Where the money goes

Every vote on GOAT Rank is a real payment. This page explains exactly what happens to it. We would rather over-explain this than have you guess.

The split

Fees come out of our share

Stripe processes every payment and takes a processing fee, which is deducted from the platform's 60%. The charity and creator shares are calculated on the amount you pledged, not on what is left after fees.

Tax

The price you see at checkout is the amount charged. Where tax applies to a pledge it is settled out of the platform's share rather than added to your total, and it is never counted toward an arena's pool: a $10 pledge contributes $10 either way.

When the charity is paid

Charity money accrues as arenas settle and is remitted in batches rather than per vote, because per-transaction transfers would lose most of a small donation to bank fees. The charity registry in our admin console records the amount owed to each organisation.

Refunds and chargebacks

Votes are generally final. The pool moves the moment a vote lands, and other people make decisions based on it. If a payment is refunded or charged back, we reverse it fully: the amount comes back out of the arena pool, the contender's total and the creator's commission. A refunded vote never counts toward any share.

This is not gambling

A vote is a payment to back a contender and publish a message. It is not a wager. There is no cash prize, no payout to voters, and no way to win money by voting. The only person who earns from an arena is the creator who hosted it, through their 10% commission.

Creator payouts

Creator commission is credited the moment a vote lands. Creators can request a withdrawal once their balance clears the minimum shown on their dashboard. We review each request before sending it, and the balance is debited at the point we mark it paid.