Included below are a sample of frequently asked questions that you may have when using Thinkific Payments. Click each question to view more details.
Thinkific Payments is part of TCommerce - Thinkific's integrated suite of business tools designed to help you manage and scale your business from right within Thinkific!
Costs and Fees
How much does Thinkific Payments cost to use?
Thinkific Payments costs the same as Stripe to use.
What fees do I pay with Thinkific Payments?
View the full breakdown of fees
If you're looking for more information about fees, please email payments-support@thinkific.com.
Integrating with Thinkific Payments
If I connect with Thinkific Payments, can I use Stripe and PayPal to accept student payments too?
Certain payment processors can be used simultaneously. Learn which ones.
Do my students need to be located within a Thinkific Payments-supported country for me to use Thinkific Payments?
Thinkific Payments is currently available to Creators based in a Thinkific Payments-supported country, however, students do not have to be located in one of the supported countries to purchase courses from Creators using Thinkific Payments.
I signed up for Stripe and/or PayPal originally, what happens when I sign up for Thinkific Payments?
It is possible to set up a Thinkific Payments account and also connect (or have previously connected) a Stripe and/or PayPal account to your Thinkific account.
If you connect with all three payment integrations, only Thinkific Payments and PayPal will be available for your students to purchase through at checkout. If you connect with Thinkific Payments and Stripe, only Thinkific Payments will be available for your students to purchase through at checkout.
Thinkific Payments will be an option for your students to pay with at checkout regardless of the product pricing. PayPal will only be an option for your students to pay at checkout if the purchase is for a product with one-time payment pricing.
For more information, check out our article: Did my student's purchase go through Thinkific Payments, Stripe, or PayPal?
Can I switch back to Stripe if I don't like Thinkific Payments?
Absolutely. Please email payments-support@thinkific.com for assistance.
Do I need to disconnect Stripe before setting up Thinkific Payments?
You do not need to disconnect your Stripe payments integration in Thinkific before setting up your Thinkific Payments account.
To switch your payment processor from Stripe to Thinkific Payments, simply set up Thinkific Payments in your Thinkific account. Click for instructions to set up Thinkific Payments.
Once your Thinkific Payments account status shows as Verified, Thinkific Payments will be active on all of your checkout pages instead of Stripe.
How does the timing of student payment migrations from Stripe to Thinkific Payments work?
Why is my SSN required to use Thinkific Payments?
As a payment partner of Stripe, Stripe requires a Social Security Number (SSN) as part of their "Know Your Customer" (KYC) obligations to prevent abuse of the financial system. Creators based in the USA are required to provide their full SSN when setting up their Thinkific Payments account to match and confirm their identity with the IRS. The SSN will need to be the same as the details of the owner, or the beneficial owner if the tenant is using their Thinkific site as a corporation or LLC.
Your SSN will not be stored in our system and is handled securely by Stripe.
Settings in Thinkific Payments
Can I change how often I receive a payout?
Yes, you can change how often you receive a payout. By default, payouts are scheduled daily. If you would like to change your payout schedule, please contact our Support Team for assistance.
Does Thinkific Payments automatically charge tax?
Yes, Thinkific will automatically calculate, collect, and remit taxes on all qualifying student purchases made in the United States and Canada for creators on TCommerce: Powered by Thinkific Payments. Learn more about it here: TCommerce: Sales Tax Solution. If you are looking for other solutions, see this article: How do I charge tax?
Why can't I verify my Tax ID number (TIN)?
Thinkific Payments uses Verification by Stripe to verify account and business details. Click here for more information from Stripe about why your Tax ID number has not been verified. Students can view their Order History from their Student Account and Profile. Students also have the option to print order summaries from this area of their account.
I chose the wrong country while setting up Thinkific Payments, and now I can't edit the country field. Can you help?
Yes, please contact our Support Team for assistance.
I chose the wrong type of business while setting up Thinkific Payments, and now I can't edit this information in my account. Can you help?
Yes, please contact our Support Team for assistance.
Why do you collect information about businesses and how do you decide which businesses to approve?
We require information about your business and personal details in order to verify that you are a business (including sole proprietors), bona fide charitable organization, or other entity or person and are not using our services to send money to others, to conduct any personal or non-commercial transactions.
Managing and Tracking Orders
Which orders do I see in my Orders table if I've signed up to use Thinkific Payments?
The Orders table in your Orders Report displays all of your students' orders that were processed through Thinkific's Built-in Checkout - including orders processed through Thinkific Payments.
Once you've set up Thinkific Payments for your Thinkific site, this table will also include orders for free products and gifted products.
Do I get notifications when a student purchases a product?
Yes, as long as you have your admin notifications enabled. For more information check out our article on Automated Email Notifications.
Customer Experience
Which built-in checkout do my students see if I've set up Thinkific Payments?
If you have set up Thinkific Payments for your Thinkific account, all of your students (100% of the time) will see Thinkific's built-in Performance Checkout when purchasing a product.
Note:
- Your Thinkific Payments account status must show as Verified for the Performance Checkout to appear for all of your students and for Thinkific Payments to be active on your checkout pages.
- As part of Thinkific Payments, the Performance Checkout is regularly tested, optimized, and updated.
Where can my student see an Order Summary for purchase on my site?
How do my students get receipts?
Thinkific Order Receipts will send automatically - when enabled - for orders made through Thinkific's Built-in Checkout, including payments processed through Thinkific Payments. For more information about automatic order receipts and how to enable them, check out our article: Student Order Receipts and Payment Notifications.
Why don't I see a Payments tab for my student in their user profile?
If you are using Thinkific Payments to process student payments through Thinkific's Built in Checkout for your products, you can follow these instructions to view an individual student's payment information.
There are a couple of reasons you may not see a Payments tab in a user's profile:
- They haven't purchased a product on your Thinkific site (see the Orders Report for more information)
- They purchased a product with a one-time payment price. The Payments tab will only appear in a user's profile if they have purchased a product with a subscription or payment plan price
You can view orders for one-time payments processed through Thinkific Payments in the Orders Report.
Refunds and Cancelling Subscriptions
What happens when I cancel a student's subscription or payment plan with Thinkific Payments?
When refunding a student, do I receive a refund for processing or transaction fees?
There are no fees to refund a charge, but the fees from the original charge are not returned. This is true for full and partial refunds.
How do I refund products purchased as a gift?
Gifted products can be refunded to the buyer upon their request, with the refund process varying based on whether the gift has been redeemed or not. Check out the refund process for gifts.
What happens to the sales tax collected when I refund a student?
When you provide a full or partial refund, the associated sales tax will be refunded to the student as well. In the case of a full refund, the full tax charge is refunded. In the case of a partial refund, only the proportional amount of the tax charge is refunded.
For example, a student buys a $100 course and is charged a $6 tax. If you decide to provide a partial refund of 50%, your student will receive 50% of the tax charge as well. In this case, they will receive 50% of a $6 tax charge, i.e. $3.