How to Review and Approve a Delivery
Approval is what pays the creator, and the only step you cannot take back. Here is the whole flow, including the clock nobody tells you about.
What this guide covers
Where the delivery actually appears
Approving happens in the chat with the creator, in your inbox. Not in the Contents library, which has no approve button despite its Approved counter.
The Final Delivered Result panel. The approve box is only there while the delivery is unreviewed.
View Post
Opens the live post on the creator’s account. Always click this before approving.
Download
The raw video and image files at original quality, for your own paid social or site.
Preview
A phone-shaped preview of how it ran.
Copy
A public share link. Anyone who has it can view the content, with no login.
Your team members can approve from the inbox like you, but they cannot open the Contents library at all. The sidebar still shows the link and sends them back to the dashboard.
The clock you are on, whether you know it or not
There is no automatic approval. If you do nothing, the deal does not quietly complete. It fails, and the money goes back to you.
How long you have depends on what the creator submitted, not on when you last looked.
That sounds like it favours you, and in a narrow sense it does. But a refund is rarely what you wanted: you lose the content, the campaign slot and the platform fee, which is not returned.
The short clock is the one to watch. If a creator delivers an Instagram story, our system cannot read it, so the window is not extended and you may have under 48 hours from the agreed publish date. Ask for a screen recording through the chat upload as well, which puts the deal on the ten day clock.
Approving, and why it is the last reversible step
Approval releases the money to the creator within about a minute. You cannot undo it.
Clicking Approve it opens a note box. The wording matters: Let our Admin know what you think about {creator}, and underneath, This is to be sent ONLY to our admin and NOT to the influencer.
| Who reads your note | Ainfluencer only. The creator never sees it |
| When the money moves | Within about a minute |
| Can you reverse it | No. Not by you |
| What the creator sees | Campaign delivery was approved by {brand}, by push and in the chat |
Because the note never reaches the creator, approving with a complaint in the box achieves nothing. If you want something changed, say it in the chat and do not approve yet.
You can approve a deal that already shows Failed, and you can approve one with no delivery at all. If the deal was already refunded, approving charges your wallet again for the price, though not the fee. If your balance is short you will see You currently do not have enough funds in your wallet.
Disapproving, and what it does to your money
Disapproving does not refund you straight away. The money stays held, deliberately, so the creator has a chance to fix the post.
| You disapprove | Ainfluencer support disapproves | |
|---|---|---|
| Your money | Stays held, returned 14 days after the deal’s start date | Returned immediately |
| The creator is told | By email only. No chat message is posted | By email and a message in the chat |
| Can they fix it | Yes. A new link puts the deal back to waiting for your approval | No. The deal is over |
| Can you change your mind | Not from your screen, see below | No |
Two things to do at the same moment you disapprove. Message the creator in the chat, because your note went to us and they will only get an email saying they were disapproved, with no detail. And if you want the money back sooner than 14 days, contact support and ask for the collaboration to be disapproved from our side, which refunds immediately.
Known fault worth knowing before you click: once you have disapproved, the approve and disapprove box disappears from your inbox. If the creator then fixes the post and you want to approve after all, you cannot do it yourself. Ask support, and an admin can approve on your behalf.
Why the status label cannot tell you what you need
On your side the deal reads Published whether the delivery is waiting for you or already approved. The same label covers both.
| What you see | What it can mean |
|---|---|
| Waiting Payment | You have not paid. Nothing is held and the creator should not be working |
| Paid and Scheduled | Your money is in escrow and the creator is making the content |
| Published | Either delivered and waiting for your approval or already approved. The label does not distinguish them |
| Failed | A timer ran out. A refund follows about a day later |
The reliable check is the approve box. If Approve it and Disapprove it are still showing under Final Delivered Result, nobody has reviewed the delivery and the clock is running towards a refund. If the box is gone, a decision has been made.
What to check before you click approve
Approval is irreversible and takes a few seconds. The checking is the part worth slowing down for.
Open the live post
Not the preview. Click View Post and look at it on the creator’s actual account.
Read the caption against your brief
Nothing checks this automatically. Our system fetches the post to save a copy; it does not read captions for required tags.
Confirm the mention and the hashtag
A tag in the image is not the same as the brand handle in the caption.
Check the disclosure
#ad or #sponsored. In many countries this is a legal requirement, not just a campaign rule.
Check it is public
A private or restricted post cannot be verified and may disappear from your audience.
Check the Duration you agreed
Permanent or Temporary is a term on the offer. If you agreed Permanent, the post is meant to stay up.
If something is wrong, the fix is almost always a caption edit, which needs no new link and most creators do within hours. Ask in the chat and keep the deal unapproved while they do it.
When the buttons do not behave
Three situations that look like a bug and have different explanations.
| What happens | Why | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| The approve box is not there at all | Someone has already reviewed the delivery, possibly an admin | Check whether the creator was paid. Contact support if it was not you |
| You clicked approve and nothing happened | The server refused it, most often because the deal was refunded and your wallet cannot cover re-charging it. The pop-up closes and hides the box without showing the error | Reload the chat, which brings the box back, then add funds |
| URL has been approved or disapproved by an administrator | An admin already decided, so your decision cannot override it | Contact support if you disagree |
After any refused action, reload the chat before assuming it worked. The interface hides the box on both success and failure, which is the single most misleading thing on this screen.
The whole review, start to finish
From the delivery landing in your inbox to the money moving.
Something waiting on your approval?
Open your inbox, or let our team walk you through the delivery flow on a quick demo.
