Frozen and Held Funds
Five different things on Onflow Ads can make part of your balance unspendable. None of them takes the money from you, and none of them is a charge. But each one puts a gap between the figure you can see and the figure a checkout will let you spend, and that gap is the single most common reason a purchase is refused on an account that "clearly has the money".
This page collects all five in one place, says where each is displayed, and says what ends each one.
Why you would use this
- A checkout refused a purchase and the arithmetic on your Total (USD) tile says it should not have.
- Your balance dropped and you have not bought anything.
- You lodged a top-up refund request and now cannot spend.
- You want to know whether bidding on an auction will cost you flexibility.
The rule in one line
Spendable = Total (USD) − anything frozen by an open top-up refund request
Everything else on this page is already reflected in the Total, because it was taken as a debit the moment it was applied. The top-up refund freeze is the exception: it leaves the money on the balance and simply forbids spending it.
The five mechanisms
| Mechanism | What triggers it | Does the Total drop? | Where you see it | What ends it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Top-up refund freeze | You lodge a refund request for a top-up | No — the money stays in the Total | A banner on the Refunds tab, and a 🔒 line on the request | An admin approving, declining, or explicitly releasing it |
| Withdrawal hold | You submit a withdrawal request | Yes — the gross leaves immediately | An Activity debit "Withdrawal hold OFW-…" | The payout being made, or the request being rejected (the gross returns) |
| Auction bid hold | You bid, proxy-bid or instant-buy on a Paid-Promotions auction | Yes | An Activity debit "Auction bid held: …" | Being outbid, the auction closing, or the auction being cancelled |
| Good-faith deposit | You accept a booking as a channel owner above the stake threshold | Yes | An Activity debit "Good-faith deposit: …" | Delivering cleanly (returned), or causing the failure (forfeited to the advertiser) |
| Account freeze | A Paid-Promotions fraud or abuse concern is under review, or a reviewer placed a hold by hand | No | Nothing on the wallet page; it surfaces when you try to withdraw | The concern being decided — upheld, rejected or dismissed — or the reviewer lifting the hold |
1. The top-up refund freeze
This is the one people meet without warning, because it is the only one that does not show as a debit.
What happens. The moment you lodge a refund request for a top-up, the amount that request would unwind is frozen on your account. The money is not taken. Your Total (USD) still shows it. It simply cannot be spent until our team decides the request.
What exactly is frozen. The credited top-up plus any wallet deposit bonus that came with it. A $50.00 top-up that earned a $5.00 wallet bonus freezes $55.00, not $50.00. That is deliberate: if the bonus stayed spendable and you spent it, the spend would disqualify the very request you were waiting on.
Where it is shown. On the Refunds tab, as a standing banner:
$50.00 is frozen while your refund request is reviewed. It is still yours and still in your wallet — it just can't be spent until our team decides. The rest of your balance is unaffected.
Each open request also carries its own line: 🔒 $50.00 frozen while this is reviewed.
What lifts it. Exactly three things, and none of them is a timer:
- Approval consumes the freeze as the reversal removes the money.
- A decline releases it in the same step, and your balance is fully spendable again.
- An explicit release by our team, if you ask to withdraw your request. This lifts the freeze but leaves the request pending.
Nothing expires, no timer runs, and there is no button on the wallet page that cancels a request. That is the whole point of the hold — if it came off by itself, spending in the meantime would silently invalidate the request.
If you have changed your mind, email [email protected] with the OFR- reference and ask for the hold to be released. Until someone acts on that, the money stays frozen.
A freeze can only be taken while your balance still covers every freeze standing against it. If you already have one open request and try to lodge another that the balance cannot cover on top of it, the second is refused with "Your balance no longer covers this top-up, so it can't be refunded."
2. The withdrawal hold
What happens. The instant a withdrawal request is accepted, the gross amount — what you asked for, before the fee — leaves your available balance and appears in Activity as a debit reading "Withdrawal hold OFW-…".
This is why your balance drops before any money reaches you. It is not the payout; it is the platform reserving the amount so it cannot be spent while a payout is being arranged.
What ends it. Approval turns the request straight to Paid and the operator sends the net to your destination. A rejection returns the full gross, including the fee, as an Activity credit reading "Withdrawal refund OFW-…", and the request reads Declined, returned to wallet. While an account freeze is on (section below), a pending withdrawal is not paid out — it waits for the concern to be decided, or it can be rejected and the gross returned.
