If a merchant has ever asked "when will my deposit hit?" or "why did I get paid later than expected?" — the answer almost always comes down to three settings working in sequence: the Sales Day Closing Time, the Settlement Delay, and the Sweep Transfer to their bank account. Understanding how these three pieces interact is the key to setting accurate expectations with your merchants.
🔁 The Three-Step Funding Process
Every time a merchant gets funded, money moves through three distinct stages:
Sales Day Closes — Adyen closes the transaction batch for the day at the configured time.
Settlement Delay Passes — Adyen waits a configured number of business days before posting funds to the merchant's balance account.
Sweep Transfer Runs — Once funds are in the balance account, an automated sweep moves them to the merchant's bank account.
Each step has its own configuration, and together they determine the exact day a merchant sees money in their account.
🗓️ Step 1: Sales Day Closing Time
What Is the Sales Day?
A sales day is the window of time Adyen uses to group a merchant's transactions together before initiating settlement. Think of it like closing out a cash register at the end of the night — at a set time each day, Adyen closes the batch, tallies up all transactions processed during that period, and kicks off the settlement process.
Partners and merchants often refer to this as batching. The time it happens is called the sales day closing time.
How It Works
Once the closing time is reached, all transactions processed during that window are grouped and sent into the settlement pipeline. Any transaction that comes in after the closing time falls into the next sales day's batch.
📌 Example:
A merchant's sales day is set to close at 11:00 PM ET.
Transaction Time | Which Batch? |
10:45 PM | ✅ Today's batch |
11:00 PM (exactly) | ✅ Today's batch |
11:10 PM | ➡️ Tomorrow's batch |
Configuration Levels
The sales day closing time can be set at three levels, from broadest to most specific:
Company level — A default closing time that applies to all merchants under your ValPay setup unless overridden below.
Merchant account level — Overrides the company default for a specific merchant.
Store level — Overrides the merchant-level setting for a specific location. Ideal for merchants with multiple locations and different operating hours.
📌 Example:
Most of your merchants close by 10:00 PM, so you set a company-wide closing time of 11:00 PM ET. One merchant runs a 24-hour diner — you set their account closing time to 3:00 AM ET to better align with their slowest period.
Important Notes
By default, Adyen defines the sales day as midnight to midnight (00:00–23:59) in the balance account's local timezone — not UTC. This means the closing time is already anchored to the merchant's local time, so no timezone conversion is needed.
Changes to the closing time only affect future batches — already-closed sales days are not impacted.
If no custom closing time has been configured, Adyen defaults to midnight in the balance account's local timezone. You can configure the sales day to end later if a merchant's business closes after midnight.
⏳ Step 2: Settlement Delay
What Is a Settlement Delay?
Once the sales day closes, the funds don't move to the merchant's balance account instantly. Adyen applies a settlement delay — a configured number of business days to wait before the settled funds are posted to the merchant's balance account.
This delay gives time for card network processing, risk checks, and any potential disputes to surface before funds are released.
How It Works
Settlement delays are expressed as T+X, where T is the day the sales day closes (the transaction date) and X is the number of business days Adyen waits before funds are posted to the balance account.
Delay Setting | What It Means | When Funds Hit the Balance Account |
T+0 | No delay — same day as sales day close | Overnight / same day |
T+1 | 1 business day after close | Next business day |
T+2 | 2 business days after close | 2 business days later |
📌 Example (Standard ValPay Configuration):
Most ValPay merchants are configured with a settlement delay of T+1 — meaning Adyen settles funds into the balance account 1 business day after the sales day closes. With the sales day closing at midnight (00:00) and the sweep scheduled for 1:00 AM, Adyen completes settlement in time for the sweep to run, and the merchant sees their deposit later that same business day.
Important Notes
Settlement delays are counted in business days — weekends and bank holidays are always skipped.
The delay is configured at the balance account level and is managed by ValPay — individual merchants cannot adjust this on their own.
In Adyen Balance, the settlement delay for most ValPay merchants will appear as 1.
A longer settlement delay means more time before funds are available for a sweep to pick up and send to the bank.
🏦 Step 3: Sweep Transfers — Paying Out to the Bank Account
What Is a Sweep Transfer?
Once funds have cleared the settlement delay and are sitting in a merchant's balance account, they still don't automatically appear in the merchant's bank account — a sweep transfer has to run first.
A sweep is an automated rule configured on the merchant's balance account that instructs Adyen to move available settled funds to a designated external bank account (called a transfer instrument). This is what your merchants know as their deposit.
