Payment methods

Learn how customers pay for their sessions, and how to control which payment methods appear at checkout so you can accept the ways your customers prefer to pay.

Once you've connected Stripe, customers can pay for bookings, memberships, bundles and gift vouchers by card, Apple Pay or Google Pay. Every payment is processed through your own Stripe account and settled to your bank - it never passes through a Session account.

Which methods show at checkout is decided by your Stripe account, not by Session. That means you turn methods on and off in your Stripe dashboard, and the change applies everywhere customers check out - with nothing to configure on the Session side.

What customers can pay with

The methods available at checkout come from what your connected Stripe account has enabled:

• Card. Standard credit and debit card payment is on by default once Stripe is connected.
• Apple Pay. Shown to customers on Apple devices (Safari on iPhone, iPad and Mac). It rides on the card setting, so it's available wherever card is.
• Google Pay. Shown to customers on Android and in Chrome. It also rides on the card setting.

Apple Pay and Google Pay only appear when the customer's device and browser support them, and when they have a card saved to that wallet. A customer on a device without either wallet just sees the card form - they can always pay by card.

How methods are controlled

Session never restricts which payment methods are offered. The checkout page is hosted by Stripe, so it offers every method you've switched on in your Stripe account's payment-method settings. To change what customers can pay with, you change it in Stripe:

1. 1
   Open your Stripe dashboard and go to Settings → Payment methods.
2. 2
   Turn the methods you want to accept on or off. Apple Pay and Google Pay are grouped with card.
3. 3
   Save. The change applies to your Session checkout straight away - there's nothing to update inside Session.

Apple Pay setup

Apple Pay needs the website it runs on to be verified with Apple. Session handles this for you: when your Stripe account first becomes able to take payments (charges enabled), Session automatically registers the Session domain with Apple on your account. There are no files to upload and no manual verification step.

If Apple Pay isn't showing for a customer, it's almost always because their device or browser doesn't support it, or they have no card in their Apple Wallet - not a setup problem on your side.

Where payments land

Whichever method a customer uses, the money goes to the same place: your own Stripe account, settled to your bank on Stripe's normal payout schedule. You see every payment, payout and balance in your Stripe dashboard.

For the fees that apply to a paid booking, see connecting Stripe. For money that comes in another way, see recording an offline or walk-in payment, and for sending money back, see refunds.

Common questions

1. Why don't I see an Apple Pay button at checkout? Apple Pay only shows on Apple devices in Safari, when the customer has a card in their Apple Wallet. On other devices customers see the card form instead. The same applies to Google Pay on Android and Chrome.

2. How do I turn a payment method off? In your Stripe dashboard under Settings → Payment methods. Session offers whatever Stripe has enabled, so the control lives there, not in Session.

3. Do I need to verify my domain for Apple Pay? No. Session registers the domain with Apple on your Stripe account automatically once your account can take payments.

4. Can I accept cash or a card-machine payment? Yes - record those as offline or walk-in payments. Online card, Apple Pay and Google Pay all need a connected Stripe account.

5. Customers can't pay at all - what's wrong? Check the Stripe section on Settings → Company. If charges aren't enabled yet, Stripe is still verifying your account and no online payment method will work until that's done - see connecting Stripe.