Connect Stripe

Learn how to connect Stripe so you can take card payments for your sessions, with the money paid into your own account and settled directly to your bank.

Session uses Stripe to process card payments. You connect your own Stripe account once, and from then on every paid booking, membership, bundle and gift voucher is charged through it. The money is yours from the moment it is captured - it never passes through a Session account.

Connecting Stripe is a one-time step. Until it is done, customers can't pay online, so it is worth doing early. See going live for the full launch checklist, and accepted payment methods for what your customers can pay with once you're connected.

Before you start

You need an email address and your venue's business details to set up Stripe. If you already use Stripe for something else, you can connect that same account - you don't need a new one.

Session connects to Stripe using a Standard account, which means:

• Your Stripe account is owned entirely by you.
• Payments are paid into your account and settled to your bank on Stripe's normal payout schedule.
• You manage refunds, disputes and payouts from your own Stripe dashboard at dashboard.stripe.com.

Connect your account

1. 1
   Open Settings → Company and find the Stripe section.
2. 2
   Select Connect with Stripe. You'll be taken to Stripe to either sign in to an existing account or create a new one.
3. 3
   Follow Stripe's onboarding to enter your business details, bank account and identity information.
4. 4
   When Stripe finishes, you'll be returned to Session and the Stripe section will update to show your account.

If you leave partway through, the section shows Complete setup instead - select it to pick up where you left off.

Check you're ready to take payments

Once connected, the Stripe section shows your account details and a status. You're fully set up when the status reads Connected.

Stripe needs to verify your details before it lets you take money. Two things have to be switched on:

• Charges - whether Stripe will accept payments. Until charges are enabled, customers can't pay for a booking.
• Payouts - whether Stripe will pay the collected money out to your bank.

If either is still pending, the section shows Charges not enabled or Payouts not enabled. This usually means Stripe still needs more information - select Complete setup to finish, or open your Stripe dashboard to see exactly what is outstanding.

What it costs

There is no subscription and no card needed to start. Two separate fees apply to paid bookings:

• Session's platform fee - 0.5% per paid booking, capped at £100 per month. There is no platform fee on free bookings.
• Stripe's card processing fee - around 1.5% + 20p on UK cards, charged by Stripe and paid into your own Stripe account. This applies on any booking platform and isn't ours to charge.

Community and non-profit saunas can get a partnership deal through the Community Sauna Network - get in touch if that's you.

Common questions

1. Where does the money go? Into your own Stripe account, settled to your bank on Stripe's payout schedule. It never passes through a Session account.

2. Can I use an existing Stripe account? Yes. Select Connect with Stripe and sign in to the account you already have, rather than creating a new one.

3. Customers can't pay - why? Check the Stripe section on Settings → Company. If it shows Charges not enabled, Stripe hasn't finished verifying you yet - select Complete setup or open your Stripe dashboard to see what's outstanding.

4. How do I issue a refund? Refunds, part-refunds and reschedules are handled inside Session - see refunds. You don't refund from the Stripe dashboard.

5. Do I still need Stripe if I only take cash? No - you can record offline and walk-in payments without Stripe. But online card payment, Apple Pay and Google Pay all need a connected Stripe account.