Order Flow

How a paid order moves from checkout to funds release, the escrow states it passes through, the deadlines that apply at each step, and the background jobs that run without any user action.

Overview

Every paid order on igitems sits inside an Escrow contract: the buyer's funds are held by the platform until both sides confirm the order, or a deadline closes it on the buyer's behalf. This page documents that contract. The delivery duration each seller commits to, the confirmation window that follows, and the Auto-Confirmation timers that keep orders from stalling forever.

The order lifecycle

Every paid PRODUCT order on igitems follows the same six-step arc from checkout to funds release. The details below use an account purchase as the walked example.

1
Checkout
Buyer initiates checkout. A cart is created and the order is stored at state WAITING_FOR_PAYMENT. If the buyer does not complete payment within 15 minutes, the order is abandoned and any reserved inventory is released back to the marketplace.
2
Payment received
The payment webhook confirms funds arrived. The inventory reservation flips to CONFIRMED and the order transitions to WAITING. This is the moment escrow begins.
3
Delivery
Seller delivers within the delivery duration they committed to. Options are Instant, 20 minutes, 2 hours, 12 hours, 24 hours, or 48+ hours (48+ normalizes to a 96-hour clock). Manual-delivery listings cannot use Instant or 20 minutes. For account sales, the seller marks delivered by publishing the login credentials on the order page.
4
Reveal and review
Buyer opens the credentials. This action stamps loginShownAt on the order. The seller cannot mark the order confirmed until the buyer has actually viewed the login, except on BoostRoyal-rail resale orders where the buyer is a BoostRoyal API user. Reveals are captcha-gated and, for unverified buyers, identity-verified.
5
Confirmation
Both sides confirm the order. Buyer confirms delivery, seller confirms handover. When both sellerConfirmed and customerConfirmed are set, the order flips to COMPLETED and completedAt is stamped. Either side can confirm first. If the buyer confirms first and the seller never does, the order auto-completes 5 days after the buyer's confirmation.
6
Funds release
The COMPLETED transition releases funds into the seller's payout balance. In the same handler, the buyer receives 4% cashback on the order's gross line total (credited to wallet, PRODUCT orders only) and the buyer's paid-order count increments.

Timers and deadlines

Every buyer-visible timer that applies to an order, with the code-derived value and the condition it applies to.

Payment window

A pending payment holds an inventory reservation for a fixed window before the order is released back to the marketplace.

1
Reservation TTL
5 minutes from creation. The reservation cron sweeps every 30 seconds.
2
Abandonment cutoff
15 minutes since createdAt. If payment has not arrived, the order is marked payment-reverted and inventory is returned to the pool.
3
Amount tolerance
10% underpayment with an additional 1-USD-worth slack (currency-scaled). Payment webhooks reject anything outside the tolerance with INVALID_AMOUNT.

Delivery clock

Delivery time is set by the seller when they publish a listing. It starts counting from the moment payment is received.

1
Duration options
Instant, 20 minutes, 2 hours, 12 hours, 24 hours, or 48+ hours. 48+ hours is treated as a 96-hour deadline internally.
2
Manual delivery minimum
Manual-delivery listings cannot commit to Instant or 20 minutes. The floor is 2 hours.
3
Overdue state
If the delivery clock elapses without a sellerConfirmed timestamp, the order surfaces as overdue to the buyer. The order stays in WAITING. Nothing auto-cancels here.

Auto-confirmation

If neither side confirms an order after the seller marks it delivered, the platform closes it on the buyer's behalf after a wait. The wait depends on whether the seller is verified.

1
Verified seller
4 days after the seller marks delivered.
2
Unverified seller
14 days after the seller marks delivered, and only if the seller messaged in the order chat and the buyer has been silent for at least 7 days.
3
Buyer confirmed first
If the buyer confirms before the seller does, the order auto-completes 5 days after the buyer's confirmation.
4
Lower bound
No order is considered for auto-confirmation until it is at least 3 days old, regardless of which branch applies.

※The auto-confirmation sweep runs every 4 hours, so a stated deadline is a lower bound. An order may close a few hours later than its earliest eligible timestamp.

Reminder ladder

During the delivery wait, the platform sends up to four scheduled reminders to move the order forward.

1
R1 at 16h
Fires if the seller has not messaged in the order.
2
R2 at 2d
Fires if the seller has not messaged.
3
R3 at 4d
Fires regardless of whether the seller messaged.
4
R4 at 10d
Fires regardless of whether the seller messaged. The cap is 4 reminders.

Delivery modalities

The order lifecycle is the same across every category, but the physical act of delivery falls into two buckets.

Credential and code delivery

Applies to accounts and to game keys or codes. The seller reveals credentials or a code to the buyer through the order page. The buyer's reveal action (loginShownAt) is what enables the seller to mark the order confirmed for account sales. For code deliveries handled through Kinguin, the platform holds the key on the buyer's behalf until they explicitly reveal it, at which point the claim becomes irreversible.

In-game and coordinated delivery

Applies to in-game currency, in-game items, gifts, and services (including boosting, where the buyer grants the seller temporary access to their own account). Delivery happens in-game or through direct buyer-seller coordination on the order chat. The escrow rules, delivery deadline, and confirmation window from the lifecycle section apply identically. Only the physical handover differs.

