Accept payments, and manage payouts, orders, and refunds directly from your Thinkific dashboard - everything you need to run your business efficiently is now in one convenient place. Plus, we've added a new checkout that's regularly tested and optimized to help maximize your conversions.
Thinkific Payments is currently in a private Beta. We will notify you when it is available to all customers.
In this article:
About This Feature
We know that generating sales is a crucial aspect of growing your business. We also know that time spent on payments is time not spent teaching. That’s why we’ve launched Thinkific Payments - to help you sell more courses and spend less time doing it.
As part of Thinkific Payments, our new built-in checkout is regularly tested and optimized to help maximize conversions. As well, order tracking, refunds, and payouts are now built right into Thinkific.
What is Thinkific Payments?
- Thinkific Payments is a suite of payment processing and selling features on your Thinkific site.
- Everything you need to accept payments, manage payouts to your bank account, process refunds, and update banking and business information is now part of your Thinkific dashboard.
- Thinkific Payments centralizes revenue streams; accept payment via credit cards for your courses.
Why choose Thinkific Payments?
- Sell more: Thinkific Payments is updated frequently with features that help Course Creators sell more, starting with improving checkout performance.
- Spend more time teaching: Payments is built into Thinkific so you can spend time teaching and less time on business admin.
How It Works
Thinkific Payments allows you to accept payment from students through Thinkific's Built-in Checkout without integrating with a third-party payment provider. In the past, our built-in checkout required you to integrate with Stripe or Paypal to process payments. Now with Thinkific Payments, all you need is a Thinkific account and a bank account to start selling your courses!
As part of Payments, we've fully integrated the Orders Report. Improved reporting lets you track all student payments and refunds from your Thinkific dashboard. You can also refund students who paid using Thinkific Payments directly from the Orders page.
We've also added more reporting to support your business; the Payout Report gives you detailed information about the status of your payouts.
As an added benefit, Thinkific Payments makes it more efficient to update your banking and business information. Simply sign in to your Thinkific account and click on Payments to access your complete business dashboard.
Important Considerations
- At this time, Thinkific Payments supports course pricing and payments in USD and CAD.
- Only the Site Owner can set up or make changes to a Thinkific site's Thinkific Payments account.
- The Site Owner, Site Admins, and Course Admins can set a course or bundle's pricing, however, changes made by Course Admins will be sent to the Site Owner/Site Admins for review.
User Analytics and Lead Capture Apps on the Thinkific Payments Checkout
- Currently, the following apps are supported on the checkout page with Thinkific Payments: Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, ActiveCampaign, and Sumo (formerly SumoMe).
- The following apps are not currently supported on the checkout page with Thinkific Payments: Mixpanel, Segment, and LeadDyno. Note: Thinkific is actively working on building connections with these apps for the Thinkific Payments checkout.
Thinkific Payments is currently in Beta. This means we're actively testing new features to better support Creators. Is there a feature you'd like to see as part of Payments? Please reach out and let us know!
Setting Up Your Account
Before getting started setting up Thinkific Payments, have handy your:
- Business address
- SSN (Social Security Number) if located in the US
- Bank account details (void check/direct deposit information)
Once you have that information ready, head over to your Thinkific Admin Dashboard to set up your account.
Sign up for Thinkific Payments
- Go to Settings
- Select the Payments tab. You'll see Thinkific Payments at the top of the page.
- Under Where is your business located? select United States or Canada. Note: You will not be able to change the country for your account after clicking to enable Thinkific Payments. If you have selected the wrong country and are now unable to edit it, please contact our Support Team for assistance.
- Click Enable Thinkific Payments. This will open the Payments Verification by Stripe in your browser.
- Select your Type of business and click Next. Note: You will not be able to change details about your type of business after you finish setting up Thinkific Payments. Please be careful to select the correct option for your business from the dropdown menus during sign up. If you have selected the wrong type of business and are now unable to edit it, please contact our Support Team for assistance.
- Fill out your Personal details and click Next. This will include your legal name, email address, home/business address, and additional fields depending on your country.
- Fill out your Business details and click Next
- Confirm your existing details are correct and click Submit. After submission, you will be returned to the Payments tab within Thinkific.
Connect Your Bank Account
Now that you have signed up, you can connect your bank account to accept payouts.
- Click Add Bank Account
- Fill out bank details and click Add Bank Account
- And that's it! You'll see that your account will display Pending verification when you first get started. It can take 24-48 hours to complete verification and you'll be ready to start accepting payments!
If you need to make any updates to your account details, you can always return to the Payments tab and select Replace bank account to update your information.
Account Verification Status
Once you set up Thinkific Payments, your account will have one of the following verification statuses:
- Pending verification - we're currently reviewing your account details after the initial sign up to Thinkific Payments. It can take 24-48 hours to complete verification. No action is required by you.
- Verified - your account has been verified and Thinkific Payments is active on your checkout pages.
- More Details Required - more account details are required to continue using Thinkific Payments. Please click to Complete Account Set Up and add the requested details.
- Restricted - Your account is restricted and Thinkific Payments is not currently active on your checkout pages. Please contact our Support Team for assistance.
If your account status changes from Verified to Restricted, and you previously had integrated with Stripe, your account will automatically return to using Stripe to process student payments on your checkout pages. Once your account status has been re-verified, payments will return to being processed by Thinkific Payments.
Changing Your Currency
By default, your currency will automatically correspond with your selected country when first creating your account. If you prefer your courses are priced in a different currency, you can select Change Currency to select a new currency.
Simply select your currency of choice from the dropdown menu and click Update Currency to apply your changes.
Pricing Your Courses
Now that you have set up your account, you can start pricing your courses. For instructions check out our guide - Thinkific Payments: Set Your Course Pricing.
Payouts
With Thinkific Payments, revenue is deposited from your Thinkific account into your bank account. Payout schedules depend on the country your business is registered in, and your account verification status. Click here for more information about the Payouts Report.
Refunds
Thinkific Payments allows you to offer refunds directly from your Thinkific dashboard. Click here for more information about how to refund an order and refund tracking in the Orders Report.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does Thinkific Payments cost to use?
Thinkific Payments costs the same as Stripe to use.
If you're located in Canada, the fees for successful transactions are 2.9% + 30 cents, +0.8% for adaptive acceptance, +0.6% for international cards, and +2% if currency conversion is required.
If you're located in the United States, the fees for successful transactions are 2.9% + 30 cents, +0.8% for adaptive acceptance, +1% for international cards, and +1% if currency conversion is required.
If you're looking for more information about fees, please email payments-support@thinkific.com.
I signed up for Stripe and/or PayPal originally, what happens when I sign up for Thinkific Payments?
When you sign up for Thinkific Payments, all payments going forward will be processed through Thinkific Payments. If you previously integrated with Stripe or PayPal, you can log into your Stripe or PayPal account for records of any payments that were processed before signing up for Thinkific Payments. For more information, check out our article: Did my student's purchase go through Thinkific Payments, Stripe, or PayPal?
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 noncommercial transactions.
Can I switch back to Stripe if I don't like Thinkific Payments?
Absolutely. Please email payments-support@thinkific.com for assistance.
Is Thinkific Payments available to Creators outside the USA and Canada?
Thinkific Payments is currently in a private Beta and only available to Creators based in the USA and Canada.
Students do not have to be located in the USA or Canada to purchase courses from Creators using Thinkific Payments.
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 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.
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.
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.