How you are billed, with and without the booking fee

• Your first 30 new registrations each calendar month are free. Every registration counts toward the 30, no matter how the student pays: online, cash at the door, an organization-billed class, or a $0 class. Past students you bring in with Import Students count too, in the month you import them. The count resets on the first of the month.
• $0.33 per registration beyond 30. Only the registrations past 30 are billed. 50 registrations in a month is 20 billable, or $6.60.
• $1.00 per online payment processed through CertClass. A full payment is one fee. A deposit paid online and a balance paid online are two payments, so two fees. Payments you record manually (cash, check, bank transfer) have no CertClass fee.
• Stripe's processing fees are separate. Stripe charges its standard rate (typically 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction) on each card payment. Students pay you directly through your own Stripe account, and CertClass never holds your money.
• SMS is optional at $0.03 per message. Email is included free, with fair-use limits of 1,000 emails a day and 2,000 a month (5,000 in a month you pass 30 registrations). Contact support if you need more.

Your dashboard's Billing page shows the current month as it happens and the history for previous months (see section 6). The full price list is on the pricing page.

By default, these fees are yours. If you would rather the student cover them, turn on Pass Booking Fee to Students in the Payment Settings card on Settings. It is off for every new account, and it saves as soon as you flip it.

When it is on:

• A flat $1.33 “Booking fee” line is added to the student's online checkout. It is shown next to the class price on your booking page and in the widget before the payment step, so there are no surprises.
• The fee is charged once per registration, on the first online payment, whether that is a full payment or a deposit.
• For those registrations you pay neither the $1.00 per-payment fee on that payment nor the $0.33 per-registration fee, even past the free 30. They are left out of your monthly count entirely, so they do not use up your free 30 either.
• A later deposit balance payment made online still carries the standard $1.00 fee, paid by you. The student is never charged the booking fee twice.
• Pay-at-class classes (Payment After Class, no deposit) take no payment at registration, so those registrations count toward the 30 and the $0.33 as usual. If the student chooses to pay online before class, they pay a $1.00 booking fee that covers the $1.00 per-payment fee, so you pay nothing on that payment. The registration still counts toward your monthly usage. Paying at class never carries a fee.
• Cash and check payments never carry a fee. Those registrations bill as usual: they count toward the 30, and there is no per-payment fee because nothing was processed online.
• If you fully refund a payment, the student's booking fee is refunded with it automatically. Partial refunds return class money only.

Both examples use a $75 class with 10 registrations in one month, all registered and paid online. The only difference between the columns is the booking fee switch. Stripe's processing fees apply to every card payment in both columns and are not shown.

In Example B, if the balances were collected in person and recorded manually instead, the per-payment fees on the balances would be $0.00 in both columns.

Ten registrations sit comfortably inside the free 30, so no per-registration fees appear in either column. In a month with more than 30 registrations, each one beyond 30 adds $0.33 in the booking fee off column only. Registrations that paid the $1.33 booking fee at registration are never counted.

Classes billed to an organization and classes priced at $0 never take an online payment, so they never carry the $1.00 per-payment fee and the booking fee never applies to them. Their registrations do count toward the 30 free registrations, and beyond 30 they are billed at $0.33 each like any other. See billing an organization for how those classes are set up.

Refunds are issued with the Refund button on the payment in CertClass, or from your own Stripe dashboard. Either way, CertClass records them against the student's payment (see connecting Stripe and recording payments). A refund returns the class money to the student. The $1.00 per-payment fee is not returned, on a full or a partial refund, and Stripe keeps its own processing fees as well. The registration still counts toward that month's 30. When the booking fee option is on and you fully refund the payment, the student's booking fee is returned to them automatically. A partial refund returns class money only.

Billing in the menu opens Billing & Usage (on a phone, open the menu with the ☰ button at the top of the screen). Four cards at the top cover the current month: Students This Month (registrations so far), Platform Fees (the per-payment fees collected on online payments, including any booking fees your students paid), Monthly Charges (what your CertClass invoice will be), and SMS This Month.

• Free Tier Usage is a progress bar of registrations against the free 30. Past 30, it shows the surcharge instead: the number of students beyond 30 times $0.33.
• Usage History lists the last six months, each with its students, platform fees, student surcharge, SMS charges, total billed, and a status of Paid, Pending, Unbilled, or Free. Months with an invoice have a View invoice link.
• Payment Method shows the card on file and explains when you are invoiced. Add card (Update card once one is saved) opens Stripe's billing portal, where you can add or change the card and download past invoices. Until a card is on file, emails and texts you send to students yourself (Compose and the roster), payment links and instructor invites are paused. Automatic confirmations and reminders still go out.

Settings also has a Platform Usage card with live counts of your students, classes, and instructors.

Your monthly charges (student surcharge and SMS) are invoiced on the 1st of each month. The invoice is emailed to you with a link to pay it online; it is not charged to your card automatically. If a payment fails or the invoice goes overdue, a banner appears across the top of your dashboard asking you to pay within 7 days. Tap or click Pay invoice in the banner or on the Billing page to open the invoice and pay it. Updating your payment method on its own does not pay an open invoice; use Update payment method only if you also want to change the card saved with CertClass. Your account keeps working during those days, and the banner disappears once the invoice is paid. If you cannot resolve it in time, email support@certclass.io before the grace period ends.