The hold could only ever have been taken out of your withdrawable balance in the first place — the guard on the debit is balance − locked, which is exactly the Withdrawable figure. So when it comes back, it comes back the way it left: cashable. This is one of the few refunds on the platform that does not land locked.
3. Auction bid holds
What happens. Placing a bid on a Paid-Promotions auction debits the bid amount and marks it held. Raising your bid adjusts the hold; instant-buy holds the buy-now price. You will see lines in Activity such as "Auction bid held: …", "Auction proxy bid held: …" and "Auction bid adjusted: …".
What ends it. Being outbid, the auction closing against you, or the auction being cancelled — all of which release the hold with a credit such as "Auction bid returned: …" or "Auction cancelled by the owner". Winning converts the hold into the purchase.
A released bid hold comes back exactly as it was taken: the part that came out of your withdrawable earnings goes back to your withdrawable earnings, and only the promotional part comes back locked. So bidding and losing costs you nothing, including nothing in flexibility.
A completed marketplace purchase is different. If it is later refunded, the refund is credited as locked platform credit whatever funded it. If you are holding earnings you intend to cash out, withdraw them before you spend — see Where a Refund Lands.
See Auctions and Bidding for the auction flow itself.
4. The channel owner's good-faith deposit
What happens. When you accept a booking above the stake threshold as a channel owner, a good-faith deposit is taken from your balance and held against the placement. Activity shows a debit reading "Good-faith deposit:" followed by the channel's name.
What ends it. Deliver the placement as agreed and the stake is returned — "Good-faith deposit returned:" with the channel's name. It comes back as real, withdrawable funds, because it was staked from real funds: your own money does not become less cashable for having been staked and honoured.
If the failure was yours, the stake is forfeited to the advertiser rather than kept by the platform — they are the party whose campaign window was destroyed. On their side it lands as "Good-faith deposit awarded:" with the placement, as locked platform credit.
5. An account freeze while a concern is reviewed
What happens. If a Paid-Promotions fraud or abuse concern is opened against an account, withdrawals and payout claims are paused on it for the full 14-day concern window — and for as long as the concern stays open, even if that window lapses first. A reviewer can also place a hold by hand (1 hour to 30 days, 72 hours by default), which is written to your reliability ledger as Score frozen for review. Nothing is taken and your balance stays fully spendable on the platform — only the exit is closed, and you cannot start a new deal while it stands.
What you see. Nothing on the wallet page. It surfaces the moment you press Request Withdrawal:
Your wallet is temporarily on hold while a concern is reviewed. Withdrawals resume once it's cleared.
What ends it. The concern being decided — upheld, rejected or dismissed as inconclusive all lift it in the same step — or a reviewer clearing a manual hold early. If you believe it is a mistake, contact [email protected] — and see Appealing a Penalty.
A sixth thing can stop you spending, and it is the opposite of a hold: the money is gone rather than parked. A paid pin you took down early or a cross-promotion insurance cover you forfeited is collected whether or not the balance is there, and a balance below zero blocks you from starting anything until it is cleared. That is its own page: Owing Money.
If something goes wrong
| What you see | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| A checkout says you have insufficient balance, but your Total looks big enough | An open top-up refund request is freezing part of it. | Open the Refunds tab and read the freeze banner. Ask support to release the hold if you no longer want the refund. |
| Your balance dropped with no purchase | A withdrawal hold, an auction bid hold, or a good-faith deposit. | Find the matching debit in Activity — each names what it was for. |
| "Your balance no longer covers this top-up, so it can't be refunded." | Your balance cannot carry this freeze on top of the freezes already standing. | Wait for an open request to be decided, or ask support to release one. |
| "Your wallet is temporarily on hold while a concern is reviewed. Withdrawals resume once it's cleared." | An account-level freeze on withdrawals. | Wait for the review, or contact support if you believe it is in error. |
| A refund request you want to drop | There is no cancel button. | Email support with the OFR- reference. |
| A withdrawal showing Declined, return delayed | The hold could not be returned automatically. | Contact support with the OFW- reference; it is flagged for a manual credit. |
Related
- Your Balance and Transaction History — what each figure and each Activity line means.
- Requesting a Top-up Refund — the flow that creates the freeze.
- Withdrawing Your Earnings — the flow that creates the withdrawal hold.
- Where a Refund Lands — which pocket money comes back to when a hold is released or a purchase refunded.