Every purchase on Bello is protected by escrow — your payment doesn't reach the artist the moment you check out. It sits held with us until delivery is confirmed, and if something goes wrong, our team steps in before any money changes hands. This page explains exactly how that works.
If you're satisfied with a work before the standard confirmation window has elapsed, you can use Pause & Release Payment Now on your order page to proactively release the held funds right away, rather than waiting out the window. It's entirely your call — nothing is released early without you choosing to.
You can open a dispute if a delivered work arrives damaged, is materially different from how it was listed, or simply never arrives. Do it from the order page: describe what happened, and attach whatever evidence you have — photos of the damage or discrepancy are the most useful thing you can provide. Disputes are generally open to be raised within 14 days of delivery confirmation, though the exact window is shown on your specific order.
Our team reviews the evidence from both sides — your photos and description, the artist's condition report and certificate of authenticity taken before dispatch, and the carrier's tracking and delivery record. We're not trying to referee a "he said, she said"; wherever there's an objective record (timestamps, tracking, photographs), that's what the resolution is based on.
Depending on what we find, a resolution might mean a full or partial refund to you, full or partial release to the artist, a replacement where that's realistic, or another outcome that fits the specific facts. Whatever it is, we record a resolution note explaining the reasoning, so you're not left guessing why a decision went the way it did.
Reply to the resolution notice with anything new you think we missed. A second review is generally handled by a different member of our team than the one who made the original call, so you're not just getting the same read twice.
The condition report you photograph before dispatch is your best protection in a dispute — it's the baseline record of the work's state before it ever left your hands. Ship with tracking every time; without it, we have far less to go on if a delivery dispute comes up, and that works against you as much as against the buyer. A pattern of disputes resolved against your account affects your standing on the platform, including Pro-tier eligibility, so treating condition reporting and accurate listings as non-negotiable is worth the extra few minutes per shipment.
Escrow protects a transaction that happens on Bello, through Bello's checkout and shipping flow. If a buyer and artist agree to transact outside the platform to avoid fees, none of these protections apply — there's no held funds, no dispute process, and no insurance backstop, because there's no order for us to protect. We'd rather you never need to find that out the hard way, which is part of why we don't allow off-platform circumvention under our terms.
Have an order that needs a closer look, or a dispute already in progress you want to ask about? The chat widget is the fastest way to reach a real person who can pull up your specific order.