What can I do if a brand is not paying me after a collaboration?

If a brand is not paying you after a collaboration, escalate one step at a time and keep everything in writing: a polite reminder with your invoice, then a firm deadline, then a senior contact or the agency, then a lawyer’s legal notice. If you’re Udyam-registered as a micro or small enterprise, you can also file on the MSME Samadhaan portal before a civil claim.

Before you chase anyone, check what was agreed. A brand that promised payment “NET 30 from invoice” isn’t late on day 20, and a brand that never received your invoice may not have started its payment process at all. Chasing too early can sour a relationship that was going fine.

Look at three things: the payment date or term in your contract, email or chat; the date you sent your invoice and who you sent it to; and whether the brand needed a purchase order (PO) or vendor registration form before it could pay you. Larger companies often can’t release money without these, and a missing PO number can hold up a payment that is otherwise approved. If a PO or invoice number exists, quote it in every message.

If you received less than you invoiced, check whether the difference is TDS. Brands often deduct TDS from payments to creators, and you can see TDS credited against your PAN on the income-tax e-filing portal. If the deduction shows up there, the brand has paid that part to the government on your behalf, so it isn’t money the brand still owes you. Ask a CA if anything looks off.

Put everything in one folder before you send a single follow-up. Every later step, from a firm email to a legal notice, depends on what you can show.

• The agreement: a signed contract, or the email, WhatsApp or Instagram DM thread where the fee, deliverables and payment date were agreed.
• The brief, plus any changes the brand asked for along the way, with dates.
• Your invoice: invoice number, date, amount, GST details if you’re registered, and the email you sent it with.
• Proof of delivery: links to the live Reels, posts or YouTube videos, screenshots showing the posting date, and the message where the brand approved your draft.
• Performance proof, if you shared any: insights screenshots or the report you sent after posting.
• Every follow-up you’ve sent and every reply, including promises like “payment will be done this week”.
• Names, roles, emails and phone numbers of everyone involved: your marketing contact, anyone from finance, and the agency if there was one.
• Chat exports: use the export chat option in WhatsApp and take dated screenshots of Instagram DMs, in case messages are deleted or you get blocked.

Start friendly. A late payment can be a slow internal process rather than bad intent: an invoice stuck in someone’s inbox, a missing PO, or a finance team that only pays on fixed dates. Send the reminder by email even if the deal was done on WhatsApp, so there’s a clean written record, and attach the invoice again.

Send it a day or two after the due date passes. If there’s no reply within three to five working days, send one short nudge on the same email thread before moving to step 2. Here is a reminder you can adapt:

• Subject: Payment reminder for Invoice #INV-014, [campaign name]
• Hi [name], hope you’re well. A quick reminder that invoice #INV-014 for ₹[amount], for the [deliverables] that went live on [date], was due on [due date]. I’ve attached it again for convenience.
• Could you confirm when the payment is scheduled? If you need a PO number, vendor form or any other detail from my side, let me know and I’ll send it today.
• Thanks, [your name] | [phone] | [bank or UPI details]

If the reminder is ignored or you only get vague replies, move from asking to stating. A firm email is still polite, but it lists the facts, names a specific date and says what you’ll do next. This email matters later because it shows you gave the brand reasonable notice before escalating.

Give a realistic deadline, such as seven days, and mention next steps only if you’re ready to follow through. An empty threat weakens every message you send after it.

• Subject: Final reminder, overdue payment for Invoice #INV-014
• Hi [name], invoice #INV-014 for ₹[amount] was due on [due date] as per our agreement of [date]. The content was approved on [date] and went live on [date]. The links are below.
• I followed up on [dates] and haven’t received a payment date. Please clear the full amount by [date, about seven days out].
• If I don’t receive the payment or a confirmed payment date by then, I’ll escalate this formally, including through legal options. I’d much rather resolve it with you directly.
• Regards, [your name]

The person who briefed you isn’t always the person who approves payment. Find another contact: the marketing head, your contact’s manager, or the accounts or finance team. The company’s website, its social pages or the email domain on your brief usually give you somewhere to start. Forward your firm email with a short note and copy your original contact.

If an agency arranged the deal, involve it directly. Agencies typically have more weight with the brand and a reputational interest in resolving it. Ask the agency, in writing, whether the brand has paid it for your part of the campaign. If the brand has paid and the agency is holding your money, the agency is the party to chase, and the same steps apply to it. Who you can make a claim against depends on who you actually contracted with, so check your agreement.

A message to the agency can be this short:

• Hi [agency contact], the payment for my [deliverables] on the [brand] campaign, invoice #INV-014 for ₹[amount], is now [number] days overdue.
• Could you confirm in writing whether the brand has released payment to you for this campaign, and the date I’ll receive mine?
• I’ve attached the invoice, the approval message and the live links.

A lawyer’s legal notice is a common first formal step before a civil recovery claim. It sets out who owes what, the basis for the claim (your agreement and proof of delivery) and a deadline to pay before you take further action. Coming on a lawyer’s letterhead, it shows the brand you’re serious, and it may land with people above the marketing team.

