Selling lesson packages instead of hourly billing

A lesson package is a block of tutoring hours a family buys and pays for up front, usually at a small discount, instead of paying lesson by lesson. Selling packages changes how money reaches your account and how you plan your week. It also adds one job you did not have before: keeping an honest count of the hours each family has left.

Why package billing changes your cash flow

When you bill by the hour, you collect after each lesson. A 10-hour package paid in advance puts that money in your account on day one. For a tutor teaching 25 hours a week at 30 euros, moving half your students onto 10-hour packs means roughly 1,500 to 2,000 euros landing at the start of a period instead of trickling in over six weeks.

Prepayment also cuts the two problems every tutor knows: chasing late payments, and the empty slot when a student cancels the morning of the lesson. A family that has already paid for ten hours shows up more reliably, and a no-show inside a paid pack costs them, not you.

A prepaid pack is a commitment on both sides. The family commits to a run of lessons; you commit to holding the slot and delivering the hours. Put both halves in writing before the first lesson.

How to price a package

Start from your hourly rate, then decide what the discount buys you. A package only makes sense if the discount stays smaller than the value of getting paid early and booking the slots.

• No discount, convenience only. 10 hours at your normal 30 euros = 300 euros, paid once. You sell certainty, not a lower price.
• Small volume discount. 10 hours at 27 euros = 270 euros. The family saves 30 euros; you lock six weeks of Tuesdays.
• Tiered packs. 10 hours at 28 euros, 20 hours at 26 euros. The bigger commitment earns the bigger cut.

Before you set the numbers, be sure your base rate is right. If you have never worked it out from your costs and target income, set your hourly rate first and price the pack on top of it. A discount on a rate that was already too low just locks in the mistake.

A worked example

Say you teach the Baccalauréat maths track. A 20-hour pack at 28 euros is 560 euros, bought in March for the run to the June exam. You know the income, the family knows the cost, and the twenty Tuesday evenings are on your calendar. Compare that to twenty separate 30-euro invoices, four of which arrive two weeks late.

Tracking prepaid hours is the hard part

The moment you sell a pack, you owe every family an accurate balance. Get this wrong and you either give away free lessons or bill for hours already paid. A spreadsheet works for two students and breaks at ten. You need, per family:

• Hours bought, hours used, hours left, updated after every lesson.
• The date the pack was paid and the date it runs out (many tutors set a validity, say six months).
• What happens to a cancellation: does a late cancel burn an hour, or not.
• A low-balance nudge, so you can sell the next pack before the current one empties.

This is exactly the counting a tutoring management tool is built to do: it decrements the balance when you mark a lesson done, and flags the family when two hours remain.

Invoicing a package correctly

A prepaid pack is still a sale, so it needs a proper invoice. In France an invoice to a private individual must carry the mandatory details set by service-public.fr: your identity and SIRET, the date, a description of the service, the amount, and the VAT line ("TVA non applicable, article 293 B du CGI") if you are under the URSSAF micro regime.

Describe the pack honestly: "Package of 10 hours of maths tutoring", with the unit price and total. If the family claims the service à la personne tax credit, the attestation you issue must reflect hours actually delivered in the calendar year, not hours sold. A pack paid in December but taught in January belongs to the following year's attestation. Kadrella's invoicing tools build both the invoice and the year-end attestation from the same lesson records.

When hourly billing still wins

Packages are not for everyone. A brand-new student who is trying you out should pay for one or two lessons first; asking for ten hours up front before any trust exists loses more families than it locks in. A new student who found you through Superprof or a similar platform starts hourly. One-off exam-cram sessions and irregular schedules also fit hourly billing better. Offer the pack once a student is regular and the fit is clear.

Sources

• Règles applicables aux factures – service-public.fr
• Auto-entrepreneur – URSSAF
• Crédit d'impôt service à la personne – impots.gouv.fr
• Superprof