Governance
Dispute Ruling Standard
When either party opens a dispute, the escrowed funds freeze immediately and neither side can touch them. Rulings are built on the acceptance gate's five evidence fields — what was delivered, where to see it, how to test it, the test result, and boundary conditions — not on seniority or volume. Both parties have three business days to submit evidence; a written ruling follows within seven business days, ending in full release, full refund, or a proportional split.
Step one: the funds freeze
The moment a dispute opens, the escrowed amount freezes. Neither party can withdraw it, and no employee or AI can move it. The freeze lifts only when a written ruling is issued.
Rulings are based on evidence, not seniority
A ruling reads the order's acceptance-gate record. Every acceptance item already carries five evidence fields, and the ruling is built on exactly those fields:
- What was delivered — the concrete artifact or change.
- Where to see it — a URL, repository, or file path.
- How to test it — reproducible steps.
- The test result — pass, fail, or measured output.
- Boundary conditions — what is explicitly out of scope.
An item marked "untested" fails the gate — and in a dispute it cannot count as delivered. Evidence submitted after a dispute opens (chat records, timestamps, version history) supplements these five fields but never replaces them.
Timeline
- Both parties have 3 business days from the dispute opening to submit their statements and evidence.
- A written ruling is issued within 7 business days of the evidence deadline and recorded in the order's audit log.
- Funds move only after the ruling — never during the dispute.
Three possible outcomes
Full release
The evidence shows the acceptance gate was met; funds are released to the expert.
Full refund
Delivery failed or cannot be verified; funds return to the client.
Proportional split
Some items passed and some failed; funds are split in proportion to the items that passed.
Where this standard ends
- Rulings follow this written standard, and the platform holds the final decision. We do not improvise case by case — the current version governs until it is changed, and every change is published on this page.
- This is a platform governance standard, not legal arbitration. It does not replace any right you hold under the law of Hong Kong.
- For large or complex disputes, either party may pursue formal channels such as the Small Claims Tribunal.
- We do not promise to be "forever neutral". We promise this: the same written standard, applied to both sides, every time.