A sample is one edited image sent before the rest of the order. You can request one, and editors also send one when the brief needs a check. See How do I request a sample image for my order?.
What you are approving
Reply to the sample email. Say whether the look is right. Marked-up screenshots help. Once you approve the sample, the rest of the order is edited to match it.
Approving the look does not, by itself, add a new service.
When the sample email also asks for a charge
Sometimes the sample shows that the job needs a service or complexity the quote did not include (a different shadow, multi-clipping path, camera reflection removal, and similar). The same email explains the extra amount.
Reply with one of these:
- Approve the sample and the charge — Path invoices the difference, or takes it from Path credits if you ask. Work on the full set starts after that
- Approve the look, drop the extra service — the rest of the order follows the sample without that service, at the original scope
- Change the sample — describe what is wrong. That is a correction of the sample, not approval of the full order
Read the charge before you reply “approved,” so a short approval is not read as a yes to both.