As a PayFac, ValPay manages this entire flow:
A customer pays at a merchant's store or online.
Adyen processes the transaction and, after the settlement delay, posts the funds to the merchant's balance account.
The sweep rule runs automatically, transferring the available balance to the merchant's bank account.
The merchant sees the deposit arrive in their bank. ✅
Sweep Schedule Options
Sweeps can be configured to run on different cadences depending on what works best for the merchant:
Daily (most common) — The sweep runs each business day, sending all available settled funds to the merchant's bank. This is the standard for ValPay merchants and is what produces next-business-day funding. Most ValPay merchants have their sweep scheduled for 1:00 AM local time.
Weekly — Funds accumulate throughout the week and are swept on a set day (e.g., every Friday). Best for merchants who prefer fewer transactions on their bank statement or have less urgent cash flow needs.
Monthly — Funds are held and swept once per month on a set date. Best for low-volume businesses or those that prefer consolidated reporting.
📌 Example (Standard ValPay Configuration):
A merchant's sales day closes at midnight (00:00) on Monday night. Adyen completes settlement (T+1) in time for the sweep to run at 1:00 AM Tuesday. The merchant sees the deposit in their bank account Tuesday afternoon or evening, depending on their bank's processing time.
Important Notes
The merchant must have a valid bank account — called a transfer instrument in Adyen — linked to their balance account before sweeps can run. This is set up during onboarding.
If a merchant's bank account changes, the transfer instrument must be updated before the next sweep — otherwise the deposit will fail and need to be reprocessed.
Sweeps only move available, settled funds — they cannot pull funds still sitting in the settlement delay period.
🔗 How It All Works Together
Here's a full end-to-end example using the standard ValPay merchant configuration:
Merchant settings: Sales day closes at midnight (00:00) local time | Settlement delay: T+1 | Sweep: 1:00 AM daily
When | What Happens |
Monday (all day) | 💳 Customer transactions are processed throughout the day |
Monday, 12:00 AM midnight | 🗓️ Sales day closes — Monday's transactions are batched |
Tuesday, 1:00 AM | ⏳ T+1 settlement completes & 🏦 Sweep runs — funds sent to merchant's bank |
Tuesday afternoon/evening | ✅ Merchant sees the deposit in their bank account |
Standard Weekly Funding Schedule (T+1 settlement, 1:00 AM daily sweep)
Sales Day Closes | Deposit Arrives |
Monday night (midnight) | Tuesday afternoon/evening |
Tuesday night (midnight) | Wednesday afternoon/evening |
Wednesday night (midnight) | Thursday afternoon/evening |
Thursday night (midnight) | Friday afternoon/evening |
Friday night (midnight) | Monday afternoon/evening (weekend skipped) |
Saturday & Sunday | Monday afternoon/evening (combined with Friday's batch) |
📌 Holiday Example:
If Monday is a federal bank holiday (e.g., Memorial Day), the batch that closed Friday night won't fund until Tuesday — skipping both the weekend and the holiday.
⚠️ What Can Delay a Merchant's Deposit?
Even on a standard next-business-day schedule, a few things can push a deposit later than expected:
Weekends & bank holidays — These are not business days and will always shift the deposit forward.
Bank processing time — Once the sweep runs, the merchant's bank may take until afternoon or evening to post the funds.
Longer settlement delay — If the balance account is configured with T+2 or higher, funds won't be available for the sweep until that delay has passed.
Funding holds or reviews — Transactions flagged for review or tied to a chargeback may be withheld until the matter is resolved.
Invalid or outdated bank account — If the merchant's transfer instrument is incorrect or has changed, the sweep will fail and need to be reprocessed.
📋 Quick Reference
Concept | What It Does | ValPay Default |
Sales Day Closing Time | Determines when Adyen closes the daily transaction batch and starts settlement | Midnight (00:00) local time |
Settlement Delay (T+X) | The number of business days Adyen waits before posting funds to the balance account | T+1 (shows as "1" in Adyen Balance) |
Sweep Transfer | Automated rule that moves settled funds from the balance account to the merchant's bank | Daily at 1:00 AM local time |
Transfer Instrument | The merchant's linked bank account that receives sweep deposits | Set up during merchant onboarding |
💬 Need Help?
If a merchant has questions about their deposit timing, a missing payment, or their batch closing time, reach out to your ValPay Partner team:
📧 General Support: support@valpay.com
🌐 Partner Portal: portal.valpay.com/merchants