Flytographer offers efficient payments through a worldwide payment system called Tipalti.

👉 Start by watching the quick video and then come back to this FAQ page to follow along to get set up.

👉 FAQ are included below – please read! Click on the button at the bottom of the page to send us an email if you have more questions or comments.

👉 Looking for the full Dashboard Account Guide? Click here.

HOW TO GET SET UP

1. Log in to your Flytographer dashboard here and enter your associated email address and password

If you cannot remember your password, click on “I’ve forgotten my password” to reset it. Note that the new link will go to the email address associated with your account.

<- Fun fact! The image for the login page is by Mary & Maurizio in Amalfi Coast, taken while on a Flytographer shoot in beautiful Positano.

2. Click on “Settings” tab and select “Payments” underneath your headshot

Find Settings under the dropdown menu at the top right under your name, and then find the Payments selection under your headshot on the left.

(Note: If you wish to update your headshot, it will correspond to the one you have on your Flytographer profile. Please click on your current headshot to upload a new photo. Make sure it is in colour, not B&W, and it shows your friendly face and avoid photos of you wearing sunglasses, as we want to make sure that customers can recognize you from your headshot.)

3. Fill in your address

The next step is to fill in your personal information, including your address. Tipalti may need to verify your address, in which case please have a pdf or jpeg of an official document that contains both your full name and current address, such as your ID, passport, bank or credit card statement, or lease agreement. You may be asked to upload this document when entering your address.

If you do not provide verification within 2 weeks of entering your information, Tipalti may block your account from receiving funds. To avoid this, please have your document ready to upload at the time of activating your account. 

4. Choose your payment method

Direct Deposit/ACH: Preferred method, so please choose this if it’s available to you. If you do not see this option, it means your country is not supported for bank transfers. In this case, you must choose “PayPal” or “Wire Transfer” as your payment method.

Local Bank Transfer: Preferred method for Canadian photographers.  

PayPal: Flytographer pays the $1 per transaction fee on our side, but you are responsible for fees on your side. Fees vary by country. In the US and Canada, it is 2.9% plus $0.30 USD. Please find information on international transfers on PayPal’s site to see what you will be charged. (Tipalti also has a handy calculator here.)

Wire Transfer: Flytographer will pay the wire transfer fees for unsupported countries once your accrued payment reaches $1000USD or every 3 months (at the end of each fiscal quarter), whichever comes sooner. If you wish your payment before then, you are responsible for paying the $26 wire fee and must notify us to override the threshold in order to pay you.

Fiscal quarters:

• Q1 = January to March
• Q2 = April to June
• Q3 = July to September
• Q4 = October to December

Hold My Payments: Choose this if you need to put a hold on receiving money from us.

5. Fill out your banking preferences and information

If you choose Paypal, you will only need your Paypal email address. Bank and wire transfers require more detailed information.

You may need some or all of:

• Your bank’s complete name
• Your bank’s address
• Your SWIFT BIC code  
• Institution number
• Branch number
• Your account information

Either find out this information from your bank or search online for “SWIFT Bank Name Bank Address” to see if your bank comes up.

6. Tax information

The final step is your tax information. Currently this is mostly for EU/UK photographers, but everyone will need to again fill in information, including name, date of birth, and address.

If you are in the EU or UK, please add your VAT and/or TINs if you have them.

If you are in other countries or do not have VAT/TINs, please check the appropriate boxes.

7. Make changes

If you need to change your payment method, threshold, or other details, go first into the “Settings” tab and then choose “Payments” from the menu under your headshot to get back into your account. You can now make changes. (Please note that for security reasons, you are the only one who can enter details and make edits to your banking information, so we cannot help you with this.)

Want to refresh your password? In settings, choose “Change Password” from the menu under your headshot and go from there.

