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How the money moves

The client’s payment does not reach you when they book. It is held. That protects them — and it protects you, because it proves the money exists before you do the work. Nobody on Whetstone works for a client who has not paid.

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What you are paid

Whetstone takes a commission from the package price and you receive the rest. The rate is stated on your earnings page and applied identically to every advisor. Your earnings page shows the split for every booking, so you always see the gross and the amount coming to you. There are no fees to join, no listing fees, and no charge for holding availability.

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Setting up payouts

Do this before your first session ends, so nothing is waiting when your money is released. Earnings → Set up payouts hands you over to Stripe, who will ask for your legal name and address, date of birth, bank account details, and sometimes an ID document depending on your country.
Whetstone never sees your bank details. They go to Stripe, who move the money. If you do not finish in one go, come back to the same button and pick up where you left off.

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What your earnings page tells you

Your payout status is Stripe’s answer, not a guess, and it says one of four things: Only the last one means you can actually be paid.
Starting the setup is not finishing it. Opening the Stripe form and closing the tab leaves you at unfinished — the page will say so, and no money can reach you until it says Payouts connected. If you are unsure, look at your earnings page before your first session ends rather than after.

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If your earnings are waiting on your setup

If a session finishes and your payout account is not ready, we email you to say so. That email is the one that matters — it is not a payment confirmation, it is a nudge that money you have earned is sitting still. Nothing is lost while you sort it out:
  • The money stays held for you, in full.
  • Whetstone keeps checking, and pays you automatically as soon as Stripe says you are ready.
  • There is no deadline and no penalty. Finishing your setup three weeks later still pays you.
You do not need to tell anyone once you have finished. The next automatic check picks it up — usually within the hour.

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When you are paid

Release is triggered by the client confirming the work is done — or automatically seven days after you mark it complete, if they do not. You get an email when it is released. After that, the money moves from Stripe to your bank on your payout schedule. In Account → Payouts you can have earnings released weekly, or held and paid less frequently. Weekly is the default. Bank transfer times vary by country; a few business days is typical.

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If the transfer does not go through first time

Sometimes the transfer is refused at the moment it is attempted — most often because the client’s card payment is still settling and the funds have not cleared into the platform yet. This is ordinary, and it does not lose your money:
  • Your booking stays completed. Nothing about it is cancelled or undone.
  • The payment stays held, and Whetstone retries every hour, up to 12 times.
  • Most clear themselves within a few hours, usually overnight.
  • If it still has not gone through, it stops retrying and goes into the Whetstone team’s queue, where a person pushes it through by hand. They are emailed when it happens — you do not have to notice it first.
You can never be paid twice for one booking. Every payout attempt carries the same reference, so a retry either completes the original transfer or does nothing.

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Reading your earnings page

  • Released — paid out to you, or on its way to your bank
  • Held — the client has paid and one of three things is true: the work is not confirmed complete yet, the transfer is still being retried, or your payout setup is not finished
  • Payout rows are listed by who and when, not by an internal reference
  • The chart shows earnings over recent months, and says so plainly when there is nothing yet to chart

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If something goes wrong

A client reports a problem. The booking is parked and no money moves until someone at Whetstone has looked at it. You will be asked for your side. The session outcomes you recorded are the evidence that matters — which is why recording them is worth the ten seconds. A client no-shows. Record the session as a no-show. Do not quietly absorb it; the record is what any later conversation rests on. Money has not arrived. Check in order:
  1. Does your earnings page say Payouts connected? If it says anything else, that is your answer — finish the setup and the money follows automatically.
  2. Is the booking confirmed complete?
  3. Does your earnings page show that booking as released?
  4. Has your bank had a few business days?
If the booking says completed, your payouts are connected, and earnings still says held, it is the retry case above — give it a day.

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Tax

Whetstone does not withhold tax. You are advising as an independent professional and what you receive is yours to declare in your own country. Your earnings page and Stripe’s records are your source figures.
Speak to your own accountant about how this income should be treated where you live. Whetstone cannot advise on that.
Last modified on August 27, 2026