Turn on invoicing and card payments
Connect Stripe so the school can take card payments, switch billing on, and set the rates and fees that every invoice is built from.
For owners
Go to WebSettings → Billing. Connect payouts with Stripe in the Payouts card, then turn on Billing enabled, set a default instructor rate, and click Save changes. Only the organization owner can do any of it.
Before you start#
- You must be the organization owner, not merely an admin. An admin can open the page and type in it, but the save will be refused.
- Stripe will ask for your business details and the bank account you want payouts to land in. It is your own Stripe account, so payouts and the payout schedule stay yours.
- Set your aircraft rates too, or their bookings price at zero. See Set your aircraft and instruction rates.
Connect payouts with Stripe#
Open Settings and choose Billing
The Billing tab holds two cards: Billing settings and Payouts.
Click Connect payouts
In the Payouts card. The badge next to it reads Not connected until this is done.
Complete Stripe's hosted onboarding
This happens on Stripe's own pages. Finish every step, including the bank details.
Wait for the confirmation page
You come back to a "Confirming your payout setup" page, which then drops you on Settings with a message saying payouts are connected.
The Payouts badge should now read Connected, and the button becomes Manage payouts.
Turn billing on and set your default instructor rate#
Switch on Billing enabled
In the Billing settings card. This is the master switch.
Set the Default instructor rate
The hourly figure charged for instruction when the booking has no rating at all. A booking that carries a rating is priced from that rating's own rate instead. It starts at $0.00.
Click Save changes
Nothing on this card takes effect until you do.
Add a service fee#
The Service fee (%) field adds a percentage of the invoice as an extra line, using whatever wording you put in Service fee label (the default is "Service Fee").
It is your own surcharge. It is not AerScheduler's fee and not Stripe's. It goes on every invoice you raise, including membership dues.
What Stripe charges you#
Payments run through your own Stripe account, so Stripe's processing fees apply: at the time of writing that is 2.9% plus 30 cents for a card and 0.8% for ACH Direct Debit, in US dollars. Anything deducted comes out of your payout rather than being added to what your member is charged.
Payouts reach a US bank in about two business days once you are up and running. The very first payout takes longer, usually 7 to 10 days, because Stripe verifies the account.
Your Stripe dashboard is the authority on what was deducted and what landed. AerScheduler does not show the fee breakdown.
If Stripe onboarding does not finish#
If you close Stripe's pages half way, the confirmation page tells you the payout setup is not finished, and the badge stays Not connected. Nothing bills in that state.
To pick it back up, open WebSettings → Billing and click Connect payouts again. You resume where you left off.
Doing this from the iOS app#
An owner who opens AppBilling Settings before any of this is sent to the Invoicing with Card and ACH Payments screen instead. It explains what invoicing will do, then Setup creates the Stripe account and opens the same hosted onboarding. If an account already exists but was never finished, the app carries on from where it stopped.
Two more settings sit below, in the Manual invoices card: Dispatchers can manually generate invoices and Instructors can manually generate invoices. They are on both surfaces, both owner-only, and they say who may bill outside a reservation rather than where. See Letting dispatchers or instructors create invoices.
Check it worked#
- The Payouts badge reads Connected.
- Billing enabled is on and saved.
- Every aircraft has a rate.
- Close out a real flight. When the last pilot confirms with their PIN, the booking shows its line items and total, and the payer gets an invoice email.
If a flight closes out and no invoice appears, work through Why a flight was not invoiced.
Related#
The rate, the wet or dry basis, and whether the invoice measures Hobbs or tach.
The other figure on this same settings card, and how nights are counted.
Still stuck on this?
Email support@aerscheduler.com and tell us what you were trying to do. We answer.