Every order on UGC Editing is funded into escrow before work starts, and released to the editor only when the client approves or 5 days after delivery if the client goes quiet. Neither side has to trust the other with money up front. Right now $2,380 is held across live orders.
The short answer
- Client service fee: 5%
- Editor commission: 10%
- Auto release after delivery: 5 days
- Earnings clearing window: 5 days
When something goes wrong
4.5% of orders on the platform have reached a dispute. When one opens, the escrowed money is frozen where it is: it does not go back to the client and it does not go to the editor until the dispute is resolved, using the brief, the delivered versions and the timestamped notes as the record.
Most disputes are really briefing disagreements. The cheapest protection is a written brief and notes left on the video itself, because both become the evidence if a disagreement ever needs settling.
Questions to ask before you fund an order
A short exchange before funding saves a revision round later. Buyers who order often tend to ask the same few things.
- Have you cut this format before? Ask for one example that is close to your brief, not the best piece in the reel.
- What do you need from me to start? The answer tells you how organized the editor's process is.
- Which files will I get back? Exports for each placement, a caption file, and whether the project file is included.
- How do you want feedback? Timestamped notes on the video are faster for both sides than a list in a message.
- What happens if the footage does not support the brief? A good editor will say so early rather than deliver something that technically follows the brief and does not work.
None of these are tests. They simply surface the assumptions that otherwise come out in round two.
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. There are no listing fees and nothing to pay to apply for a job.
Mistakes that cost time and money
Most of the waste in an editing job happens before the first cut.
- Hiring on the showreel alone. A reel shows an editor's best work; the delivery record shows their usual work.
- Leaving the brief open. Every decision the brief does not make, a revision round makes instead.
- Sending notes one at a time. Batched notes in one round are faster for everyone than a trickle of messages.
- Changing direction mid round. A new idea after the first cut is a new brief, and it should be priced as one.
- Skipping escrow. Paying off platform removes the one mechanism that settles a disagreement fairly.
Each of these is easier to avoid than to fix.
How revision rounds play out
Basic packages among editors on UGC Editing include 1 revision round, standard 2 revision rounds and premium 3 revision rounds, and briefs on the job board ask for a median of 2 rounds. In practice, 41% of funded orders were approved without using a revision at all, and 10% used more rounds than were included.
The median order ends on version 2, and the most versions any one order has reached is 3. The orders that run long almost always started from a thin brief. Agreeing the hook, the length and the call to action up front is cheaper than discovering them in round three.
Where the money sits
Every order on UGC Editing runs through escrow, in the same order every time:
- The client funds the order. The money leaves their card and is held, not paid out.
- The editor delivers a cut, and the client leaves timestamped notes or approves it.
- On approval the funds are released to the editor's balance.
- If the client neither approves nor asks for a revision, the order releases automatically 5 days after delivery.
- Released earnings clear for 5 days before they can be withdrawn.
At the time of writing, $2,380 is held in escrow across live orders and $1,470 has been released to editors over 30 completed orders. Automatic release exists so that a silent client cannot hold an editor's pay hostage.
Where to go from here
The fastest way to use these numbers is against real profiles. Hire with escrow, filter to the format you need, and shortlist editors whose package already covers your brief. Funding an order through escrow means you only pay once you approve the cut.
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 64 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.