on a creator’s words, and are labelled that way.
Late payment 29
“I delivered all 3 videos on a RUSH schedule at the beginning of May. … Agentio didn't even send the invoice until mid July.”
“I always take content down when payment is late.”
“In our agreement it said I would receive payment 15 business days after posting. … Payment day came and went and I reached out. … I asked for a payment date and they can’t give it to me.”
“I still have not been paid. … I understand that FYI is waiting on a payment before they can pay their influencers--that is not acceptable.”
“Payment was supposed to go out out April 9th 2026 and they never paid.” [sic]
“This company does not pay their content creators on time and ignores requests even after legal action is taken.”
“I was suppose to be paid in May and it’s almost July.” [sic]
“The payment has been outstanding since November 2025.”
“The video was deposited into their drive and the invoice remains unpaid.”
“It's now been over a month since I was supposed to be paid, and Upfluence is saying it could take another 30 days.”
“Sponsor is stalling payment. … The contract states that the payment will be processed within 5 business days after I published all deliverables. … I sent them an email asking to confirm the payment has been made on the 3rd of April.”
“I posted the collaboration in August and didn't get paid until late December 2025.”
“We create the content, deliver the campaign, and then wait—sometimes months—to be paid. … And it’s happened to me three times in the last year.”
“Has not paid me for brand deals in 9 months and refuses to provide any reason as to why.”
“I completed everything on time (which by the way was a strict, rushed timeline) and submitted my invoice & tax documents. Fast forward and it's now been over 2 months without payment and the marketing agency has been ghosting my emails.”
“it took the threat of legal action to receive payment.”
“We did have a signed contract and it said it would be paid within 30 days. … I sent them the invoice with the final draft and havent heard anything.” [sic]
“Despite fulfilling my deliverables in full and on time, I have not been paid the $3,600 owed to me.”
“I was supposed to be payed Net 30. … I sent my invoice 35 days ago and havent heard back from the accounting department.” [sic]
“I'm still owed over $1500, which our contract states will be paid upon completion”
“YouTube sponsor isn’t paying. … According to the contract, I'm supposed to be paid within three days of the video's release.”
“I had been working for free while they kept the money our presenting sponsor had delivered to them. … The creator payment ecosystem is designed so poorly that many of us are not paid on time. … If you are delinquent outside of your payment terms, you simply have not paid someone.”
“They have sent me an invoice for the Uber fees but it was due a few weeks ago and I still haven’t got the money. … I am owed the Uber fees and the money from the Brand Deal itself.”
“I sent the invoice on Aug. 9th, and it still didn't get paid.”
“They have taken over 4 months to pay me at this point.”
“I quickly realized I shouldn't have made it public until I was paid. … No upfront payment=no video posted.”
“Agency Not Paid For Sponsor after 5 months. … normally I receive payment for sponsors within a month.”
“that being there on the invoice and also in the contract, I feel like it almost acts as an incentive to brands to be mindful about paying on time,”
“The invoice I sent was due 2 days ago (net 15) and they still have not sent their payment.”
Chasing invoices 7
“I don’t feel comfortable giving them bank info considering they lost my invoice 4 times.”
“I have sent the invoice per contract terms, sent multiple reminders … No response since February.”
“Recently a well known UK company hadn't paid me within 30 days of final content approval. … After the fifth chaser they eventually did, but at that point payment was 10 days overdue.”
“The skincare client still has not paid me, invoice is two weeks overdue … $500 is a lot for me right now and I do not want to nag them”
“brands will hit YOU up, beg for a video, love the content, and then just vanish when it's time to pay. i've literally had to send 5+ follow up emails for a single invoice.”
“The agreed payment deadline has already passed. Despite multiple reminders, no payment has been made.”
“I've been chasing payment on a video I did last month for two weeks now.”
Net terms 6
“It was net30 terms...and we are coming up on 45 days this week. … I have done a second deal with them and the invoice is almost 2 weeks late.”
“I’m my experience with brand deals not getting paid up front and having to wait jet 30-60 days is normal.” [sic]
“Reimbursement timelines (Net 30/60) could mean I'm out of pocket for months.”
“They expect you to give them their content within a specific time frame, … But when it comes to getting paid, I have to wait the net 60 or the net 90 [days]. And after that, you really wait another net 30 because you’re still having to chase them for your money.”
“Ideally, we’re getting paid net 30 for sponsored content. I would say that happens maybe 50% of the time. More commonly, I’m presented with net 60,”
“The company operates on a 60 day terms for payment … have ghosted every invoice we’ve sent them”
Usage rights and exclusivity 4
“what do you do when it’s expired? … I’ve been tagging brands as collaborators for the duration of the term, then removing the tag as it expires - though I’m not sure if this is pedantic.”
“Brand backed out of a $500 deal when I asked about usage rights. … When they sent the contract, I noticed there wasn’t clear language about usage rights for the actual content.”
“not allowing other sponsors in same industry … But their contract doesn't allow me working with another PCB company.”
“Do not want to be locked into endorsing them longterm. … I also realize that I will need to negotiate usage rights, deliverables.”
Tracking chaos 3
“I missed a follow-up with one brand because I forgot to reply, and I realized weeks later that I never sent an invoice to another one.”
“I swear half my brain is just remembering whether I sent the right version of a reel or if I even invoiced that one brand that still calls me by the wrong name. … I’ve adopted Notion as my digital brain but honestly it still feels like I’m herding cats.”
“the money is decent but the PROCESS is making me want to quit. … And I can't even remember which brands I'm supposed to follow up with because half my conversations are in IG DMs, some are in email, one brand only talks to me on LinkedIn for some reason??”
Spreadsheets 2
“I only had a few brand emails, one spreadsheet, and a couple reminders in my notes app. But once I started getting more opportunities, my system completely fell apart.”
“I'm using a spreadsheet to track everything but I forget to update it. … I have a folder of invoices that are just named "Invoice_Final_FINAL_v3.pdf" because I keep having to change the deliverables.”
Missed deadlines 1
“I was using my notes app and still missed a couple of posts last month … then spent way too long digging up links when it was time to get paid.”
Other 2
“content rewards has a payout problem and it's been running for months and the staff gave it in writing … clipper payouts are being held for months at end”
“Sponsor Agency Ghosted me … he ghosted me a week ago and didn't approve the scripts i sent him for latest videos … if there's no contact not only do i NOT get paid”