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FAQ and Troubleshooting

This page is a lookup table, not a lesson. Find the error message or the surprise you actually hit, read the short answer, and follow the link if you need the full story — every answer here is covered in depth on its own page.

Roles and accounts​

I'm an advertiser — can I also sell?​

Yes. Adding the Channel Owner role is one click from the "Own a Telegram channel?" panel on your advertiser home, and it is strictly additive: you keep everything on the advertiser side. See Becoming a channel owner.

I pressed Continue and got "You're already enlisted, and your role can't be changed."​

Your account already has a role. If it is Advertiser and you want to sell, use the Become a channel owner panel instead — that path is always open.

Does booking my own channel boost my stats?​

No. Bookings where buyer and seller are the same person, or share an identity, pay out normally but earn no Standing, no reliability credit, no earnings on the leaderboard, and their reviews are ignored.

No, but without it you lose booking messages, the Snooze button, and the instant-verification path for your listings.

Listings​

The wizard says "Add @OnflowAdsBot as an admin of that channel first."​

The bot must be an administrator of your channel, with the Post Messages right, before Onflow Ads can verify it. Add it in Telegram, then press Verify & add (or Publish listing) again.

"@OnflowAdsBot is an admin but is missing the Post Messages right."​

Turn that right on in the channel's admin settings and verify again. Without it the bot cannot publish auto-posted ads.

My channel was "Submitted for review" instead of going live. Why?​

Instant verification needs three things at once: the bot confirmed as an admin with posting rights, your linked Telegram confirmed as an admin of the channel, and an audience figure that matches the live count — plus a plan that includes instant verification. If any of that cannot be confirmed, the listing drops to the manual queue, stays marked Pending on your desk, and goes live once approved. Priority review · $5 moves it to the front. See Listing your channel.

I edited my live listing and now I cannot resubmit it.​

A live listing can re-enter verification only once per cooldown — 15 days on Free, shorter on paid plans, none on the top plan. The error names your next eligible date. Settings that live outside the wizard (lead time, blackout dates, auto-accept, dynamic pricing, spotlights) save instantly and never trigger a cooldown.

"That channel isn't in your pool."​

You are signed into a different account than the one that listed the channel, or the listing was removed.

Can someone else list my channel?​

Verification checks that the account's linked Telegram identity is genuinely an admin of the channel, so only a real admin can list it. Each listing belongs to the account that created it.

How many channels can I list?​

Each plan covers a set number, and the top plan is unlimited. Adding one past the ceiling is refused with a message naming your plan and its limit.

Prices and offers​

Why is my price different from the suggestion?​

The suggestion is advice, never a control. Nothing changes your prices except you, or dynamic pricing inside the band you set.

Dynamic pricing is on but nothing moves.​

It measures "full" against your max ads per day capacity. Without a per-day cap set, it holds your base prices. See Managing your availability.

My spotlight will not start.​

Three usual causes: the listing is not live, you are inside your plan's spotlight cooldown (the panel names the date it unlocks), or you have used your concurrent spotlight slots across your channels. See Prices and offers.

Availability​

Auto-accept was on but a booking is still sitting in my New tab.​

It did not qualify: below your price floor, your withdrawable balance could not cover the good-faith deposit, or your reliability is under 4.0. The booking is still yours to accept manually — and its 24-hour clock is running.

A booking never reached me at all.​

It was stopped by one of your own rules: a prohibited topic, a blackout date, a day at its per-day cap, or a start time inside your lead time.

How do I take a holiday?​

Set a blackout range. Your listing stays live, ranked and discoverable, and reopens itself when the range ends. Removing the channel instead would mean re-listing and re-verifying to come back.

Bookings​

What happens if I just ignore a request?​

After 24 hours it auto-declines: the advertiser is refunded in full and your reliability drops by 0.30. Declining by hand is free — only silence costs. If your Telegram is linked, Snooze buys 6 more hours, at most twice.

The Accept button says I need to top up my wallet.​

The booking is high-value and asks for a refundable good-faith deposit your withdrawable balance cannot cover. Top up, or wait for pending payouts to clear, then accept. The deposit must come from real funds — promotional credit does not count — and it comes straight back when you deliver.

"Your reliability is X/10 — you need at least 4/10 to accept bookings."​

Your score has fallen below the accept floor. It recovers through clean completions on work already in flight; you cannot accept new bookings until it is back above 4.0.

Can I ask for more money instead of declining?​

Yes — press Counter, name a price between $1 and 5 times the original, and send it. The booking stays pending while the advertiser decides, and your payout scales at the same fee ratio.

