How does CrowdPay work?

1. A retailer will create a deal and advertise it on their website and / or social media.
2. The deal will need a minimum number of people to join it within a certain time in order for it to trigger and actually happen.
3. To join the deal, simply follow the link and enter your card details (or use Apple / Google Pay). Your card won’t be charged at that point, but will be pre-authorised to pay the deal amount, if - and only if - the deal triggers.
4. Once the minimum number of people have joined, the deal will trigger and definitely go ahead.
5. Once the deal has triggered, payment will be taken from your card - and you don’t need to do anything!
6. If the deal doesn’t trigger - if not enough people join to trigger, or the deadline passes - then no payment is taken from your card.

An example CrowdPay

The Lovely T-Shirts Company decide to put one of their t-shirts up for a CrowdPay deal. They need at least 50 people to join the deal to be able to sell that t-shirt at a 50% discount. Brandon is a fan of The Lovely T-Shirts Company and spots the CrowdPay deal on their instagram page. Excited, Brandon clicks on the link and decides to join the deal, which he does by entering his card details and clicking ‘pay’. Over the next few hours, many other people also join the deal, until finally, the 50th person joins. At that point, the deal triggers and is definitely going ahead! Brandon’s card is charged the deal price, and his order gets processed as normal by The Lovely T-Shirts Company.

In a parallel universe, only 46 people join the deal and the deadline passes. Brandon’s card does not get charged and he gets an email to notify him that no payment has been taken and he won’t be receiving the item. Brandon is quite sad about this, but he notices another CrowdPay deal on The Lovely T-Shirts Company instagram page, so he joins that deal!