Video editors can sell async editing gigs by publishing one priced Creator Service that states the raw-footage limit, the finished output spec, the revision count, and the turnaround, then letting clients pay upfront and attach their footage to the order. The finished file is delivered in the same paid thread, with no live call required.
FanBell is free to start with no monthly fee and applies a 12% platform fee only when a fan pays (FanBell — Pricing).
If you edit reels, podcasts, or long-form video, the requests probably already show up the same way: a comment, a DM, or a "hey, can you cut this for me?" from someone who found your work through a client you already edit for. Instead of quoting a price in the moment and chasing a follow-up payment, an async gig lets you publish the scope once and have every new request land the same way — paid, with the footage already attached. The mechanics below come from FanBell's own Creator Services documentation and published purchases and refunds policy.
What is an async video-editing gig?
An async video-editing gig is a fixed-scope edit sold at a published price with a stated turnaround, no call, no audition edit, and no bidding round. The client pays the full listed price at checkout and uploads raw footage with a written brief; the editor delivers the finished file inside the same paid order thread.
FanBell's Creator Services documentation states that a creator gives a service "a clear title and description, set[s] a price and delivery time, and decide[s] how many revisions (if any) are included". FanBell's How It Works page states that a creator delivers "asynchronously on your own time within the turnaround you set" (FanBell — How It Works), which is what makes the format async: the client does not need to be online while the edit happens, and the editor does not need to be available at a fixed time to accept the request. The shooting side of the same workflow — a videographer quoting a shoot plus an editing add-on — is covered separately in how videographers price inquiries and editing add-ons.
Payment on a FanBell gig moves in three separate, documented steps rather than one vague settlement. FanBell's How It Works page states that a client pays the full listed price at checkout before the creator starts the work, and that earnings are collected into the creator's own connected Stripe account rather than a FanBell balance. FanBell's published Purchases, Support & Refunds policy states in section 1 that "each creator is an independent seller and the merchant of record for products and services offered through that creator's page". Stripe's payouts documentation states that after a first successful live payment, "Stripe typically schedules your initial payout to complete within 7–14 days" (Stripe Docs, Receive payouts).
How is FanBell different from selling on Fiverr or Upwork?
Fiverr sells through a Gig storefront that buyers order from, Upwork runs on proposals freelancers pay Connects to submit, and FanBell puts one priced listing on the editor's own page. The three also differ on commission: Fiverr credits sellers 80% of the purchase amount, Upwork's freelancer service fee runs 0% to 15%, and FanBell takes 12%.
Fiverr's own Help Center describes the seller side as a storefront rather than a bidding board:
"Your Gig is how you offer services on Fiverr. It's your storefront, the place where clients learn what you do, what's included, and how to place an order." — Fiverr Help Center, Creating a Gig
Upwork runs the opposite motion and charges for the attempt. Upwork's support documentation states that "Connects are the virtual tokens freelancers use on Upwork to submit proposals for jobs" and that "Connects cost $0.15 (USD) each and are sold in bundles" (Upwork Support, Understanding and using Connects). Upwork's support documentation also states that the Freelancer Service Fee "ranges from 0% to 15% per contract" and is deducted from a freelancer's Upwork earnings (Upwork Support, Learn about the Freelancer Service Fee).
Who pays whom, and when, differs as well. Fiverr's Terms of Service state that "Buyers pay Fiverr in advance to create an Order", and Fiverr's Payment Terms of Service state that each order a seller completes "credits your account with Earnings equal to 80% of the purchase amount" (Fiverr Payment Terms of Service) — a 20% seller commission. FanBell's pricing page states that FanBell is free to start with no monthly fee and charges a 12% platform fee only when a fan pays.
A marketplace profile and a FanBell gig are not mutually exclusive: an editor can keep both, routing cold marketplace-search traffic to the marketplace profile and warm bio-link traffic to the priced FanBell gig. FanBell publishes no data on how editors split traffic between the two, so treat that split as your own observation rather than an industry benchmark.
| What happens | Fiverr Gig | Upwork job proposal | FanBell async gig |
|---|---|---|---|
| How the work starts | A buyer orders from your Gig page (Fiverr Help Center) | You submit a proposal to a client's job post | A client pays your listed price from your bio link |
| Cost to be considered | No per-proposal token cost — buyers order from the Gig page (Fiverr Help Center) | $0.15 per Connect spent submitting proposals (Upwork Support) | No listing or bidding cost; free to publish |
| When the client pays | In advance, to Fiverr, to create an Order | After hiring; on a fixed-price contract the client pre-funds each milestone in escrow before work begins | At checkout, before you start editing |
| Platform cut | Sellers credited 80% of the purchase amount, a 20% commission (Fiverr Payment Terms) | Freelancer Service Fee of 0% to 15% per contract, deducted from the freelancer's earnings (Upwork Support) | 12% of the payment, only when a client pays |
| Who is the seller of record | Fiverr bills the buyer and credits the seller's Fiverr balance | Upwork holds fixed-price milestone funds in escrow until released | The creator is "an independent seller and the merchant of record" |
What should an async editing-gig listing include?
