When you pay for a VTuber commission at AnimArts, your card details never touch our servers. Here's exactly how it works, who handles your money, and what your refund rights are.
If you're about to commission a Live2D rig, 3D model, or stream overlay from us, you might be wondering: "Wait, who actually handles my payment? Is my card safe? What if I need a refund?"
Fair questions. Here's the full picture, in plain English.
The short version
We use Lemon Squeezy as our checkout provider. Lemon Squeezy uses Stripe under the hood for card processing — the same payment infrastructure that powers Apple, Amazon, Shopify, and millions of other businesses. Both are PCI-DSS Level 1 certified, the highest payment security standard there is. Your card number is never seen by, or stored on, AnimArts servers. Ever.
Why Stripe × Lemon Squeezy
Stripe is the gold-standard payment processor for online businesses. It's what your favourite SaaS app, indie game, or creator subscription almost certainly runs on. The reason it's everywhere: rock-solid fraud detection, cards from 195+ countries, automatic 3D Secure authentication, and a buyer-protection model that's genuinely fair (not the paypal-defaults-to-buyer chaos).
Lemon Squeezy sits ON TOP of Stripe and adds the part that's painful for small studios to build in-house: Merchant of Record (MoR) handling. They legally act as the seller for your transaction, which means they take care of:
- Tax compliance in your country — VAT, GST, US sales tax, the works. The price you see at checkout is the price you pay; no surprise tax line at the end.
- Refund disputes — handled through Lemon Squeezy's consumer-friendly process if you can't resolve directly with us
- Chargeback management — they fight illegitimate chargebacks on the studio's behalf, so legitimate buyers get faster service
- Receipts and invoicing — every payment generates a Lemon Squeezy receipt with full tax breakdown for your records
End result: you get the speed and global coverage of Stripe, plus a real US-based payment platform standing behind every transaction.
What payment methods can I use?
- Cards: Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, JCB, UnionPay (basically any major card globally)
- PayPal: One-click checkout if you have a PayPal account — comes bundled with Lemon Squeezy automatically
- Apple Pay / Google Pay: For mobile/laptop users with these set up
- Link by Stripe: Auto-fill if you've used Stripe checkout anywhere before
You don't pick a method ahead of time — when you click "Buy Now" on your tracker, Lemon Squeezy's checkout shows whichever methods work for your country and you choose then.
How does the milestone payment system work?
VTuber commissions are NOT a "pay everything upfront" deal. We split your project into milestones:
- 50% upfront deposit — locks your slot in the queue, we start work
- (Optional) Mid-draft payment — once you approve the rough sketch / blocking pass
- Balance before final delivery — paid before files ship to you
You'll see all your milestones on a private tracker page (e.g. animarts.studio/track/AA-2026-XXXX) with a Pay button next to each one as we request it. The first deposit gets a "Pay $X" button immediately after you submit the inquiry. Subsequent milestones appear when we hit that stage.
What about refunds?
Different milestones have different refund policies — this is industry-standard for custom commission work:
- Before work begins: 100% refund of the deposit. Just message us within 48 hours of paying.
- After concept / sketch is approved: Partial refund (typically 50% of paid milestones), since labour has already been invested.
- After mid-draft is delivered: No refund on milestones already paid for — but you keep all approved work-in-progress files.
- After final delivery: Refunds only for verifiable quality issues (file corruption, missing deliverables, broken rig). Aesthetic regret is not a refund reason once you've approved revisions.
To request a refund: reply to any of our emails or open a dispute on your tracker page. Lemon Squeezy can also process refunds independently within 5-10 business days if you escalate through their support.
What happens to my card details?
This is the most important part: AnimArts never sees your card number, CVV, or expiry. The checkout page you see when clicking "Pay" is hosted by Lemon Squeezy, processed by Stripe. Both are PCI-DSS Level 1 certified — meaning they've passed the most stringent payment security audit in the industry. The same standard your bank uses to protect your account.
What we DO see (and store on your inquiry record):
- Your name + email (which you typed in the inquiry form)
- The amount you paid
- The Lemon Squeezy order ID (so we can issue refunds)
- Whether the payment succeeded or was refunded
We do NOT see, store, or have access to: card numbers, CVVs, expiry dates, billing addresses, or your bank account.
What about chargebacks?
If something goes truly wrong and you can't reach a resolution with us, you have the standard chargeback rights through your card issuer — same as any online purchase. We'd obviously prefer you reach out first; in 5+ years we've never had a real chargeback because we just refund honest disputes.
Stripe's chargeback handling is one of the reasons we picked this stack — they evaluate evidence fairly instead of auto-defaulting to one side. If we've delivered what was commissioned and have the tracker history to prove it, we usually win disputes. If we genuinely messed up, we refund and learn.
Will my information be sold or shared?
No. Both AnimArts and Lemon Squeezy have strict privacy policies. Your data is used to: (1) deliver your commission, (2) send order confirmations, (3) process refunds if needed. That's it. You won't be enrolled in marketing emails. You can request your data be deleted at any time by emailing us — we'll wipe your inquiry record and ask Lemon Squeezy to do the same.
Already have an Upwork account? You can also pay through there.
Some clients prefer the escrow protection of Upwork direct contracts — especially first-time clients who want a third-party platform sitting between buyer and seller. We support that flow for any project: hire us via our Upwork direct contract and pay milestones through Upwork's built-in escrow. Same milestone structure as our default Lemon Squeezy flow, just routed through a different payment platform.
Use this when: you have an existing Upwork business workflow, your accounting requires it, or you specifically want their escrow protection.
TL;DR
- Default: Stripe × Lemon Squeezy checkout — cards, PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay all in one
- Card details never touch AnimArts servers — same security standard as your bank uses
- Milestones, not lump-sum payment
- Reasonable refund policy with the deposit fully refundable before work starts
- Standard chargeback rights apply — but we'd much rather just resolve issues directly
- Upwork direct contract available if you specifically prefer escrow-style protection
Browse our services and pricing → · Get a free quote in 24 hours →
Ready to Get Started?
Get a personalized quote for your project. We respond within 24 hours.