Creating courses for sale on an Edtech platform is one way professionals can earn passive income. A programmer can create a JavaScript course with videos, text, and tasks, upload it to a platform, and have beginners buy it to learn. It is a great passive income source because the platform handles payments, manages students, and delivers content.
On the flip side, you are expected to provide a payout option to receive your earnings. Your choice determines how quickly you can access your earnings and how much you get to keep. Managing Teachable payments is considerably more difficult for international course creators because payouts are usually denominated in USD. Without a USD account, you face high transaction fees, forced conversions at unfavourable rates, and delayed payouts.
This article explains exactly how Teachable payouts work for international creators, what each gateway costs, and how to set up a receiving system that protects as much of your course revenue as possible.
Also read: How to pay for online courses and certifications with Grey
Teachable processes student payments through its own built-in payment infrastructure, called teachable:pay, which runs on Stripe. When a student buys your course, Teachable collects the payment, deducts its platform fee and processing costs, and then routes the remainder to your payout account according to the schedule you selected.
The gateway and payout method available to you depend on the country your school is registered in. Teachable divides its creator base into two groups:
A creator using teachable:pay receives their earnings directly to a bank account on a date they stipulate. A creator on the Monthly Payment Gateway receives earnings to PayPal once a month, and then faces PayPal's conversion fees and withdrawal restrictions, depending on their country.
Teachable’s current plan offers:
For payment processing, Stripe charges approximately 2.9% plus $0.30 per card transaction on standard processing. Let's say you make a course sale of $97 on the Starter plan, Teachable deducts 7.5% ($7.28), Stripe deducts 2.9% + $0.30 ($3.11), and you are left with approximately $86.61 before the payout. The same sale on the Builder plan skips the 7.5% transaction fee, leaving you with approximately $93.89.
However, you should not be quick to upgrade to a Builder plan unless your monthly sales are at least $800. This is when you’d really be saving up on transaction fees.
If your course is registered in a country where teachable:pay is available, this is the most direct and cost-effective payout route. Your earnings are paid to your bank account via Stripe's Connect Express infrastructure, on the payout schedule you select: daily, weekly, or monthly.
Here is how this works:
For the first payout, it can take four to six weeks for Stripe to complete their risk assessment. After that, subsequent payouts follow the schedule more consistently.
To use teachable:pay:
It is important to note that your earnings will be withheld if you have earned over $500 and have not submitted a tax form. Submitting the W-8BEN (for non-US individuals) or W-8BEN-E (for non-US entities) is required before your first significant payout.
Also read: Managing multiple income streams as a freelance creative
For creators in countries not eligible for teachable:pay, this is the only native payout option Teachable offers. It pays out to your PayPal account on the first business day of each month. This leaves you with no control over when or how you receive your money.
Once you provide your details, the payout goes to your PayPal account, and you are left to figure out how to access it. Your next steps largely depend on whether PayPal is supported in your country. What happens from that point depends on where you are and how PayPal functions in your market.
This poses a lot of problems for international creators outside the areas teachable:pay
Whether your money arrives via Stripe to a bank account or via PayPal to a balance, the conversion to your local currency is where a significant amount of cost can be added or avoided, depending on your setup.
For creators on teachable:pay receiving USD, EUR, or GBP payouts via Stripe, directing those funds to a virtual foreign currency account gives you control over the conversion timing. The payout arrives in the original currency; you hold it, and you convert at a disclosed rate when it works for you, rather than accepting whatever the receiving bank applies on that day.
When you receive a USD payout from Stripe into a Grey USD account, the money moves through the US banking network via ACH. There are no intermediary bank charges as you find with an international wire transfer.
One of the perks of the Growth or Advanced plan is that you get more control you want full control, connect your own Stripe or PayPal account directly. Payouts and fees are then handled by Stripe/PayPal instead of Teachable.
These are the fees that may apply:
Here are some things to put in place as you prepare for your payout:
Grey gives international course creators virtual USD, GBP, and EUR accounts with real foreign banking details. For creators on teachable:pay, directing your Stripe payout to a Grey USD account means the funds arrive via ACH with no intermediary bank fees. You get to keep your earnings in USD, convert at competitive rates, and withdraw to your local bank account at a flat fee.
Grey offers virtual Visa cards that charge directly from your multi-currency balance, so you don’t need regular top-ups. You also get to integrate your card with Google Pay and Apple Pay to use contactless and pay without issues.
Sign up on Grey and download the app to get virtual foreign currency accounts for receiving Teachable payouts.
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