How Payments Work

Introduction

U Up Pty Ltd ("U Up", "we", "our", "us") operates a technology platform for structured booking requests. This page explains exactly what U Up charges, when the charge happens, and what U Up never touches.

It is written to be read by users, and equally by banks, payment processors and compliance reviewers assessing how money moves through the platform.

Read it together with U Up's Terms and Conditions, Refund Policy, Privacy Policy, Security page, How Verification Works page and Company Profile.

What U Up charges

A single amount: U Up's own platform booking fee.

The fee is for access to and use of the platform. That means the structured booking workflow, verification, controlled booking-status communication, moderation, platform administration and support.

It is calculated solely on booked session duration, in 15-minute increments, at a flat rate per increment. It is set by U Up independently of the provider's own rate, and is never a percentage of it.

The platform booking fee

The platform booking fee is U Up's own fee. It is separate from, and unrelated to, any amount payable to an independent provider for their services.

Paying it does not mean U Up provides the service, employs the provider, acts as their agent, guarantees their availability, or guarantees their conduct.

Standard booking: how and when you are charged

No money leaves your account without a confirmed booking.

• You select a provider and choose booking details. Your card is not involved.
• You verify your mobile number by one-time passcode. Your card is not involved.
• You enter card details into the payment processor's hosted fields. An authorisation is placed. No funds are taken.
• The provider has a set window to accept or decline. The authorisation is held.
• If the provider accepts, the authorisation is captured. That is the only point at which money moves.
• If the provider declines, or the window expires, the authorisation is explicitly reversed. Nothing is captured.

An authorisation is not a charge

An authorisation is a temporary hold confirming the card is valid and the funds are available. If the booking does not proceed, no payment is ever taken. There is nothing to refund, because nothing was charged.

Where a booking does not go ahead, U Up sends an explicit reversal rather than leaving the authorisation to expire on its own. The hold is released as soon as the outcome is known.

U Up does not store raw card numbers or complete payment credentials at any point. Card details are entered directly into the payment processor's hosted fields.

Instant booking

Some providers enable instant booking. It works differently, and the difference is shown to you before you pay.

How it differs

• The booking is confirmed immediately. There is no provider review step.
• The platform booking fee is therefore charged at the time of booking, rather than held as an authorisation.
• A warning is displayed before the payment step, telling you the booking is instant and will be charged straight away. Standard bookings carry no such warning, because nothing is charged at that point.

Where it is available

Instant booking is opt-in for providers and is offered on incall bookings only. Most bookings on the platform follow the standard authorisation flow described in section 04.

If the provider cannot proceed

The platform booking fee is refunded in full to the card used. That is a refund, not a chargeback, and it does not require you to contact your bank.

Everything else is unchanged. The fee is still U Up's own platform booking fee, still calculated on booked duration, and the provider's service fee still never passes through U Up.

What U Up does not collect

U Up does not collect, hold, receive or remit:

• Provider service fees, in whole or in part.
• Provider payouts, settlement balances or remittance balances.
• Provider deposits, other than U Up's own platform booking fee.
• Cash or direct payments between a client and a provider.
• Provider tax, licensing, registration or compliance payments.
• Any amount charged by a provider outside the platform.

U Up holds no funds on behalf of any provider at any time. There is no wallet, no stored value, no account balance, no escrow and no trust arrangement. This is a deliberate design choice, and it is why U Up does not take on the obligations that a wallet or escrow model would create.

Provider service fees remain separate

Independent providers set their own rates and are paid directly by the client, in person. That payment does not pass through U Up, is not visible to U Up as a payment, and is not something U Up can process, refund, hold or dispute.

Any rate, price or direct payment arrangement is between the client and the independent provider.

Payment processors

Card details are entered into hosted fields served by an approved third-party payment processor. U Up does not store raw card numbers, full card details or complete payment credentials on its own systems.

U Up receives only limited payment information:

• Payment status, transaction reference and amount.
• The last four digits and the card descriptor.
• Refund status and failed payment notices.
• Fraud, risk and chargeback signals.

Accepted payment methods

U Up accepts eligible debit and credit cards, and any other method supported by its payment processor from time to time, for its own platform booking fee.

Card acceptance, authentication requirements and transaction approval are subject to the payment processor, the card issuer, applicable fraud controls and any regulatory requirements.

Refunds and failed payments

A standard booking is declined, or the window expires

The authorisation is explicitly reversed. There is no charge and nothing to refund.

A provider cannot proceed with an instant booking

The fee is refunded in full to the card used. This is a refund, not a chargeback.

Payment fails or the card is declined

The booking request cannot progress.

Refunds of the platform booking fee are otherwise handled under U Up's Refund Policy.

U Up can only review payments U Up has taken, which means the platform booking fee. Payments made directly to a provider are between the client and that provider.

Chargebacks and payment misuse

U Up monitors booking and payment activity for misuse, duplicate payments, refund abuse and chargeback abuse involving its own platform booking fee.

The workflow is built to prevent disputes rather than argue them afterwards. Verification of every account, an authorisation rather than a charge on standard bookings, an explicit provider acceptance step, an express warning before any instant charge, controlled booking-status responses, and a clear statement of what the fee covers all reduce the conditions in which a legitimate cardholder disputes a charge.

Every booking generates a timestamped record covering the authorisation, the provider's acceptance, the version of the terms accepted and the full status history. That record is retained as evidence for dispute response, and it is frozen at the point each fact occurs rather than reconstructed afterwards.

Where required, U Up may share limited payment, booking, support or account information with payment processors, financial service providers, fraud-prevention providers, legal advisers or relevant authorities.

U Up may restrict, suspend or decline platform access where payment misuse, fraud, chargeback abuse or attempts to bypass platform controls are identified.

Payment security

• Card details are entered into the payment processor's hosted fields and never touch U Up's systems, which keeps U Up at PCI DSS SAQ-A, the lightest assessment level and one available only to merchants that never handle card data.
• Raw card numbers and complete payment credentials are never stored by U Up.
• Payment status, refunds, disputes and chargeback records are reviewed.
• Access to payment-related information is restricted and logged.
• Booking and payment activity is monitored for misuse.

Every account is verified before it can transact

No booking fee is charged to an unverified account. Every client confirms they are 18 or over through Persona, an independent specialist verification provider, and every provider is verified against a government photo identity document cross-matched to a liveness capture before a listing can go live, then re-checked every 30 days.

U Up receives a result only. No identity document, facial image or date of birth reaches U Up's systems at any point. The age gate is enforced on the server and fails closed: any error, timeout or unavailable vendor leaves it shut rather than open.

This matters to a payment processor for two reasons. It removes the underage-user risk that defines this category, and it means every transaction is traceable to an identity-verified account. Full detail is on the How Verification Works page.

Independent provider responsibilities

Independent providers remain responsible for their own pricing, services, availability, tax affairs, licensing, registrations, conduct and service delivery.

U Up is not the employer, agent, representative, manager, payment collector or payout provider for any independent provider. Payment of a platform booking fee transfers no provider responsibility to U Up.

Users and providers must not attempt to bypass U Up's platform controls, booking workflow, payment flows, verification processes, trust and safety processes or published policies.

Changes to this page

U Up may update this page to reflect changes in payment functionality, processor arrangements, booking workflow, refund processes, legal requirements or risk management practices.

Material changes affecting how or when you are charged are notified before they take effect. The updated version is posted on this page with a revised "Last Updated" date.

Contact us

For questions about the platform booking fee, when it is charged, refunds, or how payments are handled on the platform, contact U Up Pty Ltd directly.