Payments for platforms and marketplaces

Connect is a set of programmable APIs and tools that lets you facilitate payments on your software platform, build a marketplace, and pay out sellers or service providers globally – all while shifting payments compliance to Stripe.

How it works

The easiest way to facilitate payments and pay out recipients

Onboard users

Onboard your users and verify their identities to help meet payments KYC.

Accept payments

Accept and facilitate payments on your users’ behalf.

Pay out users

Split payments, transfer funds and send money.

Manage platform

Manage payments and users on your platform or marketplace.

Onboard users in minutes

Whether you use Connect’s pre-built, optimised UIs or build your own custom flows, it’s easy to get your users up and running quickly. Stripe helps you to collect and verify information needed to meet Know Your Customer (KYC) and compliance requirements for payments.

  • Optimised to minimise user error and increase signups
  • Localised for 35+ countries in 14 languages
  • Automatically updated as local payments verification requirements evolve

Accept payments

With Connect, your customers can accept 135+ currencies and dozens of popular payment methods all over the world. Offer payments online, by invoice, or at the point of sale.

Ways to accept payments

  • Online and mobile payments
  • Point-of-sale payments
  • Subscriptions and billing
  • Invoicing

Payment methods

  • Credit and debit cards
  • ACH
  • Alipay
  • Apple Pay
  • Bacs Direct Debit
  • BECS Direct Debit
  • FPX
  • OXXO
  • SEPA Direct Debit
  • WeChat Pay

Control how funds flow

Pay out users quickly and reduce operational overhead with Connect’s global routing and payout engine. You can split funds between multiple users, instantly route payments across borders, and specify your earnings on each transaction.

Direct charges

Buyers transact with sellers, often unaware of the platform's existence. The platform may take fees from the transaction. Example: A buyer makes a purchase from a store that is built on Shopify’s platform.

Destination charges

Buyers transact with the platform, which transfers funds to the seller after collecting its platform fees. Example: A buyer books a ride using the Lyft app. Part of each charge is transferred to the Lyft driver.

Separate charges and transfers

A buyer makes a purchase and the platform later transfers different amounts from the charge to multiple sellers. Example: Scooter platform Bird splits funds from rentals among its network of contractors that charge its scooters.

Top-ups

A platform funds its Stripe balance from a bank account to send transfers not tied to a charge made on Stripe. Example: A platform tops up its Stripe balance to discount its service to buyers while still paying its sellers or service providers in full.

Payouts

A platform sends funds, unlinked to incoming payments, to their seller or service provider’s bank account or debit card. Example: Cozy sends money to its landlords, funded by its bank account.

Instant Payouts

A platform sends funds to its seller or service provider’s bank account or debit card instantly. Example: Instacart can pay its shoppers within minutes of a completed delivery.

Subscriptions

A platform allows its sellers to collect a recurring charge from buyers. Example: Blackbaud enables its non-profits to accept recurring donations.

Account debits

A platform transfers funds from its seller or service providers to its own Stripe balance. Example: A platform pulls funds from its users to cover dispute fees.
  • Bank
  • Buyer
  • Platform
  • Seller or service provider

Manage your platform

Stripe helps keep full records of all transactions so that you can easily track and reconcile payments.
  • Update user information
  • Send funds
  • Issue refunds
  • Handle chargebacks
  • Build custom reports

Security and compliance

Compliance built for platforms and marketplaces

Paying out money is complicated by stringent regulations that vary by country. Connect shifts important payments compliance functions to Stripe. Under the hood, Connect offers card data tokenisation to help with PCI compliance and conducts risk-based verifications to help maintain compliance with local payment regulations and network rules. You can also conduct additional identity verification to address your unique risk and compliance requirements.
  • Optimised identity verification requirements
  • Risk-based KYC and AML checks for individuals and businesses
  • Sanctions screening
  • MATCH list checks
  • Secure credit card data tokenisation for PCI compliance
  • Compliance with global regulations, including PSD2/SCA
  • Money Transmitter Licences (MTL) in the US
  • E-money (EMI) Licence in the EU

Connect allows us to achieve compliance with minimal effort, spend practically no time on payments-related customer support, and keep the user experience on our platform. And, it’s reassuring to know that when we’re expanding to a new country, Stripe will be ready for us.

Johannes Koeppel, CEO and Co-Founder

Built-in access

Add new lines of business with Stripe’s unified payments stack

Connect helps your users easily receive and hold funds from your platform. You can also offer your users access to all of Stripe’s features – from directly accepting online and point-of-sale payments to sending invoices, spending with payment cards, accessing business financing, and more.

Point-of-sale payments

Unify in-person and online payments.

Recurring and one-time invoices

Help users get paid faster with integrated invoicing.

Subscriptions and billing

Enable your users to create flexible subscriptions and billing plans.

Business financing

Offer loans to help your users manage cash flow and accelerate growth.

Issue and manage cards

Create, distribute, and manage physical and virtual spending cards for your users.

Reporting and analytics

Offer powerful reporting and analytics to your users.

Online and mobile payments

Improve conversion for users by offering payment methods like Apple Pay.

Use cases

Building blocks for every business model

Power payments for your marketplace

Whether you run an on-demand, retail, or crowdfunding marketplace, Connect can help you onboard, verify and pay out your users at scale.

Facilitate and monetise payments on your platform

Make your software platform more valuable by offering powerful payments functionality for your users. Embed Stripe’s powerful, future-proof technology to easily create your own payments service.

Send payouts around the world

Connect’s smart payout engine enables you to send money quickly – even instantly – to sellers, freelancers, or service providers around the world.

Drive more revenue with Connect

Platforms and marketplaces using Connect can grow revenue and expand faster while reducing manual processes and compliance risks

364%

ROI after switching to Stripe

10%

more revenue from new sellers

67%

reduction in expansion costs

A complete solution for payment facilitation

Learn how Connect can help you whitelabel and monetise payments.

Pricing for any business model

Usage-based and flexible based on the capabilities you need.