How Automatic Payments Work

Tutonomi is built exclusively around automatic card payments. Once a pupil has added their card details, the platform handles payment collection for you — no invoices to send, no bank transfers to chase, no keeping track of who's paid and who hasn't. Everything is collected automatically, recorded in one place, and visible at a glance from your Billing page.

We appreciate this means you may need to change the way you currently bill your pupils, but honestly it's better for both of you. You always get paid on time without chasing. Your pupils never have to remember to pay you after every lesson. We tried it every way — this is the approach that works.

When a lesson is due for payment, Tutonomi attempts to charge the card on file. If the payment goes through, the lesson status updates to Paid and both you and the pupil receive a confirmation. The money is then paid out to your bank account on a daily basis.

If a payment fails, Tutonomi retries automatically and keeps you informed at every stage.

Offline payments such as cash or bank transfer are not supported, and this is intentional. If a pupil pays outside of Tutonomi, that payment isn't recorded anywhere in your account. The lesson will show as unpaid, your reports won't reflect the income, and you lose all the automation that makes managing payments straightforward.

External payments also make your tax reporting much harder at year end!

If a pupil is hesitant about paying by card, it's worth having a conversation about it. Payments are handled securely, their card details are encrypted and never shared, and they're never charged without prior agreement. Plus they don't have the hassle of manually paying you after every lesson.

Good to know

• Pupils add their card details during the onboarding process, which is triggered as soon as you add them to Tutonomi. It takes less than 15 seconds and only needs to be done once.

• If a pupil hasn't added their card yet, no charge will be attempted until they do. Pupils who haven't completed onboarding appear in the Onboarding section of your Pupils page.

• If a pupil is hesitant about adding a card, you can resend their onboarding invitation from the Pupils page.