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 set up 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.

Where Stripe is available

Stripe operates in most - but not all - countries, and you can only connect a business that is registered in a country Stripe covers. Countries it does not currently serve include South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana - Stripe partners with Paystack in those markets rather than opening accounts directly - along with India and Indonesia, where Stripe is still in preview.

Session flags this for you. If the country under Settings → Company → Regional settings is one Stripe doesn't cover, you'll see a note under the country picker and in the Stripe section.

It's a heads-up, not a block. The country in your settings is where your venue physically is, which is what drives your currency, timezone and tax label. Stripe cares about something different: where your business is registered. So if your sauna is in a country Stripe doesn't serve but you trade through a company registered somewhere it does, you can still connect - Stripe asks you to confirm the account's country during its own setup, and you choose your registered country there.

Stripe adds countries over time. If Stripe has launched where you are and Session still says otherwise, get in touch and we'll update it.

Before you start

You need an email address and your venue's business details to set up Stripe.

Session creates a dedicated Stripe account for your venue as part of connecting - it does not plug into a Stripe account you already use elsewhere. This is a Standard account, which means:

• The account is owned entirely by you.
• Payments are paid into it 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.

If you already have a Stripe account, this new one appears alongside it under the same login. That is expected, not a mistake - see Why you see a second Stripe account below.

Connect your account

Until Stripe is set up, a Connect Stripe shortcut appears in the admin sidebar, just under Settings - it opens the same flow described below, and disappears once you're taking payments.

1. 1
   Open Settings → Company and find the Stripe section (or use the Connect Stripe sidebar shortcut).
2. 2
   Select Connect with Stripe. Session explains that it sets up a dedicated account for your venue, then takes you to Stripe to sign in with your Stripe login - or create one - and set up the account.
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.

Why you see a second Stripe account

Session sets up its own dedicated Stripe account for your venue, in the same way platforms like Squarespace and Acuity do. So if you already have a Stripe account, you'll end up with a new account that sits alongside it under the same Stripe login. This is normal - the new account is the correct one to use with Session.

You can't point Session at a Stripe account that's already connected to another booking or payment platform. Stripe does not allow one account to be shared across two platforms, so it automatically creates a fresh account for Session instead.

The new account can look like a "sub-account" in your Stripe login, but Stripe Standard accounts have no sub-accounts - it's just a second account under your login, and it's the one to complete setup on.

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. Where's the 0.5% Session fee in my Stripe dashboard? It's taken as a Stripe application fee, not a separate charge, so there's no "Session" line to look for. On each paid booking Stripe automatically splits our 0.5% off your balance and sends it to us before the money settles into your payout - it's never added to your customer's price and never comes out of Stripe's own processing fee. To find it, open any individual payment and check the fee breakdown, where it appears as an application fee next to Stripe's processing fee; application fees are also itemised in your Balance and payout reports.

3. Can I connect the Stripe account I already use? Not directly. Session always creates its own dedicated account for your venue, and Stripe won't let an account that's already connected to another platform be reused. Set up the new account with the same business and bank details and your money still lands in the same bank - see Why you see a second Stripe account.

4. A sub-account appeared and I can't connect my main account - is that wrong? No. The account Session created sits under your Stripe login next to your main one, and can look like a sub-account. It's the right account to use with Session - just complete its setup with your usual business and bank details. Your main account can't be reused because it's already tied to another platform.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. Stripe isn't available in my country - can I still use Session? Yes, and you may still be able to take card payments. Stripe doesn't open accounts in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya or Ghana - it partners with Paystack there instead - and is still in preview in India and Indonesia, so you can't connect a business registered in one of those countries. But Stripe goes on where your business is registered, not where your sauna is, so if you trade through a company registered somewhere Stripe covers, you can connect as normal - Stripe asks you to confirm the account's country during setup, and it can't be changed afterwards, so check it carefully. If you can't, everything else works regardless: sessions, schedules, capacity, memberships, waivers, check-in, emails and reports. You take payment on your own card machine, in cash or by bank transfer and record it against the booking so your reports stay accurate. See Where Stripe is available.

9. Session says Stripe isn't available in my country, but the Connect button still works - is that a bug? No, that's deliberate. The note is a heads-up based on where your venue is, and it doesn't block you, because your business may be registered elsewhere. Start the setup and Stripe will ask you to confirm the account's country - if your registered country is one Stripe covers, you'll be able to finish.

10. My Stripe account was set up in the wrong country - can I change it? Not on the Stripe account itself; a Standard account's country is fixed once the account is activated. Stripe asks you to confirm the country during onboarding, so check it carefully there. If an account has already been activated in the wrong country, you'll need to set up a fresh one - contact us and we'll help you switch across.