Reimbursement Options

If you choose "Creator will purchase the product(s) directly" instead of shipping product, you'll need to decide how to reimburse Creators for what they spend. There are two approaches, and at any real volume we recommend the first.

Option 1 (recommended): build reimbursement into compensation as a flat amount

Set one reimbursement amount that covers every Creator — the product price plus enough headroom for sales tax, rounded up generously. Sales tax varies by state, so a flat, slightly generous number is simpler than chasing exact totals, and it scales to hundreds of Creators without a review step.

Say it plainly in the brief, and add it as a question on the Targeting page (4th page) of the brief builder so applicants opt in knowingly:

This brief requires accepted Creators to purchase product from X store. Reimbursement is already included in your overall compensation. If accepted, are you willing and able to go to X store to purchase?

Option 2: reimburse the exact amount from a receipt

Ask Creators to post a photo of their receipt in the Cohley chat. Once you see it, click the edit icon next to that Creator's expected compensation and set it to their original compensation + the exact reimbursement.

This gets you to the cent, but it's a per-Creator manual review — practical for a handful of Creators, not for a large brief.

Note: Seeding briefs work differently

Option 2 is not available in a Seeding brief. Seeding briefs have no Creator chat, so there's no way for a Creator to send you a receipt, and no receipt upload elsewhere in the brief. Reimbursement in a Seeding brief is something you start — nothing triggers it, because Cohley has no way to know a Creator spent their own money. Use Reimburse Creator on each Creator in the brief, or ask Finn to reimburse a set amount per Creator. Use the flat-amount approach in Option 1 and communicate it in the brief. See What is a Seeding Brief?