Payout Timing

Effective date: September 8, 2026
Last reviewed: September 8, 2026

This page publishes the current validation and payout-freeze day counts referenced by section 14 of the Terms of Service. It is informational. The Terms control if this page and the Terms ever conflict.

Validation periods

Validation begins when the earning is credited. The period is snapshotted at credit and is not recomputed later, except that a copyright notice or Acceptable Use Policy §2.5 review may move an in-flight date forward only.

Stream	Period	Anchor
Premium — arc first published less than 90 days ago	30 days	purchase / credit date
Premium — arc first published 90 days or more ago, and no open notice or §2.5 review	7 days	purchase / credit date
Premium — open copyright notice or Acceptable Use Policy §2.5 review on the arc	30 days	credit date, or extension of the stored date
Ripple attribution	7 days	subscription payment date
Print royalties	21 days	ship date

published_at on a story arc is set on first publish and is not reset on republish.

Account gates

Identity verification is required before withdrawal.
An approved, unexpired tax form is required before withdrawal.
Each payout request is capped at USD $10,000.
Changing payout method freezes new payout requests for 5 days.
The first payout may receive a one-time enhanced review.

Membership holding

Attribution credited before you meet the membership requirement stays held until you meet it. There is no expiry and no forfeiture for failing to upgrade.

Incomplete verification

Earnings that cannot be paid because identity verification, payment details, or an approved tax form are incomplete do not lapse after twelve months. They remain payable under applicable unclaimed-property law.

Estate claims

On death or incapacity, unvalidated earnings complete the published validation period above, then become payable to the estate through the manual claims process in section 17.4 of the Terms of Service.