Balance Holds Explained: What Is On Hold and Why

What is a hold on your balance?

A hold is the price of a result that is not decided yet, set aside from your balance so the money is there if the result is approved. It is not a charge. Your total balance stays the same while a completion is on hold, and the hold disappears as soon as the result is decided: an approval turns it into a charge, and a rejection that becomes final releases it.

Holds are what make paying only for approved results safe for both sides. You keep the right to review every task completion, and the user who did the work knows the money for it exists. How your advertiser balance works covers the balance as a whole. This guide looks closely at the part that is set aside.

What goes on hold

Four kinds of results are held. The Balance page lists each one that applies to you under On hold, with its count and amount:

The amount held for each completion is the price for the user’s country at the moment the proof was sent. If you change your bids later, completions already on hold keep the price they arrived with.

Offer campaigns rarely create holds. A step your server reports with a postback is charged straight away, so it never waits for a review. It is held only when your balance cannot cover it at that moment, which is explained in What happens when your balance runs out.

Balance, On hold and Available to spend

Open Balance in the sidebar. The large figure at the top is Available to spend. Below it are two smaller lines: Total balance, which is your full balance including the part that is set aside, and On hold. The info icon next to On hold sums it up: the money is set aside for completions that are not decided yet, it is not charged yet, you pay it only if a completion is approved, and it becomes free again when a rejection is final.

The formula is simple: Available to spend = Total balance − On hold. Most lines under On hold link to the matching lists, so you can jump straight to the completions waiting for your review, the rejected ones, or your disputes. When nothing is held, it says “Nothing is waiting for a decision”.

Your Account page shows the same thing in short. The Balance card shows your total balance with the amount on hold underneath, or “Nothing on hold”.

Why holds decide whether your campaigns run

Sharklio uses Available to spend, not your total balance, for every check that keeps a campaign live:

• Showing on the offerwall. A campaign is shown to a user only while your available amount covers its price for that user’s country. Because prices differ by country, a campaign can disappear for your most expensive countries first.
• Accepting new completions. If a user sends proof and your available amount cannot cover it, the campaign is paused and you get a notification.
• Your campaign budget. If you set a total budget, what is held for that campaign counts toward it together with what it already spent. Campaign budgets and caps explained covers this.
• Offer steps. An offer step is charged only if your balance still covers it after everything held for your task campaigns. Task completions that users already sent always come first.

This is why a campaign can stop showing while your total balance looks healthy. Check On hold before you assume something is wrong.

When holds are released

Each hold lasts as long as the result is undecided. How long that is depends on you and on the user:

1. Waiting for review: up to the end of the approval window you chose for the campaign. Review sooner and the hold ends sooner.
2. Rejected: up to 72 hours while the user can dispute.
3. In a dispute: up to 72 hours for your answer, and if you keep the rejection or do not answer, until Sharklio staff decide.
4. Offer step waiting for balance: until your balance covers it, which you control by topping up.

When an approved completion is later reversed, for example for fraud, that is a refund, not a released hold: the charge is returned to your balance. Reversals and refunds explains how that works.

How to keep holds small

• Review on a schedule. The waiting-for-review row is usually the largest. Clearing it daily, or more often on a busy task, keeps most of your balance available.
• Answer disputes quickly. A dispute you answer today is decided sooner than one left to run out its 72 hours.
• Approve clear work right away. There is no benefit to waiting until the end of the window, and the money is held the whole time.
• Pick a window that fits your routine. A shorter window means completions you forget are decided sooner, in the user’s favor. Approval windows: how to choose one and review on time helps you choose.
• Top up with room to spare. Keep enough above On hold to cover your next completions, so a busy day does not pause your campaigns.

Frequently asked questions