How you are billed, with and without the booking fee

You are billed for what you use: registrations beyond a free monthly allowance, and online payments processed through the platform. An optional setting moves those fees onto the student as a flat booking fee. This guide explains both, shows two worked examples side by side, and walks through your Billing page and what happens if a payment to CertClass fails.

1. The numbers

  • 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. 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 (about 1,000 emails a day) that a training business will not normally reach.

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.

2. The booking fee option

By default, these fees are yours. If you would rather the student cover them, turn on Pass Booking Fee to Students in Settings Payments. It is off for every new account.

Payment Settings with the Pass Booking Fee to Students switch turned on
The switch lives at the bottom of Payment Settings.

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 balance payment made online still carries the standard $1.00 fee, paid by you. The student is never charged the booking fee twice.
  • Cash and in-person registrations are unaffected. They 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.
A public class card showing $75.00 plus $1.33 booking fee, with a $25.00 deposit plus booking fee due at registration
With the option on, the booking fee is disclosed next to the price.
Checkout summary with Class Price $75.00 and Deposit $25.00
Checkout with the booking fee off: the student pays the $25.00 deposit.
Checkout summary with Class Price $75.00, Deposit $25.00, Booking fee $1.33, and Total $26.33
Checkout with the booking fee on: the student pays $26.33.

3. Two worked examples

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.

Example A: students pay in full at registration
 Booking fee off (default)Booking fee on
What each student pays at checkout$75.00$76.33 ($75.00 + $1.33 booking fee)
Registrations counted on your bill10 (all within the free 30)0 (all excluded)
Per-registration fees ($0.33 each beyond 30)$0.00$0.00
Online payments1010
Per-payment fees ($1.00 each)$10.00$0.00 (the booking fee replaces it)
Total CertClass fees for the month$10.00$0.00
Example B: $25.00 deposit at registration, $50.00 balance paid online after class
 Booking fee off (default)Booking fee on
What each student pays at registration$25.00 deposit$26.33 ($25.00 deposit + $1.33 booking fee)
What each student pays later, online$50.00 balance$50.00 balance (no booking fee)
Registrations counted on your bill10 (all within the free 30)0 (all excluded)
Per-registration fees ($0.33 each beyond 30)$0.00$0.00
Online payments20 (10 deposits + 10 balances)20 (10 deposits + 10 balances)
Per-payment fees ($1.00 each)$20.00$10.00 (balances only)
Total CertClass fees for the month$20.00$10.00

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 booking fee are never counted.

Reading the totals

With the booking fee off, the provider absorbs $10.00 in Example A and $20.00 in Example B. With it on, each student pays $1.33 more once, and the provider's CertClass fees drop to $0.00 and $10.00 respectively. Which is right for you depends on whether you would rather show students a slightly higher checkout total or keep the advertised price as the whole cost.

4. Organization-billed and $0 classes

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.

5. Refunds

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 $1.33 booking fee is returned to them automatically. A partial refund returns class money only.

6. Your Billing page

Billing in the left-hand menu opens Billing & Usage. 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), Monthly Charges (what your CertClass invoice will be), and SMS This Month.

The Billing & Usage page with Students This Month, Platform Fees, Monthly Charges, and SMS This Month cards, a Free Tier Usage bar, and the Usage History table
Billing & Usage. The Free Tier Usage bar shows how much of the free 30 you have used 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 each month 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. Manage Payment Method opens Stripe's billing portal, where you can change the card and download past invoices.

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

7. If a payment to CertClass fails

Your usage is invoiced monthly to the card on file. If the charge fails, a banner appears across the top of your dashboard asking you to update your payment method within 7 days. Click Update Payment Method on the Billing page, or the link in the banner, to fix the card. 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.

Questions this guide did not answer? Email support@certclass.io or book a demo.