Stripe Vendor Payment is a Finance feature in PCR Educator that lets your school send electronic payments to vendors through Stripe Financial Connections, replacing paper checks with direct ACH transfers. Vendors connect their own bank accounts through the vendor portal, so your finance team does not collect or store vendor banking information.

This article walks through the school-side setup. Setup takes about 15 to 20 minutes of work on your end, plus 1 to 2 business days for Stripe to verify the application.

Required role: To configure Stripe Vendor Payment, the user must have access to Finance > Maintenance in PCR Educator.

Before you start

Please have the following ready:

• An authorized financial signer who can complete Stripe's identity and business verification.
• Your school's banking details for the payout account.
• The General Ledger account you want tied to electronic payouts.

Creating the Stripe Financial Connections account

• Go to https://stripe.com and click Sign up. If your school already has a Stripe account, log in instead.
• When prompted to select a product, enable Stripe Financial Connections.
• Complete the business verification fields. When Stripe asks how your platform is configured, use the values below exactly. These match the integration PCR Educator has built against Stripe Connect. Changing them will cause the connection to fail.

Funds flow: Buyers will purchase from you. Sellers will be paid out individually.

Industry: Business management software

Account creation: Onboarding hosted by Stripe

Account management: You will redirect sellers to the Express Dashboard to manage their Stripe account.

Liability for refunds and chargebacks: You are responsible for refunds and chargebacks to buyers.

• Confirm the Connect Platform Agreement when prompted.
• Submit the application. Stripe typically verifies within 1 to 2 business days.

Sending the Stripe Customer ID to PCR Educator

Once Stripe approves your account:

• From your Stripe dashboard, copy your Stripe Customer ID. This is the identifier PCR Educator uses to link your school's Stripe account to your PCR Educator portal.
• Send the Stripe Customer ID to PCR Educator support through your established secure channel. Do not email it in plain text.
• PCR Educator will configure Stripe as a payment method on your portal and confirm when it is live.

Note: At this time, the Stripe Customer ID is configured by PCR Educator support on your behalf. A self-service field is on the roadmap.

Connecting the payout account

Once PCR Educator confirms Stripe is configured on your portal:

• Log in to PCR Educator.
• Navigate to Finance > Maintenance > External Payment Accounts.
• Click New and select your connected Stripe account.
• Link the payout account to the General Ledger account you want associated with electronic payouts.
• Save.

Your payout account is now active and available for payment runs.

Inviting vendor to the vendor portal

Vendors connect their own bank accounts through the PCR Educator vendor portal. Your team does not collect, store, or manage vendor banking information.

To send invitations:

• Go to Finance > Vendors.
• Select the vendors you want to onboard.
• Use the Send Vendor Portal Invitation action.

Each vendor receives an email with portal credentials and a link to connect their bank account.

Running electronic payment

When your finance team generates a payment batch and selects a Stripe-enabled payout account, the system automatically issues electronic transfers to every vendor with an active connected bank account. Vendors who have not yet connected a bank account continue to receive paper checks. Both methods run inside the same payment batch.

Common question

Do we still need to print checks? Only for vendors who have not connected a bank account through the portal. The system handles both methods in one payment run.

Where do vendors see their payment status? The vendor portal displays pending and completed payouts.

What if a vendor's bank details change? Vendors update their own information through the portal. No action is required from your finance team.

Are there transaction fees? Stripe charges standard ACH fees per transfer. Review Stripe's current pricing on their website.

Can we reverse an electronic payment? Once submitted, ACH transfers follow Stripe's standard reversal rules. Contact PCR Educator support immediately if a payment was issued in error.

For help with any step, open a ticket through the PCR Educator customer portal. Include your school name and the step where you are stuck.