Rules for payouts, Stripe-connected activity, and monetization compliance.
Pedestal Studio Payment Processing Policy
Effective Date: 3/25/2026
Last Updated: 3/30/2026
This Payment Processing Policy ("Policy") governs payments, subscriptions, commissions, tips, digital sales, premium-content sales, storefront sales, and other monetized activity conducted through Pedestal Studio and its related websites, applications, tools, and services (collectively, the "Platform").
By using the Platform to buy, sell, subscribe, commission, tip, or otherwise transact, you agree to comply with this Policy, the Terms of Service, the Acceptable Use Policy, and all other Platform rules and guidelines.
## 1. Purpose
Pedestal Studio uses third-party payment service providers, including Stripe, to facilitate transactions between users. Stripe prohibits certain business categories and activities, including adult content and services, certain restricted products, unlawful activity, unlawful violence, intellectual property infringement, and various regulated or high-risk goods and services.
Pedestal Studio maintains a strict payment-processing and content-enforcement framework designed to:
- protect buyers and sellers;
- preserve access to payment processing;
- reduce fraud, abuse, chargebacks, and regulatory exposure;
- prevent prohibited commerce and monetization; and
- support secure handling of transactions without storing raw card data.
## 2. Payment Processor Role
All payment transactions on the Platform are processed by authorized third-party payment processors, including Stripe. Pedestal Studio is not a bank, money transmitter, card issuer, or payment network.
Pedestal Studio may:
- facilitate checkout, subscriptions, one-time purchases, commissions, tips, and other approved monetization flows;
- onboard sellers through Stripe Connect or related payout infrastructure;
- delay, reserve, restrict, reverse, or withhold payouts where permitted by law or contract;
- suspend monetization features where compliance, fraud, safety, or policy issues are detected; and
- share required transaction, account, tax, and compliance data with Stripe and other service providers as necessary to operate the Platform and comply with law.
## 3. Fees and Processing Charges
Pedestal Studio currently applies the following fee structure to monetized transactions processed through the Platform:
### 3.1 Pedestal Platform Fee
Pedestal charges a 5% platform fee on applicable monetized transactions.
This platform fee currently applies to monetized transaction flows including:
- digital sales;
- storefront sales;
- premium-content sales;
- subscription sales;
- commission sales; and
- other approved creator checkout flows implemented through Platform checkout.
### 3.2 Stripe Processing Fee Allocation
Stripe payment-processing fees are currently treated as 2.9% plus $0.30 per transaction.
For monetized transactions processed through the Platform:
- when the transaction amount is $500.00 or less, the seller bears 100% of the Stripe processing fee;
- when the transaction amount is greater than $500.00, the Stripe processing fee is split equally between the seller and Pedestal Studio, with the seller bearing 50% and Pedestal Studio bearing 50%.
This processing-fee rule is intended to apply across digital sales, storefront sales, premium-content sales, subscription sales, and commission sales.
### 3.3 How Fees Are Collected
Pedestal Studio may collect its platform fee and any seller-allocated processing fee by:
- deducting them from checkout proceeds;
- netting them from connected-account transfers or payouts;
- retaining the applicable amount before remitting funds to the seller; or
- offsetting the applicable amount against later payouts, reserves, or recoveries where permitted by law and contract.
### 3.4 Processor Fee Changes
If Stripe or another payment processor changes its pricing, Pedestal Studio may update the fee allocation described in this Policy by posting an updated version of the Policy. Continued use of monetization features after an updated Policy becomes effective constitutes acceptance of the revised terms.
## 4. Seller Eligibility
To use monetization features as a seller, creator, or payee on Pedestal Studio, you must:
- be at least 18 years old;
- have legal capacity to enter into a binding agreement;
- provide truthful, complete, and current onboarding information;
- complete any identity, tax, business, payout, or verification requirements requested by Pedestal Studio or Stripe; and
- comply with all Platform rules, Stripe rules, and applicable laws.
Pedestal Studio may impose stricter requirements for certain categories, geographies, payout methods, transaction sizes, risk profiles, or regulated activities.
## 5. Zero Raw Card Data Storage
Pedestal Studio is designed so that cardholder-data functions are outsourced to PCI-compliant payment processors. Pedestal Studio will not knowingly:
- store raw payment card numbers;
- store CVV/CVC or other sensitive authentication data;
- store full magnetic stripe data;
- directly process card data on Pedestal-controlled servers; or
- permit users to transmit card details through messages, listings, posts, descriptions, comments, or uploaded files.
Users are strictly prohibited from submitting payment card data anywhere on the Platform except through authorized checkout flows provided by Pedestal Studio's payment processor.
## 6. PCI DSS Commitment
Pedestal Studio intends to implement payments in a manner designed to reduce PCI scope and preserve the narrowest appropriate compliance footprint available for the Platform's actual environment.
Pedestal Studio may, in its sole discretion:
- require Stripe-hosted or otherwise processor-controlled payment elements;
- prohibit custom payment forms that expand PCI scope;
- conduct security reviews, scans, and implementation checks;
- require immediate remediation of payment-related security risks; and
- suspend monetization until compliance issues are resolved.
