Pay terms for businesses

1.What Pay is

Scale Suite Pay ("Pay") lets your business take card and bank payments for invoices, deposits, bookings and Market sales. These terms are part of the Terms of service and apply when you turn on Pay.

Payment processing is provided by Stripe. Each business gets its own Stripe connected account, set up inside Scale. Every payment is made on your own Stripe account, with your business as the seller. Stripe pays out to your bank. Scale's fee comes to Scale as a platform fee that Stripe takes from each payment.

Scale never receives, holds or moves your customers' money. Scale is not a bank, a money transmitter or an escrow service. Pockets and set aside amounts in Money and Books are labels inside Scale, not accounts.

Pay is in test mode until launch. In the preview, payments are simulated or use Stripe test mode, and no real card is charged.

2.Stripe's terms

Payment processing services for businesses on Scale Suite are provided by Stripe and are subject to the Stripe Connected Account Agreement, which includes the Stripe Services Agreement (together, the "Stripe Services Agreement"). By agreeing to these terms or continuing to use Pay, you agree to be bound by the Stripe Services Agreement, as Stripe may change it from time to time. As a condition of Scale enabling payment processing through Stripe, you agree to give Scale accurate and complete information about you and your business, and you allow Scale to share it and transaction information related to your use of Pay with Stripe.

If these terms and the Stripe Services Agreement disagree about Stripe's services, Stripe's agreement wins.

3.Setting up and verification

You set up Pay inside Scale with Stripe's own onboarding form. Stripe, not Scale, collects and verifies your legal name, tax ID, owner details and payout bank. Those details go straight to Stripe. Scale keeps only your Stripe account ID and its status.

Pay accounts have no separate Stripe Dashboard. You manage payments, refunds, disputes, payouts, balances and tax documents inside Scale, in screens provided by Stripe. Stripe may email you or ask for more information through those screens, and you agree to answer promptly. If you do not, Stripe may pause payments or payouts.

Keep your information current. Stripe may decline or close an account under its terms.

4.What Pay costs

One price for every payment through Pay, with Stripe's US card fee included. Scale shows you the price before you take a payment.

• Every payment: 5% of the payment, with a $1.50 minimum. This covers US cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Link.
• US bank transfers (ACH): 5% with a $1.50 minimum, capped at $50 per payment, for payments up to $5,000. For a payment over $5,000, the price is 1% of the whole payment, with no cap.
• Cards issued outside the US: Stripe's 1.5% international card fee is added on top, at cost, only on those payments.
• Currency conversion: when Stripe converts a payment from another currency, Stripe's 1% conversion fee is added on top, at cost, only on those payments.
• Instant payouts: not offered yet. If we offer them, each costs your business 1.5% of the amount paid out, shown before you confirm.

Examples: a $100 US card payment costs $5. A $20 US card payment costs the $1.50 minimum. A $1,000 payment on a card issued outside the US costs $65 (5% plus 1.5%), or $75 if Stripe also converts the currency (plus 1%). A $3,000 bank transfer costs $50. A $10,000 bank transfer costs $100.

How it is charged: Stripe charges your account its own processing fee, and Scale takes the rest of the price as its platform fee, so the two together equal the price above. In the rare case that Stripe's own fee on a payment is higher than the price above, the total is Stripe's fee plus 10 cents. The fee is never more than the payment itself.

Small payments: because of the $1.50 minimum, a payment of $1.50 or less is all fee, and your business receives nothing from it. A $3 payment leaves you $1.50. Think twice before taking very small payments through Pay.

Tips: when a customer adds a tip, the price applies to the whole amount paid, tip included.

Bank verification: when a customer pays by bank and verifies the account instantly, Stripe bills your business its own fee for that verification, currently $1.50 each, outside the Pay price [confirm on Stripe's pricing page. Decision for Cameron: absorb this fee in the Pay price, or keep passing it through as stated here].

Founders pricing does not apply to Pay. We tell you at least 30 days before a Pay price goes up. Prices do not include taxes, which we add where the law requires.

