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getting started
meet your toolkit!
payments
co-ownership
marketing @ somos
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students
introducing somos
heartbeat: user guide
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faqs
💳 connect to stripe
stripe is our payment partner! this is where earnings from your products will land! you’ll need to connect to stripe so you can get paid! 💸
still got questions? get in touch: support@somos.education.
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💰 how payments work at somos
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the set-up 🏗
- as independent sellers on somos, teachers need to set up stripe connect accounts to receive payments.
- whenever you make a sale via somos 📈
- 87-99% (less stripe’s payment processing fee) goes straight to you.
- 0-12% comes to us, depending on your pricing plan.
- 1% goes to our impact fund.
- as a teacher, you're in control of: 🎮
- setting your prices.
- defining your own refund policy on a per-product basis.
- creating early bird promo codes and discounts.
- managing your payout schedule from your stripe dashboard.
- keep in mind: 🧠
- you're responsible for collecting and/or paying any applicable taxes (e.g., income or sales tax/VAT) in your local jurisdiction.
the commission we take depends on your pricing plan.
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why is somos structured like this? 🤔
- we want you to get your money quickly and with minimal processing fees.
- your share of any payments heads straight to your stripe account, and you can choose whether to set your payouts to daily, weekly, or monthly. at somos, we never hold your money.
- we recommend keeping a balance in your stripe account until your course/class starts. this helps if you need to process any refunds for students.
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🏦 who needs to connect to stripe?
- any teachers who want to sell paid products (e.g., courses, classes etc.) need to connect to stripe.
- if just want to use our free features, you don't need to worry about this part!
top tip:
🤝 you'll need to connect to stripe before you can buy any of our subscriptions. this ensures they are of real value to you!
🪙 after all, without a stripe connection, you won't be able to earn on the platform!
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🚀 how to connect to stripe
once you're all set up on ❤️ heartbeat, the magic really begins! a connect to stripe button will appear on your somos dashboard. 🎩✨
by clicking on the button, you'll embark on a guided onboarding journey that'll get you connected to stripe and ready to roll in no time! 🚀
in brief, you’ll 🅰️ fill out a quick form to start the process, and then 🅱️ be guided through the stripe onboarding flow to complete set up!
top tip:
🌈 connecting to stripe might look a little different depending on your specific situation but don't worry, we've mapped out a few common scenarios to guide you through the process.
👀 take a look through the scenarios in 🅰️ below, find the one that matches your situation, and simply follow the steps. easy peasy!
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🅰️ starting the process in the somos webapp
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1️⃣ you already have a stripe account
⏰ estimated time: 1 - 2 minutes
📚 step-by-step guide
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2️⃣ you don’t have a stripe account but are based in a stripe supported country
⏰ estimated time: 2 - 3 minutes
🌍 list of stripe supported countries
* please note: for our friends in indonesia, you'll still need to take routes 3 or 4 below for the time being.
📚 step-by-step guide
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3️⃣ you aren’t based in a stripe supported country but have a wise account you can connect to stripe
⏰ estimated time: 3 - 5 minutes
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4️⃣ you aren’t based in a stripe supported country but are open to creating a new wise account you can connect to stripe
⏰ estimated time: 10 minutes
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5️⃣ you are based in a restricted country…
- we're thrilled to be able to work with teachers from 170+ countries and we're eager to increase that number as soon as possible.
- however, due to certain banking restrictions, we are not yet able to partner with teachers based in:
afghanistan, burundi, central african republic, chad, congo republic, crimea (sub-territory), cuba, democratic republic of the congo, eritrea, iran, iraq, myanmar, north korea, russia, somalia, sri lanka, republic of south sudan, state of libya, sudan, syrian arab republic, ukraine, venezuela and yemen.
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🅱️ the stripe onboarding flow
once you’ve completed the form in 🅰️, you’ll be automatically redirected to stripe’s onboarding process...
- as teachers are independent sellers on somos, you’ll need to go through this to set up on stripe connect so you can receive payments from students in the future.
