Understanding the Post-Sale Process as a Buyer

Once you complete a fixed-price purchase or win an auction, here's how your sale moves from checkout to delivery.

1. Your checkout

You complete payment through Stripe. Creatures supports several payment methods, and the method you choose affects how quickly your sale moves forward:

• Card payments clear immediately
• Bank transfers (ACH) can take up to five business days to clear before the delivery moves forward

Important: Your animal stays in the seller's care until Creatures confirms your payment is fully processed, especially with bank transfers. If you're not sure whether your payment has cleared, contact us and we'll help you verify.

For details on payment options, see Payment Options on Creatures.

2. Transportation coordination

You have three options for animal transportation:

1. Arrange pickup with the seller directly through Creatures Messaging
2. Purchase seller offered transportation at checkout (sometimes available)
3. Purchase Creatures Transport at checkout (Creatures handles transportation of your animal)

For each of these options, refer to the following articles for more information:

1. The Post-Sale Process as a Buyer
2. The Post-Sale Process As a Buyer When the Seller Provides Transportation
3. The Post-Sale Process as a Buyer using Creatures Transportation

3. Track the transportation

If you selected Creatures Transport or Seller Transportation at checkout, you will have a separate tracking page which will get updated by the transportation agent.

If you didn't select Creatures Transport or Seller Transportation at checkout, the seller will manually mark your animal as delivered when the animal gets to you.

4. Your delivery confirmation

When your animal arrives, confirm delivery from the listing page. This step releases payment to the seller, so only confirm once you've received your animal.

5. Payment release to the seller

After you confirm delivery, the seller will receive the payout.

If this is the seller's first sale on Creatures, funds release 7 days after your delivery confirmation. This hold protects you and helps establish trust between new sellers and the Creatures community.

6. Ratings and reviews

Leave a review for the seller after the sale. Reviews build trust on the platform and help future buyers make informed decisions.

Walkthroughs

For post-sale buyer walkthrough guides, see:

• I Won an Auction: Now What? (Video Tutorial)
• Purchase an Animal via Fixed-Price Listing (Video tutorial)

Updated on: 29/04/2026