I'm building a platform where content creators can setup a subscription service of which I'll take a fee (think Twitch.tv, Substack, OnlyFans, etc.)
Content creators will setup a Stripe Connected Account on the platform. I'll operate the Platform Account.
Customers that subscribe to a content creator might want to subscribe to others so it makes sense to keep both Customers and their PaymentMethods on the Platform Account. Customers must be able to manage all their subscriptions and have their credit card details pre-filled, if already available.
I can't, for the life of me, understand how to share these Customers and their PaymentMethods with the content creator's Connected Accounts.
I followed the clone customers across accounts guide unsuccessfully. It errors out while creating the Token, saying that the Customer must have an active payment source. I read somewhere that this guide doesn't work with PaymentMethods but I don't really know if that's true.
Then I found this other guide. It seems, though, that I would have to create a Customer, per User, per Connected Account which will make me duplicate information and make subscription management harder.
Could anyone, who has experience building a similar service, give me some pointers?
Thanks
Instead of cloning PaymentMethods to your connected accounts (for which this guide is the correct one) you could create subscriptions using destination charges. The idea being that the customers and payment methods stay on your platform account. When an invoice is paid its funds (minus an application fee set by you) are automatically transferred to the connected account.
Related
I am currently hitting a roadblock implementing Stripe Connect into our platform. We want to allow multiple connected accounts to use our platform to sell some sort of tickets. For this we wanted to use Standard accounts with Direct Charges (since we want to take a cut and also not have to deal with refunds/disputes etc.).
On our end the end-user has to either select or create a customer on our platform (created in our Stripe account) and then provide their payment method details through Stripe Elements. The documentation states that you need to create a PaymentIntent for the connected account, but this is not possible while also supplying the previously saved customer (because the customer only exists on our platform).
Now another documentation outlines that it is possible to share customers between connected accounts. The issue with this is that for this step you already seem to need a payment method attached to the customer:
If your platform uses the Payment Methods API, you must create a PaymentMethod from that customer.
The linked documentation outlines how to clone payment methods of customers between linked accounts, but this once again assumes that we already have a confirmed/attached payment method.
So my question is: How can we allow customers to be shared between all connected accounts without having to supply a payment method first? After the first payment (and if the customer chooses to do so) we want to save (and later clone if necessary) this payment method for future payments on all connected accounts.
For normal payments you can create a PaymentIntent with a customer but without a payment method and only supply the latter on the client (in our case stripe.js)
Since you're using Standard accounts, you have to use Direct Charges when accepting payments on behalf of that connected account. This means that the PaymentIntent has to live on the connected account, alongside the Customer and the PaymentMethod if any.
If you want to re-use the payment method details for other accounts in the future though, the PaymentMethod itself and its associated Customer has to live on the platform account.
Unfortunately, there's no way to "clone" a PaymentMethod from the connected account back to the platform today. This means that you have to change your integration logic slightly and approach the overall flow differently.
The idea is that you first need to collect payment method details in the platform. Since you're not taking an immediate payment during that step, you want to use the SetupIntent API. This is the flow documented here that will let you create the SetupIntent on the platform and collect card details securely client-side.
Once you have this information, you will now have a Customer cus_A in the platform, with the PaymentMethod pm_123 attached to it. That is the first step of the flow.
Now, you want to accept a payment on the connected account. So you first need to clone the PaymentMethod on that account as documented here. That will give you a brand new PaymentMethod pm_xyz that lives on that connected account. You can then use that PaymentMethod to confirm a new PaymentIntent on that connected account and passing payment_method: 'pm_xyz' to attempt to charge that saved card.
Note that it is possible this requires a "next action" such as doing 3D Secure as it's on a different account which could come with different restrictions.
In the future, if that customer comes back and wants to pay another connected account, you'd do a new clone of the PaymentMethod on that account and a new PaymentIntent for that cloned card and you can repeat it each time they pay a new business.
It can seem a bit convoluted at first, but once you grasp the flow of all the objects it does make sense overall!
I want to use Stripe Connect to provide multiparty payments, in my website.
I have a platform. User A (customer) will pay User B (which is the service provider) on the platform and as a platform, I want to get some amount percentage in the middle.
So, I'm following this guide
https://stripe.com/docs/connect/collect-then-transfer-guide
But, when it comes to testing creating those standard connected accounts, I need to fill real information like phones and emails.
However, I found this guide to fullfill my problem:
https://stripe.com/docs/connect/testing#using-oauth
But, I'm not sure how can I use this guide?
How can I create a stripe account for my user B (who will accept payment through my platform) and got that account_id in testing (and later production)?
