Your first payout is an exciting milestone. It means payments are coming in and funds are on their way to your bank account. Before that first deposit hits, there are a few things worth understanding so you know what timing to expect, how processing works, and what you’ll see on your end. This guide walks you through what happens behind the scenes and how to make sure everything goes smoothly.
Getting Set Up to Receive Payouts
Before your first payout can be sent, your account needs to be properly connected and verified. What that looks like depends on whether you’re brand new to Playground or adding billing later on.
If You’re a New Playground Customer
If you’re just getting started, your onboarding manager will walk you through everything during your implementation.
That includes connecting and verifying your Stripe account, confirming your bank details, and making sure your center is fully set up to receive payouts. By the time you begin charging families, your payout setup should already be in place.
If anything is missing or incomplete, your onboarding manager will flag it and help you resolve it before payments begin processing. The goal is to make sure there are no surprises when that first deposit is on the way.
If You’re Already on Playground but New to Billing
If you’ve been using Playground but haven’t used billing before, welcome. Once you decide to start charging families through Playground, there’s just one extra step.
You’ll need to connect with your onboarding manager or account manager with a meeting so we can enable billing and payouts on your account properly. This ensures Stripe is set up correctly and your bank information is verified before you begin collecting payments.
If you’re not sure who your point of contact is, no problem. Reach out to the Support team and we’ll connect you with the right person. Once everything is enabled and confirmed, you’ll be ready to start receiving payouts.
How Payouts Work
Once billing is set up and families begin making payments, payouts initiate automatically every business day at 7:00 PM Eastern, as long as your available balance is $5 or more. So if you receive payments from families and your balance meets that threshold by 7:00 PM Eastern, your payout will trigger that evening.
Daily payouts are the standard setup. If you would prefer payouts to run only on specific days of the week instead, that’s something we can adjust for you. Just reach out to the Support team and we’ll update your payout schedule.
It’s also important to know that your first payout can take 3–5 business days to arrive in your bank account. This is normal and is due to standard regulations for new payment accounts. After that initial payout, funds typically arrive the next business day once they’ve been initiated.
Once your first payout has arrived, we recommend reviewing our After Your First Payout guide. It walks through what to double-check, how to reconcile deposits, and what to do if anything doesn’t look the way you expected.