Frequently Asked Questions

Syncopay charges a flat 1% platform fee — but only when a parent successfully pays an invoice. There are no monthly fees, no seat fees, and no subscription. If you don't collect any payments in a given month, you pay nothing.

Yes. Stripe's standard card processing fee applies to every transaction — typically 2.9% + $0.30 for US cards. This is separate from Syncopay's 1% fee and is paid directly to Stripe. You can choose to absorb it yourself or pass it on to parents; Syncopay lets you configure this during onboarding.

Parents always have the option to voluntarily cover the Stripe processing fee at checkout — this is built into every invoice. Currently this is not a per-instructor or per-invoice toggle; the option is always presented to the parent and they can choose whether to absorb it or leave it for you.

No. Creating invoices and sending automated reminder emails are completely free regardless of how many you send.

Stripe operates on a rolling payout schedule. By default, funds are sent to your bank account daily, but there is a ~2 business day pending period after each payment clears before it becomes available for payout. In practice, expect money in your bank account roughly 3–4 business days after a parent pays.

New Stripe accounts have an extended initial hold — typically 7–14 days after your very first successful payment. This is Stripe's standard risk-assessment period and is completely normal. After that, payouts follow the regular 2-business-day rolling schedule.

By default, payouts are sent to your bank daily (covering funds that cleared two business days prior). Stripe also supports weekly and monthly payout schedules if you prefer to batch them up, which you can configure directly in your Stripe dashboard.

Standard scheduled payouts — daily, weekly, or monthly — carry no extra fee. The only time a fee applies is if you use Stripe's optional Instant Payout feature, which delivers funds within ~30 minutes. Instant Payouts cost 1.5% per payout in the US (1% in some other regions). Standard payouts remain free regardless of frequency.

No. Syncopay is never the middleman for your funds. All payments flow directly from parents to your own Stripe account via Stripe Connect. We have no ability to hold or delay your money.

Yes — Syncopay uses Stripe Connect to route payments directly to you. You'll need to connect a Stripe account during onboarding (or create one for free). The whole process takes about 5 minutes.

Syncopay works wherever Stripe Connect is available. This includes the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and most of the EU, among others. Check Stripe's website for the full list of supported countries.

Yes. You can disconnect Stripe at any time from your Settings page. Note that disconnecting will prevent parents from paying new invoices until you reconnect. Any funds already in your Stripe account are unaffected.

After a lesson, tap 'Bill' next to a student in your dashboard. Syncopay generates a secure Stripe Checkout link and emails it to the parent automatically. The parent clicks the link, pays by card, and the funds go directly to your Stripe account.

Syncopay sends automated reminder emails on the schedule you configure (e.g., 3 days after the invoice, then 7 days, then 14 days). You can customize this schedule per instructor or per invoice, and you can stop reminders for any invoice at any time.

Yes. You can mark an invoice as 'Paid Externally' (for example, if a parent paid in cash) or 'Waived.' Both statuses stop any further reminders and close the invoice. 'Paid Externally' does not affect your revenue totals in Syncopay — it's simply an organizational tag.

Invoice links don't have a hard expiration date, but they are secured with a unique access token tied to that specific invoice. Once an invoice is paid, waived, or marked as paid externally, the link is no longer actionable.

No. Parents sign in via a magic link sent to their email — no passwords, no accounts to manage. They access their portal, see their outstanding invoices, and pay securely through Stripe.

Yes. Syncopay stores only the minimum information needed to send invoices and reminders (student name, parent name, email, and billing amounts). All data is stored securely in Supabase with row-level security. Payment data is handled entirely by Stripe and never passes through Syncopay's servers.

No. Each parent can only see invoices associated with their own student(s). The parent portal is scoped strictly to their account.

No. Syncopay supports unlimited students and invoices. There are no tier limits or feature paywalls.

Yes. There are no contracts or lock-in periods. You can stop using Syncopay at any time. Since there are no recurring fees, there's nothing to 'cancel' — simply disconnect your Stripe account if you want to stop billing through the platform.

You can submit a bug report or feedback directly from within the app using the help menu in the top-right corner of your dashboard. Our team reviews all reports and will follow up via email.