Accepting payments

You decide which payment methods to accept. MoveMentors never takes money on your behalf; payments go directly from the student to you via the method you both choose.

Recommended starting point: Stripe Connect + one manual fallback (cash or bank transfer). This covers ~99% of students and gives you a fast path for cards plus a backup for students who do not want to pay by card.

The full menu

Stripe Connect

The fastest and most professional path. You set it up once and students can pay by card at booking time, instantly.

Setup:

1. In onboarding step 6 (or /mentor/settings/payments), click "Connect Stripe".
2. Stripe asks for legal name, business type, date of birth, last 4 of SSN (US) or equivalent for non-US, address, and bank account for payouts.
3. Stripe runs identity verification (usually approves in minutes; can ask for ID upload).
4. Once approved, the "Card (at booking)" badge appears on your profile.

Money flow:

1. Student books, pays by card on Stripe Checkout.
2. Funds go directly to your Stripe Connect account.
3. Stripe takes ~2.9% + 30¢ (US; international rates differ).
4. Stripe pays out to your bank on the schedule you set (daily, weekly, monthly).

You never see card numbers. Stripe handles all card data, PCI compliance, fraud protection. Students enter their card on Stripe's hosted page.

See Stripe Connect setup for the full walkthrough.

Card (in person)

A separate badge. This means: "I can swipe a card at class with my own card reader". You bring your own Square / Stripe Terminal / SumUp / iZettle / etc reader.

Why both? Some students want to pay by card but did not have it handy when booking, so they pay on arrival. Surfacing this as a separate option signals you can handle it.

The booking itself moves through the system in PENDING until you mark paid after the in-person swipe.

Bank transfer

Common outside the US (UK, EU, Australia, Latin America). The student sends money to your bank account before class.

Setup:

In settings, add:

• Account holder name.
• Account number / IBAN.
• SWIFT/BIC (for international).
• Bank name and country.
• Sort code (UK) or routing number (US) if applicable.

We surface these details to the booking student via the booking confirmation email. The student initiates the transfer; you watch your bank and confirm receipt in the dashboard when the money lands.

Pros:

• Zero fees on your side.
• Works domestically with no friction.

Cons:

• Speed: 1-2 business days domestically, 3-5 international.
• Manual confirmation step.
• If a student fakes "I sent it" and you confirm without checking, you absorb the loss.

Recommended: confirm only when the money has actually landed in your bank, not when the student says they sent it.

PayPal

The student sends a payment to your PayPal handle (email or @username).

Setup: in settings, enter your PayPal handle. The student sees it in the booking confirmation email.

Friends and Family vs Goods and Services:

This is the most common source of confusion. PayPal has two transfer modes:

• Goods and Services: PayPal takes ~3% fee, the student gets buyer protection.
• Friends and Family: zero fee for the receiver, no buyer protection.

Many mentors ask students to send F&F to avoid fees. This is technically against PayPal's terms (F&F is meant for personal transfers, not commercial). PayPal occasionally enforces this; mostly they look the other way.

You can:

• Accept F&F and absorb the policy risk.
• Insist on Goods and Services and absorb the fee.
• Ask the student to add the ~3% on top of the class price.

Most mentors do the first. Be aware of the tradeoff.

Venmo, Cash App, Zelle (US only)

Similar shape: you give the student a handle (@user for Venmo, $tag for Cash App, phone/email for Zelle), they send the money in their app, you confirm.

Fees: zero for all three between US bank accounts.

Speed: minutes for Venmo and Cash App; Zelle is bank-to-bank instant during banking hours.

Refunds:

• Venmo and Cash App: you initiate from the app. Money returns to the student's source.
• Zelle: has no recall. To refund, you send a new transfer. Get the student's phone/email and Zelle them back.

Cash

Toggle on in settings. Students see "Cash (on arrival)" on your profile.

Workflow:

1. Student books, picks "Cash" as method.
2. Booking sits in PENDING.
3. Student shows up.
4. You take the cash.
5. You go to the booking on your phone or laptop and click "Mark paid".
6. Booking moves to CONFIRMED and PAID.

Recommended for:

• Drop-in classes where you have many students paying on the day.
• Casual community classes.
• New mentors testing the platform without setting up Stripe.

Caveat: higher no-show rate. Cash bookings have nothing committing the student. Some mentors only accept cash from regulars.

Crypto

You configure pairs of (network, wallet address). E.g.:

• Ethereum: 0xabc123...
• Bitcoin: bc1q...
• Solana: So1...

In the booking confirmation email, the student gets the right address for their chosen network and the amount in dollars (or your home currency). The student sends from their wallet. You watch your wallet, confirm the transaction has at least one confirmation, mark paid.

Considerations:

• Network gas (fees) is the student's problem, not yours.
• Volatility means the dollar value at confirmation time may not exactly match the price. Most hosts accept "close to right" within a small tolerance.
• Refunds: you send the same amount back (in the same currency) if needed. Some hosts refund "the same number of tokens you sent"; some refund "the dollar equivalent at refund time". State your policy upfront.

Crypto is currently used by a tiny minority of mentors. If you do not have crypto-paying clients knocking on your door, do not bother setting it up.

"Other" custom method

If you have a payment provider not on the list (local fintech, specific country setup), you can add a "Other" method with a free-form name and instructions.

The student sees your name and instructions in the booking confirmation email and follows them. You confirm receipt as with any other manual method.

Recommended setup by mentor profile

Solo independent yoga teacher in the US:

• Stripe Connect: yes.
• Cash: yes.
• Venmo: yes.

EU yoga teacher:

• Stripe Connect: yes.
• Bank transfer: yes.
• PayPal: optional, depending on clientele.

Brand new mentor, no Stripe yet:

• Cash: yes.
• Bank transfer: yes (if you have a business account).
• PayPal: yes (if you have an account).
• Add Stripe later when you have enough bookings to justify the setup time.

Mentor with no clients yet:

• Set up Stripe. The first card payment that does not happen because Stripe is missing is a real cost. Worth the 30 minutes.

Common questions

Can I take only Stripe and refuse manual methods? Yes. Just toggle off all manual methods in settings. Students see only "Card (at booking)" on your profile. Conversion is typically a bit lower (some students do not want to pay by card) but it is cleaner administratively.

Can I require a deposit and accept the balance in cash on the day? Not natively. Workaround: set the class price to the deposit, and put "Balance of $X due in cash at class" in the description. Or: charge full price upfront with Stripe and just take cash from those who prefer it (you keep the cash but mark the booking as Stripe-paid).

Stripe says my account is restricted. What do I do? See Stripe Connect verification stuck.

Why does the dashboard show a booking as PENDING when I know I got paid? You did not mark it paid. Go to the booking, click "Mark paid", select the date received. The booking moves to CONFIRMED.

Next steps

• Stripe Connect setup: detailed walkthrough.
• How payments work: the platform's overall payment architecture.
• Managing bookings: the dashboard workflows you do daily.