A listing should fix five things before any footage arrives: the raw-footage limit in minutes, the finished output spec and length, the number of revision rounds, the turnaround window, and the exclusions. Platform delivery specs belong in the output line, because a reel and a long-form YouTube cut have different published ceilings.
Define, at minimum:
- Raw-footage limit. A cap stated in minutes of source footage — for example, up to 10 minutes — keeps review time predictable and gives you a documented reason to decline an oversized order.
- Output length. YouTube's Help Center states that creators can make YouTube Shorts up to three minutes in length (YouTube Help, Create a YouTube Short). Instagram's Help Center states that reels over 3 minutes "won't be recommended to new audiences" (Instagram Help Center, Create a reel).
- Output format. Instagram's Help Center states that you can upload a reel with an aspect ratio between 1.91:1 and 9:16, and that reels "should have a minimum frame rate of 30 FPS (frames per second) and a minimum resolution of 720 pixels". YouTube's Help Center states that the maximum file a channel can upload is 256 GB or 12 hours, whichever is less.
- Licensed music. YouTube's Help Center states that most songs can be used for up to 90 seconds inside a 3-minute Short, with some tracks limited to 60 or 30 seconds. Confirm in the listing who supplies and clears the music, because the client's platform enforces the claim, not the editor's project file.
- Revision count. FanBell's Creator Services page states that the creator decides "how many revisions (if any) are included"; the trade-offs are covered in how many revisions a service should include.
- Turnaround. Delivery time is a per-service setting. FanBell's Creator Services page states that the creator sets "a price and delivery time", and FanBell's How It Works page states that a creator delivers "asynchronously on your own time within the turnaround you set". The available windows are shown in the Creator Service setup form; pick one you can reliably meet rather than the longest one offered.
- Exclusions. State plainly if motion graphics, sound design, subtitles, or color grading are not included at the base price.
| Gig type | Typical client input | What you deliver |
|---|---|---|
| Reel or short-form cutdown | Raw clips, a target length | One vertical edit at 9:16, captions, music sync |
| Podcast episode edit | Raw audio/video, chapter notes | A cleaned episode with cuts and levels |
| Long-form YouTube edit | Raw footage, a rough outline | A paced, structured cut with b-roll placement |
How do you send and receive footage on FanBell?
Footage moves inside the paid order itself: the client attaches files when ordering a Creator Service, and the editor returns a written note plus up to five files, or a private link for anything larger. A Paid Private Question carries no file in either direction, so a footage handoff must be sold as a Creator Service.
FanBell's Creator Services documentation states that a fan "can also attach their own files when they order (a track, a resume, a screenshot)," and that a creator delivers "a written note plus up to 5 files (video, audio, images, PDF, Word, Excel, or PowerPoint), and/or a private link (Google Drive, Loom, Dropbox…) for anything larger". FanBell's Creator Services page states its delivery limits in files and minutes rather than gigabytes — up to 5 files per delivery, with video or audio up to 20 minutes — which is why a raw-footage cap stated in minutes is safer than one stated in gigabytes.
Consumer transfer tools cap the outside-link route quickly. WeTransfer's Help Center states that its free plan allows up to 10 transfers or 3 GB in any 30-day period. WeTransfer's Help Center also states that uploads on its Free and Starter plans can be kept online for up to 3 days (WeTransfer Help Center, Transfer availability), so a client's outside-link footage can expire before an editor opens the project.
A Paid Private Question is a text question answered in a private thread by text or voice, with no file exchange in either direction. If a client's footage is too large, too disorganized, or otherwise outside the stated raw-footage limit, FanBell's Creator Services page states that "if a request is out of scope, you can decline and refund it", and FanBell's Purchases, Support & Refunds policy states in section 4 that ordinary refunds "are decided and initiated by the creator".
How much should you charge for an async editing gig?
Price the gig from working time — footage review, cutting, exporting, and one revision round — multiplied by the hourly rate you want, then gross the total up so platform and processing fees come out of the price rather than your pay. Upwork's published marketplace benchmark puts the median video-editor rate at $35 per hour.
"The median hourly rate for Video Editors is $35. Hourly rates for Video Editors on Upwork typically range between $10 and $60." — Upwork, "How much does it cost to hire a video editor?"
That $35 figure is an Upwork marketplace benchmark drawn from rates freelancers set on Upwork's own platform, not a general market median for video editing, and Upwork publishes it alongside a typical range of $10 to $60 per hour. Direct bio-link pricing is not bound by it in either direction. For starting price ranges by edit complexity, see how much to charge for editing reels.