- you will have to provide verification info, your bank account details and some introductory information about you/your business.
- we have created a step-by-step guide below so you can see the kind of information you need to provide but in the event you are having issues, please check out this faq on how to get support from the stripe team.
⏰ estimated time: 3-5 minutes
📚 step-by-step guide
🤔 frequently asked questions
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- it's entirely free to join somos as a teacher! if you decide to sell products via the platform, we have different commission rates depending on your pricing plan.
- as a social enterprise, transparency is key, and we believe it's crucial for you to understand what we charge and why.
- check out our commission breakdowns here.
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- we use stripe as our payment gateway. this means:
- you can accept payments from students anywhere in the world.
- teachers are independent sellers on the platform and will need to set up stripe connect accounts to receive payments.
- in order to do this, you will need to either:
- have a local bank account in one of stripe's 46 countries (excluding indonesia); or
- if you are outside stripe’s 46 countries but have a wise account, you should be able to connect this to stripe. wise is available in 170+ countries, please follow the guide below to connect your wise account to stripe.
- once you are set up, you control your own payout schedule from your stripe dashboard.
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- we can accept payments from students anywhere in the world.
- in order to teach with somos, you must be able to connect with stripe.
- there are two ways you can do this:
- have a local bank account in one of stripe's 46 countries (excluding indonesia); or
- if you are outside stripe’s 46 countries but have a wise account, you should be able to connect this to stripe. wise is available in 170+ countries, please follow the guide below to connect your wise account to stripe.
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- possibly! if you are outside stripe’s 46 countries but have a wise account, you should be able to connect this to stripe.
- this extends coverage to 170+ countries.
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- we are able to work with teachers from 170+ countries and would love to increase that as soon as we can. however, due to banking restrictions, we are not yet able to partner with teachers based in:
afghanistan, burundi, central african republic, chad, congo republic, crimea (sub-territory), cuba, democratic republic of the congo, eritrea, iran, iraq, myanmar, north korea, russia, somalia, sri lanka, republic of south sudan, state of libya, sudan, syrian arab republic, ukraine, venezuela and yemen.
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- yes! it's important to us that our team, communities we work in and teachers not only have a say in how somos is run but also benefit financially in any growth.
- teachers will be able to invest in the business via targeted fundraising rounds and in addition, teachers will be eligible for our share/stock option scheme.
- we have recently partnered with ownco to make this a reality - check out the announcement.
- if you’re a teacher and would like to find out more about how the scheme works, take a look at our co-ownership page.
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how we work with stripe
- when you set up with stripe, they have their own onboarding & verification requirements/process.
- we will support with this as much as we can but there are certain topic areas where we can’t access your confidential information (e.g. helping with uploading any verification documents or bank account details).
- stripe have a very responsive help team that can help guide you through initial set-up though!
useful information from stripe
- here are the most commonly encountered issues when setting up stripe (and the relevant help centre articles from stripe to help):
how to get support from stripe directly if you can log in
- log in to your stripe dashboard.
- click “help” in the header bar (it’s in the top right hand corner)
- this will open a min-menu. click “share feedback” at the bottom under “get in touch.
- you should then see a “contact support” button. click this and it will open a new window.
- the new window will have a chatbot open (and it should tell you approximate wait time - this is normally 3-10 minutes).
- select “connect” as the topic and your preferred support method (chat, call or email).
- details/information the stripe team may ask for:
- email address you used to sign up for somos & stripe
- stripe service you are using: "connect"
- type of account you are setting up: "standard"
- platform managing the account: "somos"
- make a note of any support ticket numbers you are given in case you need to discuss it with us.
- although we might not be able to help directly, please keep us informed as we can also do our best to contact stripe alongside you.
if you can’t log in
- we’ve added a “contact stripe” button to the header of the webapp. this will take you directly to their contact form: https://support.stripe.com/contact/email
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- yes! follow this step-by-step guide to get back to your stripe onboarding flow right from the somos dashboard.
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