Is this brand deal legit? Brand Deal Checker for collab emails, sponsorship offers, DMs and contracts

1. 1

   Paste it

   The whole message, plus the address it came from if you have it.

2. 2

   We read it

   The sender is checked against public records. Then the message is read against the checklist our team uses on real offers.

3. 3

   You decide

   You get the read, the gaps and a reply. What you do with the deal is yours.

1. 1

   Find the brand’s real website yourself. Search for it. Do not click the link in the message to get there.

2. 2

   Compare the sender’s address with it, letter by letter. The part after the @ should be the brand’s own domain, or a named agency’s. An extra word, a swapped letter or a different ending means it is not the same sender.

3. 3

   Look the person up. A real partnerships contact usually has a LinkedIn page that names the company. No name at all is a reason to ask for one.

4. 4

   Write to the brand through a contact you found, not one they gave you. The FTC gives the same advice for brand ambassador offers: contact the company directly using details you know are genuine. If the offer is real, they will put you in touch with the right person.

5. 5

   Ask for the terms in the body of the email. A real brand can paste the deliverables, the fee and the dates into a reply. You should never have to open an archive to find out what the deal is.

Or paste the message at the top of this page. The checker looks up the sender’s domain, how long it has existed and where the links go, and tells you what it saw.

It is worth doing at any size. One campaign of fake brand deal emails, reported by researchers at CloudSEK in December 2024, targeted more than 200,000 YouTube creators.

Real offers are not always this tidy, and a short first message from a real brand is common. What matters is that nothing in it asks you to download, pay or log in, and that the sender checks out.

• The media kit download. A brief, a media kit, a contract or a “game to review” that you have to download, often a zip or an archive with a password. Opening it can hand over your logins and your browser sessions. A real brand can put the terms in the email.
• The lookalike address. The brand’s name with something added or changed: an extra word, a swapped letter, a different ending. Close is not the same. A domain registered last month is a bigger concern than one that is ten years old.
• The big name on a free mailbox. A well-known brand writing from a free mailbox. Founders and small brands do use them. Large ones almost never do for partnerships.
• Pay the shipping. The product is free and you only cover shipping, a deposit or a fee to hold your spot. Brands pay creators. It does not run the other way.
• Buy it first with our code. An “ambassador” offer that comes down to a discount code so you can buy the product, sometimes with a promise to pay you back. That is a sale with your name on it, not a deal.
• DM to collab. A comment or a message telling you to message a second account to collab. The second account is usually where the request to pay arrives.
• Paid in crypto or gift cards. Payment only in crypto or gift cards, often with a push to move the conversation to Telegram or WhatsApp straight away. Both make the money and the sender hard to trace.
• The overpaid check. A payment for more than you agreed, and a request to send the difference back. Their payment fails later. Yours does not.
• Bank or ID details before a contract. A request for your bank details or ID so they can “start paying you” before any agreement exists. The FTC calls this the tell-tale sign of a fake brand ambassador offer.
• A request for access. A password, a verification code, or being added as a manager on your channel, page or ad account before any agreement exists.
• The offer that is too big, and in a hurry. A fee far above what an account your size would expect, no mention of a single video you made, and an answer needed today. The size and the deadline are there to stop you checking.

One of these is a reason to slow down. Two is a reason to stop until you have confirmed who you are talking to.

Deliverables

How many posts, on which platform, in what format and how long.

Pay, and when

The fee, and the date it lands. Payment 30 days after posting is common. Part of the fee up front is a fair ask on a first deal.

Usage rights

Whether the brand can repost your video or run it as a paid ad, where, and for how long. “Forever” is a term to change.

Exclusivity

Which competitors you agree to stay away from, and until when. The wider and longer it is, the more it should pay.

Edits

How many rounds of changes are included, so it is a number and not open-ended.

How long the post stays up

A fixed minimum, so it is agreed and not assumed.

If they cancel

What you are paid if you make the video and the brand pulls out.

Disclosure

A paid post has to be labeled as one. A brand that asks you to hide it is asking you to take the risk.

• It thanks them and says you are interested, in one line.
• It asks for what is missing, as a short list. Deliverables, dates, the fee and when it is paid, usage rights, exclusivity.
• It raises the one or two terms you would change, with what you would accept in their place.
• It leaves your rate out until you know what they want you to make. When they ask what you charge, the Rate Calculator works out a range from your real views.

Paste the offer at the top of this page and the checker writes this reply for you, with blanks for your name and your rate.

• You replied, and nothing else. Nothing is lost. Stop replying, and do not open anything they send next.
• You downloaded or opened a file. Treat that device as unsafe. From a different device, change the password on the account, sign out of every session and check who has manager access to the channel or page. Run a security scan on the first device before you sign in on it again.
• You paid. Call your card issuer or bank the same day and ask to dispute the charge.
• You shared bank details, ID or a login code. Tell your bank, change the password, and turn on two-step sign-in if it is not on.
• Report it. In the US, report it to the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov. Report the account or the email to the platform it reached you on as well.

These are the general steps. Your platform’s help pages have the exact ones for its accounts.