There are multiple points to clear:
There are Standard, Express and Custom account types. There are also
3 fund flows of Direct Charge, Destination Charge, or Separate
Charges and Transfers. See comparison from Stripe Doc (this is important)
If you decide to use Standard Account, you should go with Direct
Charges
There are 2 ways to onboard a Standard Account. OAuth is a
legacy integration. Account Link is preferable.
But really, Express + Destination Charge would be easier. You should also use Account Link to create express accounts
I am collecting a payment using Stripe, and want to keep a portion, and send the rest onto another account from another organisation.
Stripe have told me that I have to connect an account. I have done this, Stripe gives me a link which the other organisation pastes into their browser, and all works. I can create a transfer linked to a payment intent.
But, when the link is pasted into the other organistions browser, this message is shown.
______ will be able to see your account data (such as all payment and payout history), including any data created by other business you've connected. They'll also be able to create new payments and take other actions for you.
This seems crazy - I just want to pay them some money, not ask them for full access.
Am I missing a trick?
Stripe Connect is a product/tool that allows accounts to work together to provide goods and services to end customers. There are a few different approaches to how this is configured based on your use case as well as whether you would be acting as the Platform (the one in control) or the Connect Account.
You should review the different Connect Account Types and determine what best matches your use case. Some questions to consider are as follows:
Who is interfacing with the end-customer (you or the other account)?
Who is providing the product/service?
Is this other account providing a service to you in exchange for a cut of the revenue?
On what account should the transactions and customers be stored?
It sounds like, based on the warning message, you were creating the other account to be the Platform and you would be Connect Account. In that cases the other account could make API calls on your behalf using your account token. This would be normal if the other account is providing a service to you like funneling customers to you in some way. A good way to quickly review what approach makes the most sense for your use case is to review the Funds Flow diagrams for the different types of Charges
Direct Charges
Destination Charges
Separate Charges and Transfers
I want to create a platform which will provide a digital service where the customers and connected accounts will be from around the world. Clearly Stripe Connect is the Stripe product to use.
Because many of the connected accounts will be overseas this straight away rules out the use of transfers - unless I explored setting up separate platform accounts in the different overseas countries. (https://stripe.com/docs/connect/capabilities-overview#cross-border-transfers)
So I am left with destination charges where I choose the connected account as the settlement merchant via the on_behalf_of parameter. This means the charge goes against the connected account but I can still make money by charging an application fee.
As the connected account will be invisible to the end customer on the platform it seems inappropriate for the connected account's details to show on the customer's bank / credit card statement. Instead I want the platform's details to show.
Stripe support have assured me it is possible to have only the platform's details. Indeed this part of the API suggests I can control the statement descriptor which shows - https://stripe.com/docs/api/checkout/sessions/create#create_checkout_session-payment_intent_data-statement_descriptor
But another article - https://stripe.com/docs/api/checkout/sessions/create#create_checkout_session-payment_intent_data-statement_descriptor - seems to almost contradict this. It explains
Any additional information that’s displayed on a customer’s statement
is also provided by the same account that provides the static
component (business address, phone number).
Can anybody clarify? Many thanks in advance.
Update
This article appears to settle the matter - https://stripe.com/docs/payments/connected-accounts
Guess I will just have to inform users on my website with a connected account that their details will show on the bank statement.
I have a platform which users register on with their car and then another user can then rent the car for a period of time. When the payment for the rental is received to our company account I need to be able to pay out 80% to the car owner and then pay our company account the remaining 20%.
I have Stripe integrated on my platform and we can receive payments but I don't know how to set up the rest, Stripe support are saying the platform developers need to do it, but the platform developers don't know where they need to do this and tell me I actually need to do it within Stripe myself. Im so frustrated and confused as no one is helping me.
I would be so grateful for some advice and help on if code needs to be put on the platform by the developer and if so what code? Also if there is a link to the correct guidelines.
Thank you in advance!
Gen
The product you need to use here is called Stripe Connect. It allows you to collect payments on behalf of a third-party, send them the funds and keep a portion of it for yourself.
The idea is that you will act as a platform and have your own Stripe account. Car owners will be able to register with your platform and create their own Stripe account that will be connected to your own.
When a customer wants to book a car you'll be able to collect their card details securely and charge them on behalf of the car owner while keeping a portion of the funds for yourself.
This will be a more complex integration though and something that your developers will need to build for you if you're not the developer yourself. You'll use multiple Stripe products such as Connect as mentioned earlier, but also Checkout or Elements to collect card details.