If your studio was created on or after July 1, 2026, this article explains what to expect around payouts and business verification. Studios created before July 1, 2026 aren't affected by any of this.
The short version: You can start selling and taking orders right away — there's no waiting period to launch your gallery. However, your share of each sale is held until you complete business verification. Verifying releases those held funds and moves you from monthly to weekly payouts.
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Why funds are held
This protects both studios and PhotoDay from fraud — in the past, stolen credit cards have been used to open accounts and take orders before we could confirm the account was legitimate. Rather than delay when a new studio can start selling, we now hold each studio's cut of a sale until they've verified their business. It's a one-time step, and it's the same Persona-based verification flow used for INFORM Consumers Act (ICA) compliance (see the ICA FAQ) — just open to every studio now, not only high-volume sellers.
Dashboard prompts you may see
Only one of these shows at a time, in this order:
ICA verification/certification required — the existing banner for studios that meet the ICA high-volume seller threshold.
Connect Stripe — appears once you've made a sale but haven't connected a Stripe payout account yet.
Payout hold — appears once you have sales and a connected Stripe account, but haven't completed business verification yet.
Completing verification
Click the banner or "Update Information" to open the verification flow directly — there's no confirmation popup in the way anymore. A few other improvements:
Approval takes effect immediately once Persona finishes reviewing your info, and your Verification page updates on its own without needing a refresh.
If you start verifying and step away, coming back resumes right where you left off with your info prefilled.
There's a "Start over" button inside the flow if you'd rather submit a fresh application.
Once verified, any held funds are released and your studio moves to the weekly payout schedule. For more on Stripe Express and payout timing, see this article.