Legal / User disclosure
Payments on Settle are final.
Read this before you pay. If you don't agree with what's here, do not complete checkout. By signing the payment authorization, you confirm you've read this page.
What "final" means.
Settle uses on-chain stablecoin transactions (USDC on Base today; additional chains as they ship). When you sign the authorization at checkout, the router contract moves funds in a single atomic transaction:
- 99.5% of the amount goes directly to the merchant's wallet.
- 0.5% goes to Settle's treasury as our fee.
- Both transfers happen in the same on-chain transaction — there is no "pending" state we can reach into and reverse.
By the time we've confirmed your payment, the merchant already has the funds in a wallet they control. We have no technical ability to claw them back.
What this means for you as a buyer.
- No chargebacks. Unlike a credit-card payment, you cannot file a dispute with your card issuer to reverse this. Stablecoin networks have no chargeback primitive.
- No Settle-side refunds. We do not hold custody of the funds, so we cannot return them.
- Refunds are between you and the merchant. If the merchant chooses to refund (store credit, a separate transfer back, etc.), that is their decision and their action — not Settle's.
- Verify before you sign. Confirm the merchant, the amount, and the network. Once you sign, the transaction is on its way.
User-merchant disputes.
Settle moves money between you and the merchant. We don't mediate disputes. If you have a problem with a purchase, the merchant is responsible for resolving it directly with you. We may not be able to establish contact with the merchant on your behalf.
This works the same way as a wire transfer or a cash transaction. It's the trade-off of final, on-chain settlement — and it's why we display this notice on every checkout, before payment.
Sanctions and compliance.
Settle screens for sanctions on every transaction and reviews high-volume merchants. See Compliance for what that means.
If something goes wrong.
Contact the merchant directly. The merchant's contact information is in the receipt email. If the merchant's contact details are missing or invalid, email hi@settle.xxx with your invoice ID and we'll help you locate them. We cannot reverse the payment, but we can help you reach the counterparty.
Why we built it this way.
Settlement finality is the entire point. Many of the merchants on Settle have been removed from card rails because of chargeback losses they had no part in causing. By making payments final at the protocol level, we give merchants a rail that doesn't penalize them for fraud the buyer's bank declines to investigate. That trade-off is real, and you should understand it before you pay.