The advertiser cancelled after I accepted. Do I get anything?​

Yes. A cancellation after you accepted but before the ad ran pays you a late-cancellation compensation fee — a share of the booking price, with the amount shown in the notification — and returns your deposit. Your reliability is untouched. A booking cancelled while still pending simply disappears with no effect on you.

Delivery​

"The posting window has closed — this booking is being refunded."​

You tried to mark a booking delivered after its scheduled window ended. Bookings not posted by the window close are automatically refunded to the advertiser. Where the cause was yours it also costs 1.00 reliability and the good-faith deposit; where the cause was a platform or Telegram failure, neither applies. Post inside the window — a roughly 2-hour grace exists for clock differences.

Paste the public link to the exact live message, in the form https://t.me/yourchannel/123 — anything else is refused. Private-channel links and invite links cannot be verified by the monitor; only public channels can host marketplace placements. See Submitting proof of delivery.

Can I edit the ad post after publishing it?​

Avoid it. The delivered post is compared against the creative frozen at delivery; edits are recorded on the proof trail and can count against you in a dispute. If a change is genuinely needed, agree it with the advertiser first.

When can I delete the ad?​

Once its promised duration has fully run — 24 hours for a 1h top · 24h feed placement, seven days for a native one, and so on. Deleting earlier pauses your payout and costs 1.50 reliability.

Money​

My payout says "Funds release automatically on ..." with a date.​

That date was fixed from your plan at the moment you delivered. The advertiser can release it sooner by confirming the post; you can also use Get it now (an early-release fee applies) once their review window has passed. Otherwise the Claim button appears on the date shown — and the release happens automatically anyway.

My payout is "on hold" or "paused."​

One of four things: a dispute is open on the booking, the monitor flagged the placement, your wallet is frozen pending a review, or the payout crossed an identity-verification threshold. Each case names itself; the funds are held, never lost. See Escrow and getting paid and Delivery monitoring.

"This payout crosses a verification threshold."​

Your lifetime payouts have reached a level that requires identity verification. Complete the card at the top of your bookings queue — basic verification (legal name and country) clears instantly; higher levels are reviewed by the Onflow Ads team and your held payouts release the moment they clear. See Identity verification.

Why is my fee different on two bookings?​

The commission is your plan's rate at the time each booking was priced, and it can include a small reliability surcharge while your score is below the healthy band. At the default 8.0 score that surcharge is zero. Each booking card shows the exact rate applied to it.

Part of my payout shows as a "retention hold."​

That booking carried retention escrow: a slice stays held past delivery and releases after an extended window, provided the post survived and the channel did not shrink below its size at booking. Its release date is the blue entry in your payouts panel.

I can't withdraw even though I have balance.​

Check three things: the amount meets the minimum shown on the wallet page ($5.00); the balance is withdrawable (promotional and refund credits are spendable but not cashable); and your wallet is not frozen for a review. Each plan also allows a set number of withdrawal requests per month.

Monitoring and disputes​

I was flagged but the post is still up.​

Flags fire only on definite signals from Telegram: the post being gone, the channel unreachable to the bot, or the ad itself unpinned during its promised top-hours. Check that @OnflowAdsBot is still an admin, and that the link you submitted points at the ad message. If you believe the flag is wrong, re-post the ad or contact support from the flag notification.

An advertiser opened a dispute. What should I do?​

Nothing is required from you immediately — the review is arbitrated on Onflow Ads's own evidence: monitor history, measured delivery, and the signed proof archive. Your payout on that booking, and your wallet, are held during the review and released the moment it is decided. If the concern is rejected, everything proceeds and the claimant loses reliability, not you. See Disputes.

An old booking that already paid out was disputed.​

The fraud-concern window runs 14 days from the post going live, which can be after payout. After 14 days the money is settled for good.

Auctions​

Can I cancel an auction I started?​

Yes, at any time while it is still open. Every live bid is refunded in full automatically — the confirmation tells you how many bidders were refunded — and the slot stays yours. Once the auction has closed it can no longer be cancelled. See Running auctions on your slots.

My auction sold — why do I still see a booking request?​

The winning bid converts into an ordinary booking at the winning price, and ordinary bookings go through your accept flow. Accept it to lock the sale in; from there it is monitored, escrowed and paid out exactly like a fixed-price placement.

"You already have an open auction on that format."​

One open auction per format per channel at a time. Wait for the current one to close, or cancel it, before starting another on the same format. A different format on the same channel can be auctioned in parallel.

Referrals​

When exactly do I earn a referral commission?​

Shortly after a referred user's booking reaches completed — delivered, verified and paid out. Cancelled, declined, refunded or disputed-away bookings carry no completed fee, so they earn nothing. See Refer and earn.

Can I refer myself with a second account?​

No. Accounts that share an identity cannot refer each other, and the attempt earns nothing.