Connecting Stripe to get paid

Client payments in Encore Studio run through your own Stripe account, connected via Stripe Connect. Money from families goes directly to you — Encore never holds your funds, and payouts run on your own Stripe schedule.

How to connect

1. During onboarding, the fourth step (Payments) offers to connect Stripe. Click through and Stripe walks you through creating or linking an account.

2. If you skipped it, go to Settings → Billing — same flow, any time.

You are asked which applies to you:

• I already use Stripe — Connect my Stripe account links the account you take payments with today, so its saved cards, customers and payout history stay where they are. Sign in to Stripe as its owner or an administrator.

• I'm new to Stripe — Create a new Stripe account sets one up in about five minutes. A new account starts empty: it cannot use the cards or history from a Stripe account you already have.

Stripe will ask for standard business verification details (legal name, bank account for payouts, and so on). That requirement comes from Stripe, not Encore.

What families experience

• Every invoice you send includes a secure payment link. Families pay by card, or by bank account where Stripe offers it — no portal login required. The invoice page's Payment link card lets you copy the link and send it yourself.

• Where you offer it, a family can set up automatic payments for their monthly tuition from that same link.

• Receipts are emailed after payment, according to your notification settings.

• Refunds are sent from the invoice itself, with the Refund button — or from your Stripe dashboard, which Encore records the same way.

• Payments settle into your Stripe balance and pay out to your bank on your Stripe payout schedule.

Two different Stripe relationships

Do not confuse your connected Stripe account (where client payments land) with your Encore Studio subscription (what you pay Encore monthly or yearly). Both are managed from Settings → Billing, but they are separate: disconnecting one does not affect the other.

Until you connect

You can run scheduling, documents, and the portals without Stripe — but invoices cannot be paid online until an account is connected. Connect before sending your first invoice.

A fee for credit card autopay

If you want automatic payments by credit card to cover their processing cost, set a Credit card fee (%) under Settings → Fee Setup. It applies only to automatic payments charged to a credit card — never debit or prepaid cards, bank accounts, or a family paying a link by hand.