📝 Overview

To start accepting payments from customers and receiving payouts, you'll need to complete two key financial setup steps: connecting your bank account through Stripe (Sawyer's payment processor) and setting up your monthly subscription payment. Additionally, you can enable ACH (Automatic Clearing House) payments, which allows your customers to pay directly from their bank accounts. This guide walks you through the entire financial setup process.

🏦 Connecting Your Bank Account to Sawyer

When you log into your Sawyer account for the first time, you'll see a red banner at the top of the page that says Set up your bank account. You'll need to connect your bank account and verify your business with Stripe to start taking payments. Here's how:

1️⃣ Access the Banking Setup

Click here to learn how to access banking setup

You have two options:

Click the banner

Click Set Up Banking on the red banner at the top of your account page.

Navigate manually

Click on the name of your business at the top right of your provider portal
Select Business Account
Navigate to Financials and then Banking

2️⃣ Start the Stripe Connection

Click here to learn how to connect your bank account to sawyer through stripe

Click Get Started on the Stripe launch page
Your Stripe account is created automatically in the background
You'll be prompted to enter your email address and phone number
Enter your email and phone number
You'll receive a verification code
Enter the code to proceed
A dialog box will open to show Stripe is reviewing your information.
You'll be asked several questions about your business for verification purposes. This information is used only for account verification within Stripe and will not appear publicly.
When your bank account has been successfully verified, you'll see three green checkboxes across the top of your Business Account > Banking page. This confirms:
- Email verified ✅
- Phone verified ✅
- Bank account verified ✅
⚠️ You will not be able to receive payouts until your bank account information has been verified.

💡 It sometimes takes a minute for the checkboxes to update. If you don't see them right away, try refreshing your browser a couple of times.

3️⃣ Setting Up Your Subscription Payment

Click here to learn how to setup your subscription payment

Once your bank account is connected, you'll need to set up your monthly subscription payment to Sawyer. This is a separate payment from customer transactions.

Click on the name of your business at the top right of your Sawyer provider portal
Select Business Account
Navigate to Subscription
Add your credit card information
Click Subscribe

You'll receive a confirmation once your subscription has been activated.

💰 Enabling ACH Payments for Customers

ACH (Automatic Clearing House) is an optional payment method that allows your customers to pay directly from their bank accounts. You can enable or disable this feature at any time.

🔸 What Customers Can Do With ACH

Customers can link their bank account to their Sawyer account
They can see and manage their ACH accounts in the Account section of their profile
They have the option to set up an ACH account at checkout
ACH is optional—customers can still choose to pay by credit card instead
Customers cannot use ACH to pay for activities on the Sawyer Marketplace

🔸 How to Enable ACH

Click here to lean how to enable ACH

Log into your Sawyer account
Go to Settings by clicking the Profile button in the top right
Scroll down to Custom Payment Methods
Toggle the switch to turn ACH on (it will turn green)

🔸 How to Disable ACH

Click here to lean how to disable ACH

Go to Settings and then choose Custom Payment Methods
Toggle the switch to turn ACH off (it will turn grey)
When you disable ACH, a message will appear confirming that any existing orders with ACH will not be affected.

🔸 Managing ACH Payments and Orders

Once you've enabled ACH, you can use it to charge customers, place orders on their behalf, and receive payments.

Quick Charge

Click here to learn how to use quick charge

Navigate to a customer's profile
Click Charge Client and then choose Quick Charge
Select ACH as the payment method
If the customer has more than one ACH account linked, the default ACH account will be displayed
Complete the charge

💡 Tip: You can also select credit card as the payment method if preferred.

Add a New Order

Click here to learn how to add a new order

Go to Add New Order from a customer's profile
Select ACH as the payment method in the Payment Method section
If the customer has multiple ACH accounts, the default will be displayed
Complete the order

If there's an issue with the payment, an error message will appear at the top of the Payment Method section.

Receive Payment from Orders

Click here to learn how to receive payments from orders

Go to Financials then choose Orders
Find the order you need to receive payment for
Click Receive Payment
Select ACH as the payment method
If the customer has multiple ACH accounts, the default will be displayed
Confirm the payment

💡 Important Notes on ACH Accounts

ACH accounts added by customers will only display if you have ACH enabled
You cannot add an ACH account on behalf of a customer
You can change the default ACH account on behalf of a customer from the (...) menu on their profile

📊 Payment Processing & Order Status

Because ACH has a processing delay, you'll see different order statuses as payments are processed.

Understanding ACH Order Statuses

ACH Processing — The order has been placed, but final payment hasn't processed yet. This can take up to 4 business days.
Paid — Payment was successful.
Payment Failed — Payment was processed but failed. The bookings associated with this order still exist. You and your customer should work together to resolve the issue.
Dispute Lost — Unlike credit card purchases, ACH disputes are automatically won by the customer (providers are not allowed to provide evidence). The bookings associated with this order still exist. You and your customer should work together to resolve the issue.

Viewing Payment Activity

You can see the payment method used for each order on the order detail page. If your customer changes their default ACH payment method, the updated ACH account information will be reflected in the payment activity section.

💰 ACH Pricing & Fees

When you enable ACH, the following fees apply:

Payment Processing Fee — A percentage of the total order amount.

Balance Check Fee — Not applicable at this time. (Balance check is not yet a live feature.)

Account Authorization Fee — A fee charged the first time ACH payment is used for a provider, per account. Note: Linking an ACH account will not incur this fee. The fee is only charged once a payment is taken, per ACH account.

For a complete breakdown of all Sawyer fees, see the article on here.

❓ Frequently Asked Questions

Find answers to common questions about banking setup, subscriptions, and ACH payments.