When you book a lesson on Tutorverse, your money doesn't simply go from your bank account to the tutor's. Behind the scenes, a carefully designed financial engine ensures that every rand is tracked, protected, and accounted for. Here's how it works.
How Payouts Work
Tutorverse uses a secure payment system. When you pay for a lesson:
- Your payment is collected securely via Paystack, South Africa's leading payment gateway.
- The funds are held by the platform — not transferred to the tutor immediately.
- Only after the lesson has been successfully completed are the funds released to the tutor's wallet through our automated payout process.
This protects both parties: students know their money is safe until the service is delivered, and tutors know they'll be paid once the lesson concludes.
Automated Payouts
Every day, our payout system runs automatically:
- It identifies all lessons that were completed the previous day.
- It calculates each tutor's net payout (lesson rate minus the platform fee).
- It credits the tutor's wallet in a single, atomic transaction.
- Each tutor receives an email summary of their daily earnings.
This process is fully automated — no manual intervention, no delays.
What If Something Goes Wrong?
We've built multiple safety nets into the system:
- Expired bookings: If payment isn't completed within 15 minutes, the booking automatically expires and the tutor's time slot is released.
- Late payments: If a payment arrives after the booking has expired (rare, but possible), an automatic refund is triggered immediately.
- Failed withdrawals: If a tutor's bank transfer fails (e.g., incorrect bank details), the funds are automatically returned to their wallet. No money is ever lost.
- Disputes: If a student raises a dispute, the tutor's payout is frozen until the issue is reviewed and resolved by our team.
Financial Transparency
Every financial event — whether it's a lesson earning, a withdrawal, a refund, or a compensation — is recorded in a comprehensive internal ledger. This provides full auditability and ensures that wallet balances are always mathematically accurate.
Security Standards
- PCI-DSS Level 1: Paystack meets the highest global standard for payment data security.
- SSL Encryption: All data is transmitted over encrypted connections.
- Webhook Verification: Every Paystack event is cryptographically verified before any state change occurs.
- Row-Level Security: Financial data in our database is protected at the row level — users can only view their own records.
At Tutorverse, we believe that trust starts with transparency. Every payment, every payout, and every refund is designed to be fair, secure, and fully traceable.