Getting paid as a maker
The short version
The customer pays PrintFlows. We hold it. When they confirm delivery (or five days after delivery with no dispute) we transfer your share to your Stripe account. Stripe then pays your bank on its own schedule.
You don't get paid at order time. Price and plan accordingly.
What you keep
PrintFlows takes 15% of the part price. Shipping you charged and taxes you collected pass through in full.
A worked example on an $80 part with $15 shipping, delivered in Québec:
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Part price you quoted | $80.00 |
| Shipping you charged | $15.00 |
| Taxes collected from the customer (GST + QST on $95) | $14.22 |
| Customer pays | $109.22 |
| PrintFlows fee (15% of $80) | −$12.00 |
| Transferred to you | $97.22 |
The fee never touches shipping or tax.
The three buckets on your Payouts page
Held: the order isn't complete. This money is not yours yet. Don't count it, don't spend against it.
Scheduled: the order completed and the transfer is queued. Usually goes out within a few hours.
Sent: it's with Stripe. From here it's Stripe's payout schedule to your bank, which PrintFlows doesn't set or control. The deposit date is in your Stripe dashboard.
What can reduce a payout
A refund. How much depends on who was at fault. The refund policy has the full table, but roughly:
- Your fault (wrong material, bad packing, missed lead time, never shipped): it comes out of your payout. If you'd already been paid, we reverse the transfer, which can leave your Stripe balance negative until your next payout covers it.
- Customer's fault (bad file, change of mind after printing): you keep what covers your material and time.
- Nobody's fault (carrier loses a properly packed, tracked package): usually split, and you claim from the carrier.
- Our fault (a platform bug): PrintFlows carries it and your payout is untouched.
A reversal isn't a punishment. If you think one was wrong, reply to the email; a person reads it.
Taxes
PrintFlows doesn't file anything for you. You're an independent business.
Stripe provides your annual documents. What you do with them, and whether you need to register for GST/HST or QST, is between you and an accountant. The general rule is that registration becomes mandatory over $30,000 of revenue in four consecutive quarters, but don't take tax advice from a help page.
Export your payouts as CSV from the Payouts page. Every line has the order reference, the part price, the fee, the shipping and the net, which is what a bookkeeper will ask for.
Getting paid faster
You can't shortcut the hold. What you can do:
- Ship with tracking the same day you finish. The clock only starts at delivery.
- Tell the customer it's on the way. People who know a part is coming open the box and confirm; people who forget let the five days run.
- Pack it properly. A part that arrives intact gets confirmed. A part that arrives rattling gets a dispute.
- Photograph everything before it goes in the box. It's the cheapest insurance there is.
If a transfer fails
Stripe rejects a transfer when something's wrong with the banking details on your connected account. The Payouts page shows the reason. Fix it in Stripe and we retry automatically: you don't need to do anything on our side.