What is ICA?
The Integrity, Notification, and Fairness in Online Retail Marketplaces for Consumers Act (INFORM Consumers Act or ICA for short) aims to create a safe and transparent online buying process. It requires marketplaces (like eBay, Amazon, and us!) to collect, verify, and disclose certain high-volume seller information. Similar to CAN-Spam or CCPA, it's designed to protect consumers in our online, transaction-based world. ICA was just passed in June 2023, and PhotoDay always strives for full compliance to keep you and your customers safe and secure.
What do I need to do?
Update: As of July 2026, all PhotoDay studios are asked to verify their business and contact information — not just high-volume sellers. Verifying is what releases any held funds from your sales and moves your studio from monthly to weekly payouts.
We'll email you instructions/reminders and notify you when you log into your PhotoDay Studio Panel. Just click the button in the email and/or the banner in your Studio Panel to start the quick and easy verification process!
Once your business is verified successfully, PhotoDay will ask you once yearly to confirm that your information is updated and correct.
What do I need to prepare for the verification process?
Below are the items you'll need to provide during the verification process (which is completed via Persona, a secure verification software).
Bank Account: Your studio is already connected to Stripe, so this one's an easy checkmark!
Tax ID: As an online marketplace, we'll need to collect your tax ID, whether you're selling as an individual or a business.
Proof of Identity: We'll need photos of a valid, unexpired form of ID (e.g., driver's license, state ID, passport, etc.)
Contact Information: We'll need to make sure your customers can contact you by phone and email.
Good to know: Approval now takes effect immediately once Persona finishes reviewing your info — your Verification page updates on its own, no refresh needed. If you started verifying and stepped away, picking it back up resumes right where you left off with your info prefilled. There's also a "Start over" button inside the flow if you'd rather submit a fresh application.
Is this typical for online selling?
Yes. The online marketplaces you frequent—Amazon, eBay, Etsy, etc.— are all required to adhere to ICA requirements.
What defines a high-volume seller (for ICA reporting)?
A high-volume seller is defined by federal law as someone who has sold 200 or more new items totaling more than $5,000 in a 12-consecutive-month period over the last 24 months through PhotoDay. This threshold still determines certain federal reporting obligations, but it's separate from PhotoDay's own business verification requirement described above, which now applies to every studio regardless of sales volume.
How will this affect my customers?
Being a verified seller will only increase your credibility with customers. Your customers will only be affected if you don't verify your business.
Will this affect all PhotoDay Users?
Yes. Starting with studios created after July 1, 2026, every studio is asked to verify their business, regardless of sales volume — this is now a requirement to receive weekly payouts, not just an ICA high-volume seller requirement. Studios created before July 1, 2026 are not affected by this change.
Annual Certification
PhotoDay Users who qualify as high-volume sellers are annually required to certify that their business and contact information is updated and correct.
Here's how it works:
One year after your initial business verification, we will send you a series of emails and a banner in the Studio Panel notifying you of the certification requirement.
If your information hasn't changed, you can simply confirm that everything is still correct to complete the certification.
If your information has changed, we'll lead you through the simple business verification steps again.
You will have 10 days from initial notification to complete the certification, with an additional 10 day grace period after the deadline before galleries are disabled.