SmarTrust for Buyers
Hire online and cross-border with confidence. SmarTrust secures your funds in escrow, locks in clear deliverables, and releases payment only when work meets your standards.
Reasons Buyers Love SmarTrust
- Work delivered before payment — funds release only when milestones are met.
- Reduced risk of scams — providers get paid only upon acceptance.
- Fair outcomes — transparent, rule-based adjudication if something goes wrong.
- Peace of mind — money is protected and the process is traceable.
- Predictable costs — transparent, lower fees with no arbitration spend unless required.
The Problem
Hiring online or cross-border means high information asymmetry — it’s hard to know who to trust, what’s included, and when you’ll actually get results.
Vague deliverables and shifting scope create misalignment, missed deadlines, and “he-said/she-said” arguments.
Paying up front is risky; paying at the end invites delays or abandonment. Traditional escrows feel slow, expensive, or biased.
When there’s disagreement, manual arbitration is costly, slow, and often tilted toward large platforms or buyers/sellers — not fairness.
Every project is different — retainers vs. fixed-fee, phased deliverables, change orders — and most tools aren’t flexible enough.
Our Solution
Funds-in-escrow until acceptance — your money is secured and released only when milestones meet agreed criteria.
Executable Statements of Work — deliverables, acceptance criteria, timelines, and revision rules are codified to prevent scope creep.
Milestone control — approve each step, request revisions, or partially accept with clear, traceable records.
Always-on AI mediation — small issues are resolved quickly and systematically before they escalate.
Transparent, low fees — pay less than traditional platforms and only for adjudication if it’s truly needed.
Configurable to your project — fixed-fee, retainers, discovery sprints, change-order gates, and cross-border flows.
How It Works
1) Create your deal
Guided setup helps you define milestones, deliverables, timelines, and acceptance criteria — fast and with fewer gaps.
2) Fund escrow safely
Commit a deposit or the full amount. Funds are safeguarded and only released on acceptance (or partial acceptance).
3) Track progress by milestone
Your provider submits work against clear criteria. You approve, request revisions, or escalate to mediation.
4) Release on acceptance
When a milestone meets your standards, SmarTrust releases funds instantly and logs the outcome.
5) Resolve fairly if needed
If agreement isn’t reached, transparent adjudication applies the agreed rules — no hidden policies or guesswork.
Benefits for Buyers
Reduce risk — pay only for accepted work. Your budget and timeline are protected.
Clarity from day one — deliverables and acceptance criteria remove ambiguity and scope drift.
Cash-flow control — deposit once, release precisely when milestones are met (or partially met).
Fewer escalations — AI mediation resolves small issues quickly, keeping your project on track.
Lower total cost — transparent fees and no arbitration spend unless you actually need it.
Works for cross-border — flexible terms accommodate time zones, phased delivery, and repeat engagements.
Use Cases
Fixed-scope website or app build
Define design, development, QA, and launch milestones with acceptance tests. Release funds only when each phase passes.
Retainer for SEO, content, or social
Monthly deliverables with rollover rules and mid-cycle change orders handled cleanly and visibly.
Discovery sprint before a full project
Pay for a short research/prototype phase first. If goals are met, phase-two funding and milestones are already lined up.
Cross-border specialist hire
Mitigate unknown-provider risk with escrow, milestone checks, and AI mediation across time zones.
Get Started
Protect your budget, lock in clear deliverables, and pay only for accepted work. Set up your first SmarTrust deal in minutes.