Take the retainer before the case, however lumpy the month.
Investigation agencies take a retainer up front, work it down, and ask for more when the hours run out. Send the retainer as one payment link, and each top-up as another. The client pays the full amount from their own wallet, and it settles to a wallet you control, after the required network confirmations.
Before you read on: we publish every business type we take and every one we refuse — 28 we take, 10 we refuse.
Check yours in ten secondsMoney up front, months that never look alike, and results nobody can promise.
The retainer has to be paid before the case starts
A client rings, you agree the scope, and the hours start the moment you take the case on. Without the retainer in first, you are working on credit for someone you met on one phone call.
Send the retainer as one fixed link once the scope is agreed, with your case reference in its description. The client pays from their own wallet, and settlement reaches your wallet after the required network confirmations. If the case needs more hours, the top-up is one more link.
A quiet month, then a busy one, and your payouts are frozen
Case work does not arrive evenly. A few large retainers in the same month can look, to an automated check, like a sudden change in your business, and your payouts stop while someone asks why.
A wallet payment goes to a wallet only you control, so it can sit alongside whatever you use today as a second way to get paid. Two honest limits: while your Zoyn account is under review, Zoyn pauses automatic payouts to your wallet until the review is finished; and a card payment can be declined or asked for ID before it is sent.
The result was not what the client hoped for
You did the hours and wrote the report, but the answer was not the one the client wanted, and now they are asking for their money back.
Your written terms of engagement decide what is owed, together with the law that applies to you. The unused part of a retainer is yours to send back yourself; Zoyn has no refund button. A wallet payment is not pulled back by Zoyn after the required network confirmations; card-funded payments can still be disputed under the provider's own rules.
One link per retainer, whoever the client is.
Private clients
One link for the agreed retainer, sent after the first call. The description holds your case reference only, never the details of the case.
Law firms and insurers
One link per instruction or per invoice. If a firm is billed monthly, each invoice is its own link, and there is no automatic monthly charge.
Business enquiries and due diligence
A fixed fee for a defined piece of work, as one link. Anything added to the scope later is its own link for the exact amount.
Scope, retainer, then the work.
Agree the scope, then send the retainer
A fixed amount with your case reference as the description. Send it with your terms of engagement.
The client pays before the work starts
From their own wallet, or by card where a card option is offered in their country and the payment passes its checks.
Top up only when the hours run out
Each top-up is one more link for the exact amount. Settlement reaches your wallet after the required network confirmations.
What an investigation agency asks first.
Can I take a retainer and then top it up as the case goes on?
Yes. The retainer is one link and each top-up is another, each a fixed amount. Every link is a single payment, and nothing charges the client automatically.
What should I put in the link description?
Your own case or invoice reference. The client sees the description when they pay, so keep the details of the case in your own files, not on the link.
The case finished early. How do I return the rest of the retainer?
A retainer taken this way is a full payment, so returning any unused part is a payment you send back yourself, under your own terms of engagement. Zoyn has no refund button.
Is the money really mine once it arrives?
It lands in a wallet only you control. Two honest limits: while your Zoyn account is under review, Zoyn pauses automatic payouts to your wallet until the review is finished; and a card payment can be declined or asked for ID before it is sent.
Do you accept my business?
We publish every business type we take and every one we refuse, and every application is checked before it goes live. We don't promise a timeline we can't keep.
Not sure we'd take your business at all? See what we accept and what we don't. Payouts already frozen where you are now? Read what to do when your payouts are frozen.
Take your next case retainer on Zoyn.
Apply today, and each retainer and top-up reaches your wallet after the required network confirmations. Every application is reviewed.