We bill subscriptions through Stripe. Two payment modes are supported: card (the default for most schools) and invoice (PDF emailed to your finance team, payable by wire transfer or SEPA, with Net-30 or similar terms). This article covers both, plus renewals, refunds, billing details, and VAT.
The three tiers
- Pro — CHF 2,400/yr. Your school profile, inquiry inbox, basic CRM, no admissions module.
- Premium — CHF 9,600/yr. Everything in Pro, plus admissions application builder, tour booking system, broadcasts, full CRM, cohort dashboard with capacity targets, analytics.
- Bespoke — custom pricing, set at sales conversation time. Everything in Premium plus a dedicated account manager, optional API access, multi-campus support, and SLA-backed uptime commitments.
Tier upgrades take effect immediately and prorate the existing billing cycle. Tier downgrades take effect at the next renewal — you keep the higher tier until then.
Card billing (default)
When your invitation is accepted, you have a 30-day trial window during which you can access the dashboard without paying. Before the trial ends, you set up payment via Stripe Checkout (enter your card once). After that, Stripe auto-charges your card monthly or annually based on your plan, and we send you an emailed receipt + a downloadable PDF invoice for each charge.
What you see: the Payment banner at the top of your dashboard during the trial. After payment is set up, the banner disappears.
What happens at renewal: Stripe attempts the charge automatically on the renewal date. If successful, life continues. If declined, you get an email immediately and a banner appears on your dashboard saying "card declined — update your payment method." Stripe will retry the card up to 3 more times over the next 7 days (Smart Retries) before marking the subscription past-due. You don't lose access during this window — you have time to update the card.
Updating your card: Settings → Billing → Manage payment method. Opens a Stripe-hosted portal where you can change the card on file, download past invoices, and update billing details (address, tax ID). Changes take effect immediately.
Invoice billing (PO / Net-30)
For schools whose finance team requires a PDF invoice with a PO line and a wire-transfer or SEPA payment path — most boarding schools fall in this bucket above CHF 5k/yr.
Setup: invoice billing is configured at invitation time, not self-served. When our team sends you the invitation, we set the billing mode to "invoice", capture the billing-contact email address (which can differ from your admin email if the finance team is separate), and set a contract effective date. A PO number is optional — if your finance office issues one, you can add or edit it yourself in Settings → Billing at any time, and it will appear on your next invoice.
How the first invoice arrives: the moment you accept the invitation, Stripe creates the subscription server-side and emails a PDF invoice to your billing contact. The invoice covers the period starting from your contract effective date (not the date you clicked the magic link — you can negotiate a January 1 start and accept on January 4 without affecting the billing period). Due date is the effective date + your Net-X window (Net-30 by default).
How payment works: the invoice PDF includes wire instructions (Stripe Switzerland account) and a hosted-invoice URL where the family can also pay by card or SEPA if they prefer. As soon as the payment clears (1-3 business days for wire, instant for card), the subscription flips to Active and your dashboard banner clears.
Renewals: Stripe automatically generates the next invoice ~30 days before renewal date and emails it to your billing contact. You'll also get a heads-up email from us 7 days before the next invoice is issued.
What happens if an invoice goes overdue: unlike card billing, there's no automatic retry — Stripe doesn't have a card to charge. You get a dunning email from Stripe at the due date and again at +7, +14, and +30 days. If still unpaid at +30, the subscription moves to past-due and we get a notification to follow up with you manually.
Where to find past invoices
Settings → Billing → Past invoices. The list shows every invoice ever issued to your school with date, amount, status (paid/open/ void), and a download link for the PDF. Useful for your accounting team's year-end reconciliation.
You can also see this list from the Stripe Customer Portal (Settings → Billing → Manage). The portal has slightly more detail per invoice (line items, tax breakdown) and lets you update your billing details.
Refunds and credits
We don't issue refunds automatically — every refund request is reviewed manually. The two most common situations:
- Duplicate charge or billing error. We refund in full and apologize.
- Subscription cancelled mid-year. We typically refund the unused portion of the year (prorated by days remaining at the cancellation date), minus a small admin fee for the work already done. This is a conversation, not a policy.
To request a refund: email admin@swissprivate-schools.ch from the billing contact address with the invoice number and reason. We respond within 2 business days.
Refunds appear on the same payment method that originally paid — card refunds take 5-10 business days to show up on the card statement; wire refunds are 1-3 business days.
VAT handling
We're a Swiss company, so:
- Swiss schools are charged Swiss VAT (8.1% as of 2026).
- EU schools that provide a valid VAT number are reverse-charged (no VAT line on the invoice; you handle it through your local reverse-charge mechanism).
- EU schools without a valid VAT number are charged Swiss VAT.
- Non-EU, non-Swiss schools are not charged VAT — but you're responsible for any local taxes in your jurisdiction.
To provide your VAT number, go to Settings → Billing → Billing details. It's verified automatically through the EU VIES service for EU numbers, and through the Swiss UID register for Swiss numbers. The verified VAT number appears on every invoice going forward.
Changing your tier
Tier upgrades are immediate — click the upgrade button on the Pricing page from your dashboard, complete the (one-step) checkout flow, and the new features unlock immediately. Stripe charges a prorated amount for the rest of the current cycle.
Tier downgrades are scheduled — your current tier stays in place until the renewal date, then the new tier takes effect. We don't support downgrade-with-refund (the operational cost of pro-rated downgrades is higher than the value); if you need to drop tier mid-cycle for a specific reason, email us and we'll handle it as a manual refund.
Cancelling
Settings → Billing → Cancel subscription. The cancellation takes effect at the end of your current billing period — you keep access until then, no surprise immediate lockout. After the period ends, your school profile remains live (so families can still find you) but the dashboard features matching your tier are disabled.
Your data is preserved indefinitely after cancellation. If you re-subscribe later, everything (inquiries, bookings, photos, applications) is exactly where you left it.
To permanently delete your data, the request has to come from a school owner and goes through a 30-day grace period before fulfillment — covered in the admin → Account → Delete account flow.
When something doesn't look right
Email admin@swissprivate-schools.ch with the invoice number or the last 4 digits of the card involved. We can look up any charge, refund, or subscription transition in the founder's Stripe dashboard within minutes.