Editors on UGC Editing keep 90% of every order subtotal, and the median editor starts at $5. What you earn depends far more on repeat clients than on your list price. This page sets out the commission, the payout rules and what the market charges, so you can price from data instead of guesswork.
The short answer
- Editor commission: 10%
- Median starting price, whole marketplace: $5
- Editor net on a median job: $4.50
- Minimum payout: $25, flat fee $1
How quickly editors reply
The median editor in this group replies to an invitation in 35 minutes, and 36% reply within half an hour. Right now 11 are open for new work, 1 are fully booked, and 9 accept instant booking, which means you can fund an order straight from their package without a call first.
Reply time is worth weighing because it predicts how a revision round will feel. An editor who answers a brief within the hour usually answers notes the same way.
The reliability signals worth reading
Portfolios show what an editor can do on a good day. These numbers show what they do on an ordinary one, and they are recorded by the platform, not written by the editor:
| Signal | Median across rising tier editors |
|---|---|
| Delivered on time | 96% |
| Orders completed | 94% |
| Clients who came back | 21% |
| Reviews per editor | 32 |
The average rating in this group is 4.6 out of five. Ratings cluster high on every marketplace, which makes the repeat client rate the more honest signal. A client who books the same editor again is a review written with money.
What the fees add
The editor's price is not the whole bill. Clients pay a service fee of 5% on top of the subtotal, and editors pay a commission of 10% out of it. On a job at the median starting price, that is $0.25 in client fees for a total of $5.25, while the editor keeps $4.50 after a $0.50 commission.
Both figures come from one quote, so what the client is charged and what the editor is paid always reconcile. Editors withdraw once they hold at least $25, and each withdrawal carries a flat $1 payout fee. Applying to jobs and listing a profile cost nothing.
How editors win the brief
An application is read in seconds, so the first lines decide it. The applications that convert tend to do the same things:
- Open with the closest match. One example that looks like the brief beats a link to a full reel.
- Restate the job in a sentence. It proves you read the brief and catches misunderstandings before they cost anything.
- Say what you need. Footage, brand assets, a reference. It signals you have done this before.
- Quote inside the posted range. If the brief needs more than the budget allows, say which part and why.
- Keep your profile current. Packages, turnaround and availability are what a brand checks after reading your application.
Then deliver the first job early, and the next one usually arrives without an application at all.
Mistakes that cost time and money
Editors tend to lose clients in predictable ways.
- Pricing below your own floor to win a first job. The client anchors on that number for every job after it.
- Starting before the brief is clear. Questions asked before the first cut are free; questions asked after it cost you a revision round.
- Treating notes as a negotiation. Fix the must fix items, and explain any preference you disagree with once, briefly.
- Delivering late without warning. A missed date with a day of notice is forgiven far more often than one without.
- Sending one export. Deliver every placement the brief named, named clearly.
None of them needs more budget to avoid, only an earlier conversation.
Pricing yourself against the market
The median editor on UGC Editing starts at $5. Among rising tier editors the median is $5, level with the marketplace as a whole. Half of the editors in this group start between $5 and $6. On a job at the median starting price, an editor keeps $4.50 after commission, which is 90% of the subtotal.
The median brief on the board draws 7 applications, so an application has to earn its place quickly. Undercutting is a weak strategy here. The median repeat client rate in this group is 21%, and a returning client is the cheapest order an editor will ever win: no pitch, no trial, a brief that already knows your style.
Where to go from here
If you are pricing your own work, look at what editors with a similar portfolio list and where open briefs set their budgets. You can browse open jobs right now, and every application you send is free.
How we worked this out
Every figure on this page was computed from UGC Editing marketplace data as of Oct 15, 2026. The editor figures cover 14 profiles in scope out of 64 on the platform. Medians are lower medians, so each one is a value an editor or a brief actually listed rather than an average of two. Fees come from our own published fee schedule.
Nothing here comes from a survey, a study or an industry estimate. If our data cannot answer something, this page leaves it unanswered rather than guessing.