Billing & payments
How money moves.
Stripe Connect, application fees, refunds, and failed-payment recovery — the full picture of how dollars flow through Cinch.
Last updated May 14, 2026·By the Cinch team
The two pricing tracks
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You own this knob
The two tracks below are how you pay Cinch. They have nothing to do with what your members pay you. Membership tiers, day-pass rates, guest fees, promo codes — every dollar amount your members see is a knob you control.
Cinch offers two ways to pay. Same product, different payment flow.
- Pay-as-you-go — $0/mo + 0.5% per booking via Stripe Connect. You connect your own Stripe account; payouts land in your bank directly. We take a 0.5% application fee on each transaction at the Stripe level — you never write us a check.
- All-Inclusive — $199/mo flat, no transaction fee. Payments flow through our Stripe account; we settle to your bank on a regular schedule (default: weekly, configurable).
Standard Stripe processing applies on top
Both tracks include Cinch’s fee. Stripe’s standard card-processing rates (typically 2.9% + 30¢ for in-person card present, 2.9% + 30¢ online) apply on top regardless of track. That’s Stripe’s rate, not ours.
Setting up Stripe Connect (Pay-as-you-go only)
- 1Open /admin/settings/paymentsYou’ll see a “Connect Stripe” button.
- 2Stripe OAuth flowSign into your existing Stripe account, or create a new one. Stripe handles the KYC; we never see your bank info.
- 3Pick your payout scheduleDaily, weekly, or monthly. Cinch defaults to daily for fastest cash flow.
- 4DoneYour members can now pay. The 0.5% application fee is collected at the Stripe level on every transaction — you don’t see an invoice from us.
Refunds
Refunds happen at the booking level. Two options:
- Refund to card— money goes back to the member’s original payment method. Stripe takes approximately 5–10 business days to land. Stripe doesn’t refund its processing fees, but Cinch DOES refund our 0.5%.
- Refund to account credit— the dollar amount becomes a credit on the member’s next bill. Faster, no processing-fee leakage, no chargeback risk. Members generally prefer this for small amounts.
Refunds older than 60 days
Stripe limits how far back you can refund a charge. Beyond 60 days, refund-to-credit is the only option. Cinch falls back automatically.
Failed-payment recovery
Cards fail. The recovery flow happens automatically:
- Day 1— Stripe’s smart-retry attempts the card on the next-likely-success day (usually next business day).
- Day 3 — second retry + a card-update email to the member with a self-serve Stripe-hosted update link.
- Day 7— SMS reminder if the email goes unread (using the phone number on the member’s account).
- Day 14— escalates to your front-desk exception queue with the member’s last visit date.
Tax handling
Cinch integrates with Stripe Tax for tenants in jurisdictions where sales tax applies to memberships, day passes, or retail. Toggle it on in /admin/settings/tax; Stripe handles the calculation + remittance per-state.