## 7. Permitted Transactions
Only lawful, accurately described, approved transactions may be processed on the Platform. Allowed transactions may include approved creator monetization flows such as:
- digital content sales;
- approved physical goods;
- subscriptions;
- commissions;
- tips;
- gated content access;
- approved custom work; and
- approved service-based creator offerings.
All transactions remain subject to review, category restrictions, geographic restrictions, payment-processor limitations, and Platform discretion.
## 8. Prohibited Transactions, Content, and Commerce
Pedestal Studio strictly prohibits using the Platform or its payment infrastructure for any activity prohibited by law, prohibited by Stripe, prohibited by card-network rules, or prohibited by Pedestal Studio policy.
Without limitation, prohibited activity includes:
- adult content and sexual services;
- child sexual exploitation or unsafe conduct involving minors;
- illegal goods or illegal services;
- unlawful violence, hate activity, or abusive conduct;
- counterfeit, pirated, stolen, or infringing goods;
- fraud, deceptive commerce, transaction laundering, or payment misuse; and
- off-platform payment routing intended to evade fees, moderation, compliance review, or recordkeeping.
## 9. Content Moderation and Posting Restrictions
Pedestal Studio heavily moderates monetized and non-monetized content. Any content, listing, post, message, commission request, subscription offering, product upload, storefront item, caption, preview, thumbnail, comment, or media file that appears to violate this Policy, the Terms, or payment-processor rules may be blocked before publication or removed after publication.
Pedestal Studio may use manual review, automated detection systems, keyword controls, image/video screening, metadata review, user reporting, trust-and-safety scoring, and other moderation methods to detect prohibited activity.
Pedestal Studio may:
- reject uploads before publication;
- prevent listing creation;
- disable checkout;
- freeze payouts;
- remove content;
- require additional verification;
- suspend seller privileges; and
- permanently ban accounts.
## 10. Seller Responsibility for Fulfillment
Sellers are solely responsible for:
- ensuring that goods, content, subscriptions, commissions, and services are lawful and accurately described;
- fulfilling orders in accordance with listing terms;
- delivering purchased digital goods, access, or services as promised;
- maintaining the rights necessary to sell, license, or distribute the item; and
- ensuring that no uploaded or sold material violates this Policy.
Pedestal Studio may automate delivery for certain digital goods, but automation does not transfer legal responsibility for the underlying item, rights clearance, or fulfillment obligations away from the seller.
## 11. Verification, Monitoring, and Risk Controls
Pedestal Studio may require identity verification, business verification, tax forms, bank verification, age verification, category review, proof of rights, or proof of inventory before enabling or continuing payouts.
Pedestal Studio may also:
- delay or hold payouts during investigations;
- impose rolling reserves;
- cap transaction volume;
- cap payout velocity;
- require manual approval for certain categories;
- block high-risk geographies or transaction types; and
- disable subscriptions, commissions, or one-time sales for flagged users.
## 12. Refunds, Reversals, Chargebacks, and Loss Allocation
Pedestal Studio may issue, facilitate, require, or enforce refunds, reversals, or transaction adjustments where necessary to:
- resolve payment disputes;
- address fraud;
- correct processing errors;
- comply with law;
- enforce Platform policies; or
- respond to non-delivery, misrepresentation, or prohibited transactions.
If a payment is reversed, disputed, refunded, charged back, or otherwise clawed back, Pedestal Studio may recover the amount from the seller, offset future payouts, debit reserves, or use any other lawful recovery method described in applicable agreements.
Sellers are responsible for losses associated with their own prohibited conduct, inaccurate listings, fulfillment failures, infringement, fraud, abusive activity, or policy violations, subject to applicable law and Platform agreements.
## 13. Taxes, Reporting, and Compliance Disclosures
Sellers are responsible for determining, collecting, reporting, and remitting any taxes, duties, levies, or other governmental assessments arising from their use of the Platform, except where Pedestal Studio or its payment processor is expressly required by law to collect or remit them.
Pedestal Studio may collect and share tax, identity, and transaction data with Stripe, tax authorities, regulators, law enforcement, banking partners, and service providers as required by law, contract, subpoena, audit, risk review, or compliance need.
## 14. Suspension and Termination of Payment Access
Pedestal Studio may suspend, restrict, or permanently terminate any user's access to payment features at any time, with or without prior notice, where Pedestal Studio believes:
- the user violated this Policy;
- the user presents unacceptable legal, fraud, chargeback, safety, or compliance risk;
- the user attempted to sell prohibited content or goods;
- the user attempted to evade moderation or Stripe restrictions; or
- continued payment access may harm buyers, sellers, the Platform, or processor relationships.
Pedestal Studio may also preserve evidence, withhold payouts pending investigation, and cooperate with Stripe and other authorities.
## 15. No Guarantee of Payment Availability
Pedestal Studio does not guarantee uninterrupted availability of any payment method, payout rail, subscription function, commission flow, or checkout feature. Payment capabilities may be changed, limited, or removed at any time based on processor rules, law, geography, product category, technical constraints, or risk conditions.
## 16. Policy Updates
Pedestal Studio may modify this Policy at any time by posting an updated version on the Platform. Continued use of the Platform after the effective date of any revised Policy constitutes acceptance of the updated Policy.
## 17. Contact
For payment-processing, compliance, moderation, or restricted-content questions, contact:
Pedestal Studio
support@pedestalstud.io