EscrowPay launches EscrowPay Services, so freelancers and contractors can get paid in stages

Following the go live of its WhatsApp based conditional settlement service for goods in June 2026, EscrowPay has now launched the same protection for the services industry. EscrowPay Services, a new web platform at services.escrowpay.app, went live on 20 October 2026, letting clients and service providers agree a job in stages, with the client paying for each stage only when it is delivered.

Are you a freelancer, contractor, web designer, photographer, event planner, tailor, content creator, product manager, project manager, builder or in any service based profession? Then this is for you.

Paying for services has a trust problem that anyone who has hired a contractor will recognise. Clients worry that a provider will take a deposit and disappear, or deliver half the work. Providers worry that a client will receive the work and refuse to pay. So jobs stall over who pays first, and how much.

EscrowPay Services is built for work, not goods. EscrowPay’s WhatsApp service protects things that change hands, like a phone or a pair of shoes, which the buyer can inspect on delivery. Services protects jobs that are delivered over days or weeks, where there is nothing to inspect on the day you pay: building and renovation, interior design, web and app development, graphic design and branding, photography and video, event planning, tailoring and fashion, consulting, tutoring, repairs and many more. That is why the money moves in stages, as the work gets done.

The client and provider agree the job, the stages and the price of each stage. Both verify their identity once on our platform by NIN or BVN before they can transact.

Stages run in order, so the next one starts only when the one before it has been paid. If a stage is disputed, the rest of the job is paused while EscrowPay’s team reviews the evidence.

The fee is 10% of the job, split equally. The client pays 5%, either once when they fund the whole job up front, or on each milestone as they fund it, which adds up to the same 5% of the total. The provider pays 5% on each milestone, taken from the payout when it is released. Each side’s fees are capped at ₦50,000 per project, and there is no limit on the value of a job.

The money is never held by EscrowPay or by either party. It sits in an account at Rubies MFB until a stage is approved, and Rubies releases it on EscrowPay’s instruction.

From goods on WhatsApp to the API, and now services

EscrowPay Services is the company’s third launch in four months. The company went live on WhatsApp on 26 June 2026, letting buyers and sellers in Nigeria trade goods with the money held until delivery.

In August 2026, it launched the EscrowPay API, which lets marketplaces and online stores build conditional settlement into their own checkout. Platforms including BSTradeSafe and Verity Trade Global now run live transactions on it.

“Goods were the obvious place to start, but some of the most painful stories we hear are about services,” says Toye Akinwale, founder and CEO of EscrowPay. “A client pays a deposit and the work never comes, or a freelancer delivers and never gets paid. Paying in stages means nobody has to trust a stranger with the whole amount.”

The principle is the same across every EscrowPay product: no party should ever hold both the work and the money.

EscrowPay is Nigeria’s first WhatsApp native conditional settlement service, holding a buyer’s or client’s money at Rubies MFB until the goods are delivered or the work is approved.

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