States and deadlines
The lookup table: which state an order can be in, who moves it, how long each deadline runs, and what is configuration against what is written into the contract.
States of an order
Every purchase lives in one of these states. The names are the ones you see in your dashboard.
| State | What it means | Who moves it | Where it can go |
|---|---|---|---|
| Created | There is a signed quote, not paid yet | The buyer, by signing the payment | Paid |
| Paid | The amount sits in escrow and the buyer can already download | The seller on delivery, the buyer on confirming | Delivered, Released, Refunded or Disputed |
| Delivered | The seller marked the delivery | The buyer on confirming, or the deadline falling due | Released, Refunded or Disputed |
| Disputed | The buyer opened the case | Only the buyer, or the committee when it resolves | Resolved, or back to the previous state |
| Released | The payment was credited to the seller | Nobody: it is final | None |
| Refunded | The amount went back in full to the buyer | Nobody: it is final | None |
| Resolved | A dispute ended, with a split or with a refund | Nobody: it is final | None |
| Expired | The quote or the payment ran out without being funded: no money is in escrow | Nobody: it is final | None |
| Cancelled | The order was cancelled before being funded: no money is in escrow | Nobody: it is final | None |
- The last five are irreversible: no key can undo them.
- The seller has no on-chain action while the order is disputed.
- Withdrawing a dispute returns the order to the state it had, it does not flatten it to Paid.
- Once the deadline has passed, anyone can execute the automatic release, and the split is the same whoever executes it.
Deadlines the contract sets
These numbers are written into the verified code. They are not configuration: changing them would take deploying another contract.
| Deadline | How long | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Automatic release window | Between 1 hour and 365 days | The contract rejects any quote outside that range |
| Maximum expiry of a quote | 7 days | A quote signed beyond that is rejected |
| Dispute deadline | 30 days | After that, the buyer closes it and gets the whole amount back |
| Dispute extension | Once only, 30 days | Only the committee, and only while the deadline is still alive |
| Grace for an absent buyer | 30 more days | After that, anyone can execute the closure, with the same split |
| Dispute openings per purchase | 3 | Once used up, it cannot be opened again |
| Wait to change the fee or the treasury | 48 hours | And it expires after 7 days if not applied |
| Admin handover | 3 days | It is two-step and delayed |
A pause of the contract freezes all these clocks and gives them back intact on resuming: nobody loses a window because of a stop.
Dispute deadlines
On top of what the contract sets, the committee commits to deadlines of its own.
| Deadline | How long | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Committee decision commitment | 20 days | Counted from the moment the dispute opens |
| Safe execution window | 48 hours | If less than that is left before expiry, the resolution is not executed at the last minute |
| Closure on expiry | 30 days | The buyer executes it from the contract |
| Withdraw and reopen | While the original deadline is still alive | The deadline is inherited, not renewed |
- Only the buyer opens the dispute, withdraws it and closes it on expiry.
- The seller puts their side in the case file, off-chain.
- A dispute resolved by the committee can split the amount between the two.
- Whoever executes a closure on expiry gains nothing by doing so.
The full rules are in the dispute policy.
Windows the platform configures
These figures are configuration, and this page reads them live: if they change, what you see here changes.
| Setting | Value today | What for |
|---|---|---|
| Fee | 3.8% | It comes out of the seller's side |
| Quote expiry | 15 minutes | After that you ask for a new price |
| Automatic release | 24 hours | From the payment, if nobody confirms or disputes |
| Minimum to withdraw | 0.01 USDC | Below that figure the withdrawal is not issued |
The automatic release deadline is also your window to open a dispute: when it falls due, the purchase closes.
What is contract and what is configuration
The difference matters: what is in the contract nobody changes without deploying another contract; what is configuration changes on the platform and, when it touches money, with a 48-hour wait.
| Rule | Where it lives | Who can change it |
|---|---|---|
| The two exits of the money | In the contract | Nobody |
| The absolute fee cap | In the contract | Nobody |
| The 30 days of a dispute and its single extension | In the contract | Nobody |
| The fee percentage in force | Configuration, capped by the contract | The multisig, with a 48-hour wait |
| The treasury that receives the fee | Configuration, with a wait in the contract | The multisig, with a 48-hour wait |
| The automatic release and the price expiry | Platform configuration | The administration, within the contract ranges |
- What is in the contract you can check yourself on the explorer.
- Changes with a wait are public while they wait.
- No configuration change touches an order that already exists.
Keep going
If you are after the reason behind each number:
The documentation explains how this works; the help centre walks you through it. Go to the help centre.