Order states

Every order carries one of a small set of states. The state controls what actions are available and drives every notification the buyer receives.

Lifecycle states

The internal state names below appear in system messages and support conversations. This is the vocabulary the platform uses.

1
WAITING_FOR_PAYMENT
Order created, payment not yet received.
2
WAITING
Payment received. Awaiting delivery and confirmation.
3
CLAIMABLE
Applies to Kinguin key orders. The key is held by the platform. The buyer must explicitly reveal it to claim it, or the platform auto-claims it 24 hours after placement.
4
COMPLETED
Both parties confirmed, or auto-confirmation closed the order. Funds are released to the seller.
5
REFUNDED
Funds returned to the buyer.
6
CANCELED
Payment was canceled by the buyer or the gateway. DECLINED and FAILED states also render as Canceled.
7
SUSPENDED
Administrative hold for review. Rare.

What buyers see

The order-page hero chip translates the internal state into a status label. The mapping follows what is actually rendered on the buyer's dashboard.

1
Awaiting payment
WAITING_FOR_PAYMENT.
2
Awaiting delivery
WAITING, seller has not marked delivered.
3
Needs your confirmation
WAITING, seller marked delivered, buyer has not confirmed.
4
Your key is ready
CLAIMABLE on Kinguin orders.
5
Completed
COMPLETED (also ACCEPTED).
6
Refunded
REFUNDED.
7
Canceled
CANCELED, DECLINED, or FAILED.
8
On hold
SUSPENDED.

Background jobs

Alongside buyer and seller actions, a set of scheduled crons and post-transition handlers run without any user input. Publishing their cadences is how the mechanics stay auditable.

Reservation and payment sweeps

1
Reservation expiry
Every 30 seconds. Releases inventory tied to expired 5-minute holds.
2
Abandoned-payment sweep
Every 45 seconds. Marks orders older than 15 minutes without payment as payment-reverted and restores inventory.
3
Auto-confirmation sweep
Every 4 hours at :10 past the hour. Considers orders at least 3 days old and applies the timers from the Auto-confirmation subsection above.

Post-payment handlers

When a payment webhook confirms funds arrived, several jobs run in the same request before the buyer sees a success screen.

1
Duplicate-webhook safety
The order's state and transaction ID are locked as soon as per-type processing succeeds. If a later notification step fails, the webhook can safely retry without stranding the order or double-processing the payment.
2
Post-purchase risk check
On PRODUCT orders above a $20 threshold, the platform scores IP and user-agent signals and stamps riskCheckedAt. High-risk orders can flag the buyer for identity verification.
3
Conversion tracking
Meta CAPI, Google Ads, and GA4 conversion events fire once per order, each guarded by an idempotency stamp on the transaction.

Post-completion handlers

When an order transitions to COMPLETED, funds release triggers a short cascade of downstream actions.

1
Cashback credit
4% of the gross line total is credited to the buyer's wallet on PRODUCT orders. Idempotent per order.
2
Review reminder email
Sent 3 to 5 days after completion, once per order.
3
Auto-review closure
45 days after completion, any missing side of the review is auto-filled with rating 5, comment -, and username Anonymous. This ensures rating streams do not stall on silent buyers.

Notifications

Each state transition fans out across a defined set of channels. The list below covers the four transitions a buyer directly encounters.

Payment received

Buyer receives email and in-app notification along with a welcome chat message on the order. The seller is notified in parallel across email, in-app, and any messaging or webhook channel they have configured, so a paid order reaches them within seconds of the payment landing.

Seller marks delivered

Buyer receives email and in-app notification. A system message is also posted to the order chat noting the seller has marked the order delivered.

Order completes

When both sides have confirmed the order flips to COMPLETED. The buyer receives a marked-finished notification and the funds-release cascade fires, including the 4% cashback credit.

Auto-completion

On auto-close both parties receive email, push notification, and in-app notification, plus a system message on the order chat noting the closure was automatic.

See it live

Your orders — Every order carries its state, timers, and confirmation controls on this page.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

When do funds actually reach the seller on an igitems order?

Funds are released when the order transitions to COMPLETED. That happens when both sides confirm the order, when the buyer confirms and the 5-day seller-silent window elapses, or when the auto-confirmation sweep closes an eligible order. Until then, the payment is held by the platform in escrow.

How long does the buyer have to confirm delivery on igitems?

It depends on whether the seller is verified. For verified sellers, auto-confirmation closes the order 4 days after the seller marks delivered. For unverified sellers, the wait is 14 days and only applies if the seller messaged in the order chat and the buyer has been silent for at least 7 days.

What happens to an igitems order if the buyer does not pay within 15 minutes?

The order is marked payment-reverted, any reserved inventory is released back to the marketplace, and the listing becomes available for other buyers. The abandonment sweep runs every 45 seconds, so the reset is quick.

What is an igitems escrow order?

On any paid PRODUCT order, the buyer's funds are held by the platform until the order transitions to COMPLETED. Sellers cannot withdraw the payment until both sides confirm the order, or until the auto-confirmation window closes it on the buyer's behalf.

Does igitems reward buyers for completed orders?

Yes. On any PRODUCT order that reaches COMPLETED, 4% of the gross line total is credited to the buyer's wallet as cashback. The credit is idempotent per order and applied automatically at funds release.