5.Your prices and your customers

Pay's price is charged to your business, not added to your customer's bill. Pay has no setting that adds a card surcharge to your customers. If you add one yourself, card network rules and state laws limit it, and you are responsible for following them. Advertised prices must include every mandatory fee.

You are the seller. Your own prices, refund policy, delivery and customer service are yours, and you must show your refund policy to customers before they pay.

6.Refunds

You can refund a payment, in full or in part, from Pay. The refund comes out of your Stripe balance. If your balance is too low, Stripe may take it from your bank account as its terms allow.

When you refund a payment, Scale's fee and Stripe's fee are not returned. Refunds usually reach the customer in 5 to 10 business days, depending on their bank.

7.Disputes and chargebacks

A customer can dispute a payment with their card issuer or bank. Stripe tells you, and you can send evidence from Pay. The card network or bank decides, not Scale or Stripe.

Stripe bills its dispute fee, currently $15 per dispute in the US, to your business's own Stripe account, under the Stripe terms. Scale never pays it for you. If you lose a dispute, the disputed amount is taken from your balance. Scale's fee is not returned on a disputed payment, whether you win or lose.

Keep receipts, signed agreements, delivery proof and messages for every sale. They are your evidence. Too many disputes can lead Stripe to hold funds or close your account.

8.Negative balances, reserves and recovery

Your business is responsible for every refund, dispute, chargeback, fee, fine and reversal on your Stripe account. If they add up to more than your balance, your account has a negative balance, and your business owes it under the Stripe Services Agreement and these terms. While the balance is negative:

• payouts pause, because Stripe pays nothing out until the balance is back above zero
• new payments cover the negative balance first, before anything is paid out
• Stripe may debit the bank account you use for payouts for the rest
• your Market listings are paused, and instant payouts, if offered, are off

Payouts restart on their own once the balance is back above zero. Pay shows the balance, what caused it and these steps.

Stripe may also hold a reserve or delay payouts if it sees risk. Stripe manages credit and fraud risk on Pay accounts, and Stripe, not Scale, carries any amount that is never paid back. That does not reduce what your business owes.

If Scale is ever charged, fined or held liable for an amount because of your account, such as a refund, dispute, fine or fee, you agree to repay Scale. We may take it from a credit on your Scale bill or charge it to your payment method on file, after telling you. [Decision for Mike: confirm this recovery right and whether to add a set off clause.]

9.Payouts

Stripe pays your balance to the bank account you set in Pay, on Stripe's payout schedule. You can see every payout in Pay. If a payout fails, for example because the bank account is closed, Pay tells you and you can fix the bank details there.

Scale cannot speed up, hold, redirect or reverse a payout. Early payout, Scale Protect and Show Terms appear in the preview only as "Coming later". They are not offered, and no money is held or lent. If we offer them, they will come with their own terms first.

10.Businesses Pay cannot serve

You may not use Pay for anything on the Stripe prohibited and restricted businesses list, unless Stripe has approved you for a restricted category. Scale also does not allow the categories in the Acceptable use policy, section 5, and does not allow Pay to be used to collect money for a third party, to hold money for others, or to give cash back.

If your business changes what it sells, tell us and Stripe before you take payments for it.

11.Card statements and receipts

Your customers' card statements show a short name that starts with Scale's prefix and your business name, for example "SCALE* YOUR BUSINESS". You can change the business part in Pay. It must clearly name your business.

Card numbers are entered in Stripe's secure fields and never reach Scale. For each payment, Scale keeps the amount, status, Stripe IDs, and the card brand and last four digits, so Books and Money can match it. See Data retention for how long.

12.Taxes

You are responsible for the taxes on your sales. Stripe may send you and the IRS a Form 1099-K. Scale may collect sales tax on its own fees where the law requires.

13.Pausing or ending Pay

You can stop using Pay at any time. Refunds, disputes and negative balances from payments you already took stay your responsibility after you stop.

We may pause or end Pay for your business if you break these terms, if Stripe asks us to, or to protect people or the service. We tell you why when we can.

14.Contact

Questions about this page: legal@scalembs.com, or by mail to Scale Modern Business Solutions LLC, 2415 San Ramon Valley Blvd, Suite 4, San Ramon, CA 94583.