# Your first pay day Start > Your first month · Lesson · https://vendordue.com/docs/first-pay-day **In short:** On a pay day, every vendor with cleared sales gets a payout, and it waits for you in Payouts › To pay. You pay each vendor the way you always do, then press Pay and record how. This page walks through one payout from a few weeks before to the receipt. Who: Admin. Where: Payouts > To pay. A pay day in VendorDue isn't something you run. Nobody closes a period or approves anything: on each of your pay days, payouts land by themselves, and your part is to pay them. This page follows one payout in the example shop, Alder Ceramics' payout for 1 October, which has the stoneware mug on it. ## Before the day Fernhill Pottery pays every month on the 1st, for sales up to the day before, and holds each sale until it ships, then for a 14-day return window. The mug sold on 3 September and shipped on the 4th, so it cleared on 18 September with a pay day of 1 October. You can watch a payout take shape in **Payouts > Upcoming**. It lists every vendor under the day their next payout lands, with how sure the amount is: *(example) How sure Alder Ceramics' 1 October payout is, day by day.* Until 17 September it reads **Open until Thu, 17 Sep**. A sale can clear as late as the day the payout lands, and with a 14-day window that means shipping by the 17th. From the 18th it reads **Final**: nothing new can join, though a refund could still come off. ### Three things to check the week before Your first pay day is the one most worth a look ahead. Afterwards, these take a minute: 1. Open **Activity > Needs attention** and answer what's there. A sale waiting on your decision isn't paid until you answer it. 2. Open **Vendors > Needs setup**. A vendor with no consignor rate earns nothing until they have one. 3. Open **Payouts > Upcoming** and read the amounts. If one looks wrong, press it to see every sale on it and how each was worked out. ## On the day Early on 1 October, by your store's clock, the payout lands. Three things happen at once: - **Its amounts are fixed.** Every sale on it, $72.00 for the mug, is copied onto the payout and never worked out again. A refund after today comes off Alder Ceramics' next payout instead. - **It moves to **Payouts > To pay****, under **Today**. The sidebar's **You owe** goes up by $72.00. - **Emails go out.** You get "$72.00 landed in To pay" once for all of today's payouts, and Alder Ceramics gets "Your payout from Fernhill Pottery landed". *Alder Ceramics' row in To pay on 1 October.* Nothing has been paid yet. VendorDue never moves money by itself: the next step is yours. ## Pay and record it Pay Alder Ceramics the way you always do. Fernhill Pottery pays by check, so on 2 October: 1. In **Payouts > To pay**, press **Pay** on Alder Ceramics' row. 2. Choose **Issue a check**. It shows what they're owed, $72.00, and the next check number, 1043. 3. Choose how they'll get it, **Pick up** or **Mail**, and whether to tell them by email. 4. Press **Issue check 1043**. The payout is Paid, and Alder Ceramics gets a receipt. If you paid another way, like a bank transfer, cash or PayPal, choose **Record a payment** instead. Say how you paid and when, add a reference if you like, and press **Record the payment**. If your store doesn't pay by check, **Pay** opens this straight away. See [Record a payment](https://vendordue.com/docs/record-a-payment) and [Checks](https://vendordue.com/docs/checks). > **Good to know:** Recording a payment says that you paid. VendorDue doesn't check with your bank, and it never sends money unless you use Send now from your own PayPal balance. ### Paying everyone at once Every row in To pay starts ticked. To pay them all the same way, press **Pay 6 vendors** or **Issue 6 checks** in the bar above the list, with your own number of vendors. Untick anyone you're paying separately first. ## After the day Each payment gets a receipt with its own number. You'll find it, and the payout it paid, in **Payouts > History**. Alder Ceramics sees the same receipt on their own page. If you can't pay on the day, nothing goes wrong. The payout stays in To pay and moves under **Overdue**, and its row says how long it's been waiting: amber after 15 days, red after 30. ## When it looks wrong ### A vendor I expected isn't in To pay They had nothing cleared for this pay day. Look them up in **Payouts > Upcoming**: their row says when their next payout lands, or, under **No date yet**, what it's waiting for, like a sale that hasn't shipped or a minimum payout they haven't reached. ### The amount isn't what I expected Press the payout's name on the row, like **Landed 1 Oct, sales 3 September**, to see every line on it: each sale with its working, refunds, charges and adjustments. See [How a payout lands](https://vendordue.com/docs/how-a-payout-lands). ### I recorded the wrong amount Open the receipt in **Payouts > History** and press **Void this payment**, with the reason. The receipt keeps its number and says why, and what it paid goes back to To pay. Then record it again. See [Record a payment](https://vendordue.com/docs/record-a-payment#fix-a-payment-you-recorded). ## Common questions **Do I have to do anything for a payout to land?** No. Payouts land by themselves early on each pay day, by your store's clock. Your part is paying them and recording it. **Can I pay less than the full amount?** Yes. In the payment sheet, press the amount beside Paying and type what you paid. The rest stays in To pay. **What if I pay a few days late?** Nothing breaks. The payout waits in To pay, marked with how many days it has been waiting, until you record a payment. **Does my vendor know their payout landed?** Yes. They get an email when it lands, and a receipt when you record the payment. Checked against VendorDue on 2026-10-06.