For any lesson booked on 8Billionminds, please teach and learn in our built-in virtual classroom (whiteboard), rather than moving it to another app or link on your own.

We rely on the classroom to confirm that a lesson took place when something goes wrong — for example a no-show, a refund request, or suspected fraud. That helps us protect both students and teachers. If a lesson happens entirely off-platform and we cannot verify it, we may not be able to resolve a dispute fairly.

You pay when you book. Payments are processed by Stripe, one of the world's most widely used payment providers, so 8Billionminds never sees or stores your full card details.

Yes. We don't pass your payment to the teacher straight away. We hold it until 3 days after the lesson, so you have time to tell us if there was a problem.

You can cancel free of charge anytime before the start of the lesson.

If you need to cancel, please do so as early as possible out of respect for the teacher, and let them know. You can rebook another time that is suitable free of charge.

Report it to us within 3 days of the scheduled lesson time via the dispute centre. We'll review what happened and, where appropriate, refund you in full.

Refunds are handled through the dispute process below. Approved refunds are returned to your original payment method. It usually takes 5–10 business days for the money to appear, depending on your bank.

Not quite. Before you can offer paid lessons, you need to set up your Stripe account and complete all of Stripe's verification steps. This usually means confirming your identity, address and bank details.

Once Stripe confirms your account is ready to receive payments, you can start teaching.

Stripe handles all payments on 8Billionminds. It's how students pay and how you get paid. As a regulated payment provider, Stripe has to verify who you are before it can send you money.

8Billionminds doesn't set Stripe's verification requirements. If Stripe asks you for more information, you'll need to provide it before you can be paid.

You won't be able to give paid lessons until verification is complete. If Stripe needs more information, you'll see instructions in your Stripe account — completing them promptly avoids delays to your payments.

We release your payment to your Stripe account 3 days after the lesson, as long as no dispute has been raised.

From there, Stripe pays the money into your bank account. How long that takes depends on your country, your bank and your Stripe payout schedule. See Stripe's guide to payouts.

All payments go through Stripe. We release your earnings to your Stripe account, and Stripe then pays them into your bank. Once funds are in your Stripe account, the payout timing is controlled by Stripe, usually once a day, but we can't guarantee a specific date.

Make a note of what happened (for example, how long you waited) and contact us or report it from the disputes page. You are required to wait in the virtual classroom for a minimum of 30 minutes before leaving. If a student doesn't appear within 30 minutes of the scheduled start of the lesson, then the lesson is considered finished and the teacher will still be paid.

That generally eats into the student's scheduled time. For example, if a lesson is scheduled to start at 5pm and is 1 hour in length, and the student is 10 minutes late, then it is at the discretion of the teacher whether to extend the allotted time by the 10 minutes.

Any contribution to 8Billionminds is completely voluntary. When you pay for a lesson it is up to you to select any, or how much you'd like to support 8Billionminds. Even 2% goes a long way for us; this will be clearly shown on the checkout breakdown when you pay for a lesson.

Yes. Stripe charges its own processing fees, separate from any 8Billionminds fee. These depend on things like the payment method, country and currency. See Stripe's pricing page for current fees. Usually this is about 1.5% + 25p for UK transactions. Overseas charges might include an extra 2%. We are working hard to reduce fees as much as possible for our global users!

Stripe fees are included in the price the student pays. This means the amount a teacher receives may be lower than the lesson price. You can see the exact fees for each payment in your Stripe account. We work hard to ensure our teachers receive the most possible, and significantly more than all the other top learning platforms!

A dispute is how you tell us there was a significant problem with a lesson or payment — for example, the lesson didn't happen, was much shorter than booked, involved inappropriate behaviour, or wasn't what was agreed.

Students can raise a dispute within 3 days after the lesson by entering the dispute area on the platform. If it is done within this time then we can put a hold on any payment before it passes to the teacher.

We pause the payment to the teacher while we look into it. We may ask both of you for information, such as:

• what was agreed when the lesson was booked
• whether the lesson took place, and when it started and finished
• what went wrong
• any messages or other evidence

We aim to reach a decision within 5 business days. Depending on the outcome, the payment may be released to the teacher, refunded to the student in full, or partly refunded.

No. The payment stays on hold until the dispute is resolved.

The payment will usually already have been released to the teacher, so we may not be able to reverse it. Please still contact us — we'll look into what happened and whether any further action is possible.

If you dispute a payment directly with your bank or card provider (a “chargeback”), it's handled under Stripe's and your card issuer's rules rather than our own process. We'd always encourage you to contact us first — it's usually faster.