FAQ

Q. How much will I be paid?

• 30-minute shoot: $179USD
• 60-minute shoot: $254USD
• 90-minute shoot: $364USD
• 2-hour shoot: $440USD
• 3-hour shoot: $634USD
• 4-hour shoot: $766USD
• 5-hour shoot: $901USD
• Extra add-on time per half hour: $110USD

NOTE: We introduced a price increase and photo package deliverable increase on October 1, 2024. Please see the charts below for more information. As of October 1, proposal shoot rates are now paid at a slightly different rate. Please see below for more information.

Proposal shoots

Simply because of the way the math worked on the margins for shoots, and in order to keep your payments at the same percentage as before, the rates for proposal shoots are now slightly different than vacation shoots:

• 30-minute proposal shoot: $173USD
• 60-minute proposal shoot: $255USD
• 90-minute proposal shoot: $365USD
• 2-hour proposal shoot: $441USD
• 3-hour proposal shoot: $635USD
• 4-hour proposal shoot: $767USD
• 5-hour proposal shoot: $902USD

The rate for the proposal planning fee remains the same at $75USD.

Cancellation policy 

• You will be paid 100% of the shoot fee provided the shoot is complete and we have received the requisite number of photos, or if the shoot was cancelled within 7 days of the scheduled date/time.
• You will be paid 50% of the shoot fee if the shoot was cancelled between 15 days and 7 days of the shoot date/time AND the Shoot Scoop was sent.
• You will not be paid the shoot fee if the Shoot Scoop was not sent between 15 days and 7 days of the shoot date/time; the shoot was cancelled more than 15 days before the shoot date (regardless of whether Shoot Scoop was sent or not); or the shoot is cancelled due to extreme weather, natural disasters, medical emergency, COVID-19 travel restrictions, or global political events, and cannot be rescheduled. (Note that there may be other unforeseen extenuating circumstances that may affect a cancellation that we will treat on a case-by-case basis.)

If an emergency arises and you need to cancel a shoot, please visit this page for more information on how to cancel.

Q. Why are we using this payment system?

Tipalti offers an efficient and customized method to receive payments. You have flexibility in types of ways to be paid, can hold payments when necessary, and can receive funds in local currency. With Tipalti, we are able to have a reliable system that integrates with our dashboard so that you are able to keep track of all bookings and payments in one place.

Q. How can I get paid through Tipalti?

Most photographers will have three choices with Tipalti: Direct Deposit/ACH/Local Bank Transfer (preferred); wire transfer; or PayPal. You may also have options to be paid in your local currency, hold your payments and set payment thresholds.

Once you enter your country information, you will see a dropdown menu under “Payment Method” listing your options. Note that not all options are available in every country; you will only see what is available to you.

Direct Deposit / ACH / Local Bank Transfer: This is the preferred method, so please choose it if it is available to you. (Canadians may see all three options, so please choose “Local Bank Transfer.”) 
**Note: Some banks may charge an additional transaction fee on your side that is out of our control. We will cover the transfer fee on our side, but you must check whether your bank charges you an additional fee.

Wire Transfer: Flytographer will cover the wire transfer fee for accrued payments of $1000USD or every 3 months, whichever comes first. If you wish a wire transfer that is less than $1000 and/or within less than 3 months, photographers must pay the $26USD transaction fee.

Paypal: Flytographer pays the business transaction fee of $1, but you must pay the receipt transfer fee according to your country. (In US & Canada, it is 2.9% plus $0.30USD.) The cost varies as a percentage based on your country’s fees. See more information on PayPal’s site.

Q. When do I get paid?

We process payments weekly on Tuesdays. In your Payment tab on your dashboard, you will see “paid” next to each booking/planning session with the date that we process payments. Please note that bank transfers will take 1-3 days after the payout is processed to show up in your bank account. Please wait until Friday of the week in which your bookings were processed before checking your bank account and only then contact us if funds have not yet arrived.  

Payments may be delayed if there has been a bank closure due to a statutory holiday in Canada or the US.

The cut-off date for payments to be made each week is the Sunday before, at 11:59 pm Pacific Standard Time. This means that a gallery you submit must be uploaded and approved by our system by this time to be included in the payout list for that week. If you missed the cut-off, your payments will roll over to the following week.  

