When do I get paid?
Last updated: 23 October 2026
Money for a completed order does not move the moment the buyer accepts your delivery. It waits out a clearance period first, then follows Stripe's own payout schedule to your bank. Most sellers see it 8 to 10 days after the buyer accepts.
The clearance period
When a buyer accepts your delivery, your earnings are marked as clearing for 7 days. Expert sellers clear in 3 days instead.
This window exists so that fraud, a disputed payment or a mistake can still be reversed while the money is recoverable. Once funds reach a seller's own bank they cannot be pulled back, so the wait protects every honest seller on Sawa from the cost of the rare dishonest one.
You can see the date your earnings become available on the order itself and on your Payouts screen. Nothing is required from you — it releases on its own.
Then the bank transfer
Once cleared, the money is sent to your Stripe account and paid out to your bank on Stripe's normal schedule, which adds a further day or two. Your bank, not Sawa, decides when it appears on your statement.
Why it might be longer
- Your Stripe details are incomplete — open Payouts and finish the setup. Earnings are held, not lost.
- The order is disputed. Nothing releases until the dispute is resolved.
- The buyer was refunded, in full or in part, so there is less to pay out or nothing at all.
Reaching Expert
Levels are earned, not bought, and they are recalculated automatically from your completed orders, your ratings, how many different buyers you have worked with, how long you have been on Sawa and your cancellation rate. Only cancellations that were your own count against you — a buyer cancelling before you start does not.
Expert is the only level with a shorter clearance period. We do not sell a faster one.