A worked example: hours × hourly target × fees
Converting an hourly target into a flat gig price takes three steps: estimate the working hours, multiply by the hourly rate you want, then gross the total up so the two fees come out of the price rather than out of your pay. Two published rates set the gross-up. FanBell's pricing page states that FanBell charges a 12% platform fee only when a fan pays, and Stripe's published US pricing lists "2.9% + 30¢ per successful transaction for domestic cards" (Stripe pricing). Together those leave 85.1% of the listed price minus a flat 30¢, so the formula is list price = (target take-home + $0.30) ÷ 0.851, rounded up to a clean number.
The table below runs that formula at the $35 median hourly rate Upwork publishes for video editors. Hours are illustrative estimates, not FanBell data.
| Gig | Est. working hours | Hourly target | Target take-home | List price | Est. take-home after 12% + 2.9% + 30¢ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Short-form reel cutdown | 1.5 | $35 | $52.50 | $65 | $55.02 |
| Podcast episode edit | 4 | $35 | $140.00 | $165 | $140.11 |
| Long-form YouTube edit | 8 | $35 | $280.00 | $330 | $280.53 |
Read the last column as the arithmetic result of two published rates, not as a FanBell earnings promise: at a $165 list price, the 12% FanBell fee is $19.80 and the US domestic-card Stripe fee is $5.09, leaving $140.11. Stripe's pricing page prices international cards, currency conversion, and non-card payment methods differently from the 2.9% + 30¢ domestic-card rate. Substitute your own hourly target and your own honest hour estimate — the formula does not change.
What are the risks and limits of selling editing gigs this way?
Selling direct puts five things on the editor: chargebacks, missed turnarounds, music and footage rights, storage of large source files, and self-employment tax. FanBell's own policy makes the creator the merchant of record and the party who answers payment disputes, so a scoped listing and a written delivery record are the practical defenses.
Client disputes and chargebacks. FanBell's Purchases, Support & Refunds policy states in section 5 that "payment disputes concerning a creator's sale are handled through Stripe and the creator's connected payment account" and that "the creator is responsible for responding to the dispute and submitting relevant evidence". Disputes also cost money to contest: Stripe's pricing page lists a dispute countered fee of "$15.00 for each dispute you respond to manually," returned only on disputes you win. Refunds are not fee-neutral either — FanBell's policy states in section 4 that on an approved full refund "FanBell reverses the corresponding platform fee" while "Stripe's original processing fee may remain the creator's responsibility".
Missed turnaround and support expectations. Nobody enforces your promised window for you: FanBell's Purchases, Support & Refunds policy states in section 2 that "FanBell does not establish or guarantee a response deadline for ordinary creator customer support". The same policy states in section 7 that FanBell does not ordinarily determine "how quickly a creator must answer an ordinary support request", so a delivery window you consistently miss is a reputation and dispute problem rather than a platform-mediated one.
Rights and music licensing. A licensing mistake in an edit lands on the client's channel and, by extension, on you. YouTube's Help Center states that when Content ID finds a match, "the matching content gets a copyright claim," and that "usually, copyright claimants choose to track or monetize videos, not block them". YouTube's Help Center also states that if a creator does nothing about a claim, "after 5 days from the claim date, any held revenue is released to the claimant". Put the music-clearance responsibility in writing in the listing.
Large-file storage. FanBell delivery is capped at up to 5 files per order with video or audio up to 20 minutes, plus a private link for anything larger, so archiving source footage is your own cost and your own retention decision. Outside links expire: WeTransfer's Help Center states that Free and Starter uploads can be kept online for up to 3 days.
Tax and accounting. Because the creator is the merchant of record on their own connected Stripe account, gig income is self-employment income the editor reports themselves. For US editors, the IRS states that the federal reporting threshold for Form 1099-K is "over $20,000 in payments and more than 200 transactions" for third-party settlement organizations (IRS, Form 1099-K FAQs: General Information), and Stripe's support documentation states that "Stripe issues 1099-K forms to all eligible U.S.-based users who accept payments" — receiving no form does not make the income untaxable.
Do you need a big following to get editing clients?
No. FanBell publishes no follower minimum, portfolio requirement, or certification requirement for listing a paid Creator Service; the only prerequisite named on its pricing page is a connected Stripe account. Warm requests from past clients and referrals convert without reach, which is exactly what a priced, scoped listing is built to capture.
FanBell's pricing page states that "a connected Stripe account is required for paid widgets," and names no follower threshold anywhere on the page. FanBell's account setup flow runs in four steps — claim your link, complete your page, connect payouts through Stripe, turn on offers — and no step asks for a follower count, an audience screenshot, or a portfolio URL.
