Card payments are optional. When you connect Stripe, every invoice gets a Pay by card button, payments are confirmed instantly, and the money goes to your own bank account. This guide covers the My Studio Tracker side and points to Stripe's own instructions for everything that happens inside Stripe.
What Stripe is and why you need your own account
Stripe is the payment company that handles the card, the checkout page and the payout to your bank. My Studio Tracker uses Stripe Connect: you hold your own Stripe account, in your name, and My Studio Tracker only asks Stripe to take a payment for a particular invoice and to tell us when it succeeds. Card numbers never touch My Studio Tracker, and your Stripe account remains yours if you ever stop using StudioTracker.
Stripe's own description: Standard accounts on Stripe Connect (opens in a new tab).
What you need before you start
Stripe has to verify who it is paying, so have these ready:
- Your bank account details for payouts (sort code and account number in the UK).
- Your legal name, date of birth and address, and sometimes a photo of an ID document.
- A short description of what you sell, for example "private music lessons". If you are a sole trader, choose individual or sole trader when Stripe asks about business type; a limited company will need its company number.
Stripe explains its requirements here: identity verification for connected accounts (opens in a new tab).
Connect Stripe
- Open Settings and press Connect Stripe in the Card payments card.
- You are taken to Stripe. Sign in to an existing Stripe account or create one with your email, then work through the questions.
- When Stripe sends you back, Settings shows Connected to Stripe. From then on new invoices carry the card button; invoices already sent get it too, because the pay page reads your current status.
The first payment can take a minute or two to be enabled on Stripe's side; the Check status button asks Stripe again.
If setup is not finished
If you leave Stripe part-way through, Settings shows Stripe setup isn't finished yet. Press Continue Stripe setup to go back to where you left off; nothing you entered is lost. Stripe sometimes asks for extra information after the first payments (a document, a confirmed address); it emails you, and the same button takes you there. Until it is resolved, Stripe may hold payouts, and the card button may disappear from pay pages. You can always see what Stripe needs in your Stripe Dashboard (opens in a new tab).
Fees
My Studio Tracker adds nothing to card payments: your subscription is the only thing you pay us. Stripe charges its standard processing fee on each card payment, deducted before the payout, so an invoice for £30 arrives as £30 less Stripe's fee. Current rates are on Stripe's pricing page (opens in a new tab); they vary by country and card type. Bank transfer and cash cost nothing.
Every invoice is recorded in My Studio Tracker at its full amount, with the fee visible in Stripe, so your invoices and your bank statement will differ by Stripe's fees.
Payouts: when the money reaches your bank
Stripe collects payments into your Stripe balance and pays the balance out to your bank on a schedule you control in Stripe, typically every day or every week after an initial waiting period for a new account. My Studio Tracker marks the invoice paid as soon as the card payment succeeds, which is before the money reaches your bank.
See and change your schedule at Stripe Dashboard, Payout settings (opens in a new tab), and the full explanation at Stripe: receiving payouts (opens in a new tab).
Refunds
Refunds are made in Stripe, not in My Studio Tracker: find the payment under Payments in the Stripe Dashboard (opens in a new tab) and choose Refund. Stripe explains the options and timing in its refunds guide (opens in a new tab). Stripe's original processing fee is not returned on a refund.
My Studio Tracker does not change an invoice when you refund it: the invoice stays paid as a record of what happened. Add a note to it saying it was refunded, and if the student still owes something, create a new invoice for that.
Disputes and chargebacks
A student (or their bank) can dispute a card payment, which Stripe calls a chargeback. Stripe emails you, takes the amount from your balance while it is looked at, and asks for evidence, for example your lesson record and the invoice. Your My Studio Tracker invoice history (when it was sent, reminders, the lesson dates) is useful here. Stripe's guide: responding to disputes (opens in a new tab).
Receipts and statement descriptors
After any payment, card or otherwise, My Studio Tracker emails the student a receipt if they have an email address on file; Stripe may send its own receipt for a card payment as well. The name that appears on the student's card statement (the statement descriptor) is set in Stripe under Public business details (opens in a new tab); make it something a parent will recognise, such as your teaching name.
Disconnect Stripe
Disconnect in the Card payments card removes the link between My Studio Tracker and your Stripe account. Pay pages lose the card button and show your Other ways to pay text instead. Nothing happens to your Stripe account, its balance or its payout schedule, and you can connect again later. To close the Stripe account itself, do that in Stripe.
Tax
My Studio Tracker does not give tax advice, and nothing in this help centre is tax advice.
The app does not calculate, add or report VAT, income tax or any other tax. Invoices show exactly the amounts you enter. Whether you need to register for VAT, what to declare, and what records to keep are matters for you, your tax authority (HMRC in the UK) and, if you have one, your accountant.
For records, the Stripe Dashboard (opens in a new tab) can export every card payment and fee, and your My Studio Tracker invoices list everything else you have recorded. Stripe also publishes its own material on Stripe Tax (opens in a new tab) for businesses that need automated tax calculation; My Studio Tracker does not use it.
Getting help from Stripe
For anything inside Stripe (verification, a held payout, a dispute, closing an account), Stripe's support is the right place: support.stripe.com (opens in a new tab) has articles and a contact option once you are signed in, and status.stripe.com (opens in a new tab) shows whether Stripe itself has a problem. For the My Studio Tracker side (the button, invoice status, connecting) email us.