For example, if you have a shoot on a Saturday and have uploaded the gallery before Sunday at midnight PST, you will be on that week’s payout list, which will process on Tuesday. If you do not upload the Saturday shoot until Monday morning, you will be on the following week’s payout list which will process on Tuesday of the next week.

Q. I’d like to lessen the cost of a wire transfer or PayPal transaction. Any options?

Yes, you can set up the new system to hold your payments for a prearranged time. For example, you can determine if you would like to be paid on a certain date or after a certain amount of money is accrued. This means that you will pay the transfer fee once for multiple payments as opposed to every week you have bookings.

Q. Ok, I’ve completed my payment account. Can you check to see if I filled everything out correctly?

As much as we would love to help, this is one spot in which we are unable to assist. Due to privacy and security reasons, you are the only person who has access to the details of your bank information. After you’ve double-checked all the numbers, the only way to know if you’ve filled out your bank info correctly is to attempt payment. If it fails, we know something went wrong. It may mean that you need to contact your bank and confirm all the numbers with them, or we may have to verify your address with Tipalti (see below).

Q. How do I know if I got paid?

Check payment status in your dashboard using the “Payments” tab (the $ icon in the top menu). All bookings/proposal planning sessions that have been paid will say “PAID” with the payment processing date.

Note that “PAID” will appear on the date we process payments, not the date you receive it — payments may take 1-3 days to show up in your bank account after they’ve been processed.

Important Notes:

• You will receive an email from Tipalti reporting we have made a payment on the processing date, which indicates the total amount deposited. As you will get a notice of a lump sum, please use your dashboard to see the dates of payments for specific shoots to know which ones were paid in that payout.
• Note that payments in currencies other than USD are susceptible to currency exchange fluctuations. There may be other fees depending on your chosen payment method (see above “Q. How can I get paid through Tipalti?” for more details).
• Any payment errors will be corrected within 7 business days.
• In order to have your shoot on that week’s payment list, the gallery must be uploaded to us by the Sunday night prior. All galleries uploaded after that time will be on the following week’s payment list and will remain marked as “unpaid” until then.

Q. I am missing a payment and/or was paid an incorrect amount.

Q. Why haven’t I received any payments yet?

The most likely reason is that your bank details are incorrect and/or you need to supply a proof of address so that Tipalti can verify your account. Please go to Settings, then Payments, and check that your bank information is correct. If you are unable to edit any details and you see the message in the screenshot below, it means you will need to supply proof of address to our finance team at photographer@flytographer.com

Please attach to your email a jpg/png/pdf copy of one of the documents from the list below (it should be issued within the last 60 days and reference both your name and current address):

• Bank statement
• Credit card statement
• Insurance Statement/Card
• Lease/Rental Agreement
• Mortgage Billing Statement
• Phone Bill
• Utility Bill
• Cable Bill
• Tax form (for payees in the US/Canada)

Please note that the address on your proof of address document must match the address on your payment profile for Tipalti to confirm and unblock.

Q. How can I change the currency I’m paid in?

From the Address page (not the Payment Method page — see Step 3 above in the Payment Set-up section), you need to click “Edit” at the bottom and then click “If you want to be paid in a country different than the above, select a country below.”

Then choose your preferred currency and click Save.

Q. Does Flytographer issue tax receipts or forms?

No, we do not supply any paperwork for taxes. As independent contractors, it’s your responsibility to claim and report all extra income to your respective tax offices. If you need a tax number for your own invoices that you supply to your accountant, you can use Canada GST #831355649. You can find our mailing address and contact info here.

• For Canadian photographers who claim GST, please provide us with your GST number and we will compensate you accordingly.
• For US photographers, note that as a Canadian company, Flytographer is not registered with the IRS and therefore we do not supply 1099 tax forms.
• For EU photographers, note that we currently do not have a VAT number.

Q. I still have questions and/or comments about this.

Please click on one of the buttons below to let us know and the appropriate person will be in touch to help.

Header photo by Michael in Chicago