Warm requests do not depend on reach: a client you already edit for, a streamer who saw your last cut, or someone another creator referred is already convinced before they open the link. A priced gig with no follower gate turns that warm referral into a paid, scoped transaction instead of a free favor or an open-ended DM quote. FanBell does not publish data on where editors' clients come from, so treat the referral-versus-discovery mix as your own observation rather than an industry rule.
What other ways can video editors get paid on FanBell?
Beyond the editing gig itself, a FanBell page can run tips, wishlist or project support with a funding progress bar, paid private questions, and a brand-collaboration inquiry form. Those cover no-delivery contributions, funded equipment goals, quick text advice, and inbound production leads without changing the priced Creator Service listing.
Tips let a client or fan contribute without buying a specific edit, and FanBell's Tips page states that no reply or delivery is required on a tip. Wishlist / Project Support collects cash toward one named goal — new editing hardware, for example — with a visible funding progress bar rather than an open-ended ask.
If clients regularly reach out about ongoing or larger production work rather than a single defined edit, a Brand Collaboration Inquiries form collects budget, timeline, and deliverable details into a separate inbox. A Brand Collaboration Inquiries form organizes and stores leads; it does not book, guarantee, or negotiate a deal.
| Client request | FanBell offer to use | Files allowed? | What you owe |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Edit this footage into a reel" | Creator Service | Yes — client attaches footage, editor delivers a note plus up to 5 files or a private link | The finished edit inside your stated turnaround |
| "Which codec should I export in?" | Paid Private Question | No — text question, text or voice reply | A written or voice answer, no file |
| "Loved the last cut, here's something extra" | Tips | No delivery attached | Nothing — a tip carries no deliverable |
| "I want to help fund your new machine" | Wishlist / Project Support | No delivery attached | Progress toward one named funding goal |
| "We have a 6-month content retainer" | Brand Collaboration Inquiries | Lead details only | A reply — the form stores the lead, it does not book the deal |
Frequently asked questions
The most common questions about async video-editing gigs on FanBell cover credentials, file transfer, turnaround, fees, and disputes. No certification, agency, or follower minimum is required; Creator Service orders accept file attachments; delivery windows are chosen per service in the setup form; and FanBell charges a 12% platform fee only when a fan pays.
Do I need video-editing certification or an agency to sell gigs on FanBell?
No. FanBell's pricing page names a connected Stripe account as the requirement for paid widgets and names no certification, agency, or portfolio-site requirement. Certification in the field is optional and vendor-specific: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics states that editors "may demonstrate competence in various types of editing software by earning certification, which is generally offered by software vendors". Describe your experience and past work accurately in the listing either way.
Can a client send me raw footage through FanBell?
Yes, on a Creator Service. FanBell's Creator Services page states that a fan "can also attach their own files when they order," and that the creator delivers a written note plus up to 5 files, or a private link for anything larger. A Paid Private Question is a text question answered in a private thread by text or voice, with no file upload in either direction.
What turnaround can I promise on a FanBell editing gig?
Whatever delivery window you select on the service itself. FanBell's Creator Services page states that the creator sets "a price and delivery time" per service, and FanBell's How It Works page states that you deliver "asynchronously on your own time within the turnaround you set". FanBell does not publish a fixed maximum on its help pages, so the available options are the ones shown in the Creator Service setup form when you publish. Choose a window you can reliably hit rather than promising same-day delivery on every gig.
What does FanBell charge for an editing gig?
FanBell's pricing page states that FanBell is free to start with no monthly fee and applies a 12% platform fee only when a fan pays.
Do Stripe fees apply on top of FanBell's 12%?
Yes. FanBell's How It Works page states that payments and payouts run on Stripe through the creator's own connected Stripe account, so Stripe's processing fee applies in addition to FanBell's 12% platform fee. Stripe's published US pricing page lists "2.9% + 30¢ per successful transaction for domestic cards"; that same page prices international cards, currency conversion, and non-card payment methods differently.
Who handles a chargeback on an editing gig?
You do. FanBell's Purchases, Support & Refunds policy states in section 5 that "the creator is responsible for responding to the dispute and submitting relevant evidence," and that FanBell "may preserve and provide transaction records, listing information, order instructions, delivery records, messages, timestamps, and other relevant platform evidence as permitted by law". Stripe's pricing page lists a $15.00 dispute countered fee for each dispute you respond to manually, returned for disputes you win.
Can I decline a project that's outside my listed scope?
Yes. FanBell's Creator Services page states that "if a request is out of scope, you can decline and refund it", and FanBell's Purchases, Support & Refunds policy states in section 1 that the creator "decides ordinary full or partial refund requests". A clear raw-footage limit and revision count in the listing makes that boundary easier to enforce.
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