01 — The shape of it
Where the money goes
Buyer → your own processor account → your bank. GoCushy sits beside that line, not on it: it instructs the charge and never holds the funds. You remain the seller of record, the customer relationship is yours, and your buyers' names and payment history live in your accounts.
The practical consequences are worth stating. Payouts run on your processor's normal schedule for your account and country — nothing new to configure and no extra holding period. Refunds come out of your balance, not ours. And if you ever leave, your customer list does not live somewhere you have to ask for it back.
02 — The options
The four rails
Card, via Stripe is the default and the most complete. It is the only rail that carries a cart, a trial, a coupon and correct tax on an upsell all at once.
PayPal runs on your own PayPal Business account. One approval covers a whole cart, which is why carts work here too.
Airwallex is the global rail, and the only one where a buyer can pay in their own currency at a live rate. See Currencies — including the settlement-currency trap, which has already cost a merchant real money.
Crypto (USDC) takes one-time payments in USD, with bumps priced into the signed amount. It does not do subscriptions, trials or carts.
03 — The honest table
What each rail supports
This is read from the same map the server uses to decide, so it does not drift from behaviour:
| Card Stripe | PayPal | Airwallex | Crypto USDC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| One-time products | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| Order bumps | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| Multi-product carts | yes | yes | no | no |
| Subscriptions | yes | yes | yes | no |
| Free trials | yes | yes | yes | no |
| Coupons on one-time | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| Coupons on a subscription's first payment | yes | yes | yes | no |
| Coupons combined with a trial | yes | yes | no | no |
| Buyer pays in their own currency | no | no | yes | no |
04 — The cost
What a sale costs
Two fees exist, and only one of them is ours.
- Your processor's fee. Stripe's, PayPal's or Airwallex's standard rate for your account and country. It comes off before the money reaches you, and we never see it.
- The GoCushy platform fee, which is 3% on the Free plan, 0.5% on Pro, and 0% for founding members — forever, enforced in one place in the code rather than promised in marketing.
05 — Getting it to your bank
Payouts
There is nothing to set up here, because there is nothing of ours in the path. Your processor pays out to your bank on its own schedule — Stripe's rolling schedule for your country, PayPal's balance, Airwallex's settlement. Change the schedule in their dashboard, not ours.
The one thing to get right is on Airwallex: enable every currency you sell in as a settlement currency, or it converts to your default and you lose the spread. See Currencies.
06 — Diagnosis
If something looks wrong
A coupon was refused on a trial. Check the rail: that combination is unsupported on PayPal.
A cart offer will not take a payment. Carts run on card, PayPal, and USDC on Base where the crypto rail is enabled for your account. Airwallex refuses them — a cart has no presentment currency, which is the only thing that rail adds.
A USD sale settled in another currency. Airwallex, and the sale currency is not enabled for settlement on your account. Their support turns it on.
The money has not arrived. Check your processor's dashboard, not ours — the payout is theirs to make and ours to never touch.
07 — Next
Where to go next
Currencies, tax and invoices, or filing it to Xero or QuickBooks.