Connecting Stripe and recording payments

1. Open Settings in the left menu. The Payment Settings card is near the top of the page.
2. Turn on Accept Payments. The badge in the corner of the card changes from Tracking Only to Payments Enabled. With the switch off, CertClass still records every registration, it just never asks anyone for money.
3. Pick a Payment Timing and, if you want one, a default deposit. Both are explained in deposits and paying up front.
4. Click Save Settings.

Until your Stripe account is connected, the card shows a Stripe Connect Required notice. That is expected. Students cannot be charged until the next step is done.

Right below Payment Settings is the Accept Payments Securely card. Stripe is the payment company behind the scenes: it takes the card payment, deposits the money in your bank, and handles the security so CertClass never sees a card number.

1. Click Connect with Stripe. CertClass creates a Stripe account for your business and sends you to Stripe's own pages.
2. Fill in what Stripe asks for. Stripe collects what it needs to pay you and stay compliant, typically your business details, the identity of the business owner, and the bank account where payouts should go. The card says it takes about five minutes.
3. Stripe sends you back to CertClass, which checks the account and shows one of three states:
   • Stripe Connected with an Active badge. You are done.
   • Account Under Review with a Pending badge. Stripe is still verifying your information. The page says most approvals take a few minutes and that you can safely close it; CertClass emails your contact address when the account is ready. You can also click Check Status yourself. If Stripe needs something more from you, a Complete Setup button takes you back to Stripe.
   • Still not connected, because you left Stripe's form before finishing. Click Connect with Stripe again to return to Stripe's form.

Once connected, the Stripe card changes to Stripe Connected with an Open Stripe Dashboard button. That opens Stripe's own site, where you sign in with your Stripe login to see payouts, download statements, and manage the account.

The Payment Processing page (the Setup Payments link on the in-app Help page takes you there) adds a Stripe snapshot: an Available Balance card, a Pending Balance card, and a Recent Transactions list with a refresh button. Its How Payments Work box sums up the flow in four lines:

• Students pay when registering through your booking page or widget.
• Payments go directly to your connected Stripe account. CertClass does not hold your funds.
• CertClass charges a small fee per online payment, or you can pass a booking fee to students instead.
• Stripe deposits funds to your bank account automatically on a rolling two-day basis.

Payments in the left menu is the ledger of every student payment, online or offline. Four cards at the top summarize it: Total Revenue counts successful payments (refunds excluded), Pending is money still processing, Failed counts declined payments, and Refunded totals refund activity.

Below the cards:

• Search by student name, email, class title, or Stripe payment intent ID.
• Status filter: Succeeded, Pending, Failed, or Refunded.
• Type filter: Full Payment, Deposit, Balance, or Refund.
• Sort by date, amount, student name, class, or status.
• Sync (shown once Stripe is connected) pulls the latest status of online payments from Stripe.
• Export downloads the payments currently shown as a CSV spreadsheet.

The list loads 100 payments at a time. Search, the filters, sort, and Export work on the page you are on, so use the pager at the bottom to reach older payments. The summary cards always cover every payment on record.

Each payment shows the student, the class, the amount and type, the payment method, the date, and a payment ID. Online payments also get a View Receipt button that opens Stripe's receipt. View Student jumps to the student's record and View Details opens the payment.

Not every student pays online. When someone hands you cash at the door or mails a check, record it so their balance and status stay right.

1. On the Payments page, click Record Manual Payment.
2. Search for the student by name, email, or class and pick them. The form shows the class price, what they have already paid, and the balance due.
3. Enter the Amount. The form previews the new balance as you type.
4. Choose the Payment Method: Cash, Check, Bank Transfer, or Other.
5. Leave Payment Type on Auto-detect, or set it yourself to Full Payment, Deposit, or Balance Payment. Auto-detect compares the amount to what is still owed: an amount that covers the rest is a Full Payment (or a Balance Payment if the student had already paid something), and anything smaller is a Deposit.
6. Add a note if you like (check number, who took the cash), then click Record Payment.

The payment is saved as Succeeded right away, the student's paid amount, balance, and status update, and if your Payment Confirmation email is turned on the student gets one. There is no CertClass per-payment fee on manual payments.

You can also do this from a class roster or a student's record: the card icon next to a student who has not paid in full opens Process Payment, a shorter version of the same form with Cash, Check, and Bank Transfer.

Click any payment to open its detail page. The left card shows the amount, type, method, date, any notes, and for online payments the Stripe references. The right column links to the student and the class and shows a Payment Summary for that enrollment: total paid, balance due, and the student's payment status. When a student has more than one payment on the same class, a Payment History for this Enrollment list appears below.

Edit Payment lets you correct a record you typed in yourself: the status, the amount, the payment method, and the notes. Use it for typos and for a check that bounced. Online payments should be left as Stripe reported them.

To refund an online payment, open the payment and click Refund. The button appears on any successful Stripe payment. Choose Full (labelled Remaining if part was already refunded) or Partial, enter the amount for a partial refund, pick a reason, add a note if you want one, and confirm. CertClass sends the refund to Stripe and then:

• adds a Refund line to the Payments page for the amount, shown in red as a negative number, and marks the original payment Refunded once the whole amount is back;
• recalculates the student's total paid and balance, and sets their status to Refunded (full) or Partial Refund;
• emails the student a Refund Issued or Partial Refund Issued message with the amount, the class, and a note that the money returns to their original payment method, typically within 5 to 10 business days;
• checks the waitlist and offers the seat to the next person in line if the refund opened one.

A full refund also returns the booking fee when the student paid it. A partial refund returns class money only. The fee comes back with the refund that returns the rest of the class money, whether that is one refund or several. The dialog spells out the exact amount going back to the student before you confirm.

You can also refund from Stripe instead. Click Open Stripe Dashboard, find the payment, and refund all or part of it there. Stripe tells CertClass about the refund and CertClass records it the same way, including the email to the student and the waitlist offer.

For a cash or check payment, hand the money back yourself, then open the payment, click Edit Payment, set the status to Refunded, and save. CertClass adds the negative refund line and updates the student's balance and status. The Refund button is not offered on cash and check payments because no card is involved. A Stripe payment cannot be marked Refunded by hand, so the money always moves before the record changes.

What happens to fees on a refund, including the booking fee when you pass it to students, is covered in how you are billed.

Every registration carries one payment status. You will see it on the Students page, on class rosters, on the student's record, and in the Payment Summary on a payment.

• Pending: registered, nothing paid yet (the normal state under Payment After Class).
• Deposit: a deposit is in, the balance is still due.
• Paid: paid in full, online or by hand.
• Failed: the online payment was declined.
• Partial Refund: some money was refunded and some kept.
• Refunded: everything was refunded. Class reminders skip these students.

Students in an organization-billed class show as Paid from the start, because the company is invoiced instead. See billing an organization.