How does payment work — what's the 5% fee?

When you accept an expert's proposal, an order is created in AWAITING_PAYMENT state. You'll be redirected to /checkout/<orderId> to fund the full amount via Stripe.

Funds sit in escrow on AiHIRE's Stripe balance — the expert can see the order is funded but doesn't receive any money yet.

Each order is split into milestones (currently a 50/50 default). When the expert delivers a milestone, you'll see it on /dashboard/orders/<id> and can Approve.

On Approve, AiHIRE issues a Stripe Transfer of (milestone amount × 95%) to the expert's connected Stripe account. The remaining 5% is the AiHIRE platform fee — that's our only revenue.