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Author Payout Agreement

Version 2026-11-05

Draft. Written for Modhold and not yet checked by a lawyer. Parts in [brackets] are still to be decided.

This Author Payout Agreement ("Agreement") is between Modhold [legal name of the business, its address] ("Modhold", "we", "us") and you, the author who accepts it ("you"). It sets out how you are paid for your work on Modhold. It adds to the Creator Terms, the Terms of Service and the Payment Terms; where they differ on payouts, this Agreement governs.

1. Who can accept it

You must be at least 18, hold an approved author charter on Modhold, and keep your account in good standing. You accept this Agreement for yourself, or for a business you are authorised to bind. We record the version you accept, the date and time, and the name you type, and keep a copy you can view at any time on your Payouts page.

2. Definitions

  • Direct earnings: money paid to you for your supporter tiers, paid mods, paid tools and accepted bids.
  • Tips: voluntary payments made to you with no product in return.
  • The Pool: the money Modhold receives from advertising and from the Modhold Pass in a calendar month, less Running Costs.
  • Running Costs: payment processing fees, file storage, hosting, security and other costs of operating the site in that month.
  • Unique Download: the first download of a mod by a given account in a given month, as counted by Modhold.
  • Invited Author: an author who joined Modhold through your invite link and meets the conditions in section 7.

3. Your share

  • Direct earnings: you receive 91%. Modhold keeps a service fee of 9%. For comparison, other mod sites and marketplaces commonly pass only 20% to 40% of what players spend on to creators, and membership platforms commonly keep 10% or more.
  • Tips: you receive 100%. Modhold keeps nothing.
  • The Pool: each month Modhold pays 45% of the Pool to authors. Your part is your share of that month's Unique Downloads across the site. The Pool is a reward Modhold offers at its discretion: the percentage and method may change with at least 30 days' notice, and never for a month already ended.

4. How payments reach you

  • Stripe connected: card payments for your Direct earnings and Tips are made to your own Stripe account at the moment of payment. Stripe deducts its processing fee from that payment and Modhold's service fee is collected at the same time. Stripe's own terms apply to your Stripe account.
  • Paid through Modhold: payments made by PayPal, or by card before you connect Stripe, are received by Modhold on your behalf. Modhold bears their processing fees and pays you your share in the monthly payout.
  • Monthly payout: money held for you, and your share of the Pool, is paid by the [15th] of each month for the month before, to the payout method you choose (PayPal, Venmo, or your Stripe account where available). Amounts under [$10] roll over to the next month.

5. Refunds, chargebacks and holds

  • Modhold does not issue refunds. Whether to refund a buyer of your work is your decision.
  • A bank or card network may reverse a payment (a chargeback) regardless of any policy. A chargeback on a payment made to your Stripe account is handled on that account. A chargeback on a payment Modhold received for you is deducted from your balance or future payouts.
  • We may hold payouts while we investigate suspected fraud, a copyright claim, or a breach of this Agreement or the Creator Terms, and may withhold amounts earned through such conduct.

6. Taxes

You are responsible for your own taxes. Before paying you we may require tax information (a W-9 for US persons, a W-8BEN or equivalent for others), and we may report payments to tax authorities as the law requires. We may withhold payment until we receive it.

7. Referral program

  • The reward: when an Invited Author earns a share of the Pool, Modhold pays you an additional amount equal to 10% of that share for the first 12 months after the Invited Author's first paid month, and 3% of that share every month after that, for as long as both of you remain active authors in good standing.
  • Paid by Modhold: the reward comes out of Modhold's portion. The Invited Author's own earnings are never reduced.
  • What it covers: only the Invited Author's share of the Pool. It does not include their Direct earnings or Tips.
  • One level only: you earn on authors you invite yourself, not on authors they invite.
  • Conditions: the Invited Author must be new to Modhold, join through your invite link, receive an approved charter and publish at least one mod that passes review. Rewards are calculated from genuine Unique Downloads only.
  • Abuse: inviting yourself or an account you control, buying or faking downloads, or misleading people to join voids all rewards from that conduct, and may end your participation and your account.
  • Changes: Modhold may change or end the referral program for new invitations with 30 days' notice. Authors already invited before a change keep the terms in force when they joined.

8. Your relationship with Modhold

You are an independent creator, not our employee, agent or partner. Nothing in this Agreement promises any level of earnings.

9. Changes to this Agreement

We may update this Agreement. We will tell you at least 30 days before a change that reduces your share takes effect, and you will be asked to accept the new version before your next payout. Earnings for months already ended are paid under the version in force at the time.

10. Ending this Agreement

You may stop at any time by removing your payout methods; we will pay what you have already earned, less any amounts under section 5. We may end this Agreement if your charter or account ends. Sections 5, 6 and 8 survive the end of this Agreement.

11. Law

This Agreement is governed by the laws of [state], USA, and disputes are handled as set out in the Terms of Service.