Long lead-time accounts
The accounts that take days or weeks because a third party has to verify the client. Start every one of them on day 0, even if the feature that needs it is months away.
How it works
The times are what we saw, not promises. A missing document restarts the wait.
The accounts
| Account | What it needs | Why it is slow |
|---|---|---|
| D-U-N-S number | The client's legal name and address exactly as registered | Apple and Google use it to verify organisations. Free, but takes days to weeks if the company is not yet listed |
| Apple Developer Program, organisation | D-U-N-S, a legal signatory, a website on the company domain | Apple verifies the entity and may call the signatory |
| Apple Paid Applications Agreement | Account Holder accepts it, tax forms, a bank account in the exact entity name | Until it is active, StoreKit returns no products, even in sandbox |
| Google Play developer account, organisation | D-U-N-S, verification documents | Organisation accounts avoid the closed-testing rule for new personal accounts (12 testers for 14 days, Play help) |
| Google Play payments profile | Legal name, D-U-N-S, bank | Fails on any mismatch with the registered records |
| Stripe / payment gateways | KYC documents, live public pages: terms, privacy, refund and cancellation, contact, pricing | Recurring billing is often a separate approval of 1 to 3 weeks. New merchants may get a reserve |
| Domain, email DNS | Registrar access | SPF, DKIM and DMARC need time before email is trusted |
| AWS service quotas | A support request per account and region | Fargate, SES production access and SMS spend limits start low in new accounts |
Rules
Rule
Collect the client's legal entity details once, in one document: exact legal name, registered address, registration number, tax ids, D-U-N-S, bank account name. Copy from it everywhere. Every account above rejects on a one-character difference.
Rule
The public legal pages (terms, privacy, refund, contact) go live early, on the client's domain, at URLs that never change. Merchant KYC and both stores check them, and the stores keep the URLs you filed.
Mistakes we made
- The App Store served no products for weeks while the Paid Applications Agreement waited for tax forms.
- A payments profile was rejected on a mismatch between the legal name, the D-U-N-S record and the bank.
- Our first payment launch plan assumed two weeks. Third-party approvals made it 4 to 12 weeks depending on the platform.
Done when
- Legal entity details document complete.
- D-U-N-S requested or confirmed.
- Apple organisation enrolment submitted.
- Google Play organisation account submitted.
- Merchant KYC started, legal pages live.
- Domain, email DNS and AWS quota requests done.