A notice costs money, since you pay the lawyer’s fee, so weigh that against the amount owed. For a small invoice, a firm email and an honest review of the collaboration may be all that makes sense. For a larger amount, or a brand that has stopped replying altogether, a notice is usually the next step. Nobody can promise a notice will get you paid, so ask a lawyer what fits your amount and your agreement.

Hand your lawyer the folder from the evidence section. The clearer your paper trail, the easier the notice is to draft.

If you, or your creator business, are registered as a micro or small enterprise through Udyam registration, the MSMED Act, 2006 gives you extra protection on late payments. This applies only if you’re registered. Many individual creators aren’t, so check your status before relying on it.

Under the Act, a buyer must pay a registered micro or small supplier by the agreed date, and an agreed payment period can’t exceed 45 days from acceptance of the services. If there’s no written agreement on timing, the limit is 15 days. When payment is late, the buyer owes compound interest at three times the bank rate notified by the RBI.

You can file a delayed-payment case on the government’s MSME Samadhaan portal, which routes it to your state’s Micro and Small Enterprises Facilitation Council. Before you file, ask a CA or lawyer whether your case qualifies, for example if the invoice was raised before you registered or the deal went through an agency.

If the deadline in the legal notice passes with no payment, your lawyer can advise on filing a civil claim to recover the money. Whether it’s worth it depends on the amount, the strength of your paper trail, what your contract says about disputes and how long you’re willing to wait. Get a clear view from your lawyer on likely costs and time before you decide.

Some contracts include an arbitration or jurisdiction clause that decides where and how disputes are heard. Show it to your lawyer early, since it can change the route.

One different case: if it turns out the “brand” was fake, for example someone impersonating a company to get free content or asking you to pay a fee first, that may be online fraud rather than a payment dispute. You can report it on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (cybercrime.gov.in) or call the 1930 helpline.

A factual, evidence-backed review describing exactly what happened, with the dates, the amount owed and what you delivered, is one of the most effective tools a creator has. It warns other creators and puts fair pressure on the brand to resolve it. Stick to verifiable facts rather than characterisations, since accuracy is what makes a review defensible and useful.

On CredFluence, reviews go through a verification queue, and evidence such as your contract, invoice, chat export or content links is optional but strongly recommended. The brand gets a 48-hour window to dispute the review with its own evidence, admins make the final call, and the brand can’t delete it. Write it once you’ve given the brand a fair chance to pay, and keep it to what happened.

Be more careful with angry stories or posts that name the brand. Accusations you can’t back up can come back on you. If you’re unsure, keep to the facts or ask a lawyer before you post.

• No written agreement on the fee or payment date, only “we’ll sort it out after it goes live”.
• Payment terms that keep moving: “after the campaign ends”, then “after the client pays us”, then silence.
• A contact who uses only a personal number and won’t share a company email or GST details.
• Pressure to post before the agreement is final, or to skip the invoice “to save time”.
• Requests for extra deliverables before the first payment has cleared.
• Refusal to put any part of the fee upfront on a large or rushed job, combined with vague payment dates.
• Other creators reporting late or missing payments from the same brand or agency.

You can’t control how a brand runs its accounts, but you can make non-payment less likely and much easier to act on.

• Ask for an advance. A 50% advance on signing with the balance on delivery is a common structure, and for a new brand or a rushed deal it’s a fair ask.
• Get written terms before you start: fee, deliverables, due date (for example NET 30 from invoice), revision rounds, and a kill fee if the brand cancels midway.
• Invoice on the day the content goes live, with an invoice number, due date, your PAN, bank and UPI details, and your GSTIN if registered. GST registration is generally needed once your aggregate turnover crosses ₹20 lakh in a financial year, with a lower limit in some special-category states, so check with a CA.
• Ask early whether the brand needs a PO or vendor registration, and sort it out before you post.
• Tie usage rights to payment: write that the brand’s right to reuse your content, especially in ads, starts once you’re paid in full.
• Hold back raw files and extra edits until the invoice is cleared.
• If creator work is your regular business, ask a CA whether Udyam registration makes sense for you.
• Check the brand’s reviews from other creators on CredFluence before you agree, and look up the agency too if one is involved.

It depends on your agreement. If you’re Udyam-registered as a micro or small enterprise, the MSMED Act caps an agreed payment period at 45 days from acceptance of the services, or 15 days if nothing was agreed in writing. Otherwise the agreed terms apply, so always put a clear date in writing.

It depends on what your contract says about usage, ownership and how long the post must stay live. Deleting it could be treated as you breaking the agreement, so talk to a lawyer first, and in future make usage rights conditional on full payment.

If your contract links deliverables to payments, it’s reasonable to tell the brand in writing that you’ll resume once the overdue invoice is cleared. If the contract is silent, check with a lawyer before you hold anything back, and keep the tone neutral.

A chat where the brand clearly agrees to the fee, deliverables and payment date is useful evidence and far better than nothing. Export it, keep the original messages on your phone, and ask a lawyer how much weight it carries in your case.