Creating Charges

Learn what options Connect provides to make charges for, collect platform fees from, and issue transfers to connected accounts. If you need help after reading this, check out our answers to common questions or chat live with other developers in #stripe on freenode.

Connect lets you use the full Stripe API on behalf of your connected accounts, including the ability to create charges. There are three approaches for creating a charge on behalf of a connected account:

Create direct charges on the connected account
Create destination charges on your platform account
Create the charge on your platform account and separately transfer funds to the connected account

The documents linked in those bullets explain the corresponding approach in detail, including how to accept platform fees during each process. However, you should first determine which approach is most applicable to your use case, using the information below.

Choosing an approach

As many factors go into choosing the best charging approach, the following table presents the most important considerations and examples.

	Use when	Examples
Direct charges	End customers directly transact with the connected account, often unaware of the platform's existence A single connected account is involved in the transaction	An e-commerce platform like Shopify or Squarespace An accounting platform that enables invoice payments, like Freshbooks
Destination charges	End customers transact with the platform for products or services provided by the connected account A single connected account is involved in the transaction	A ridesharing service like Lyft A crowdfunding platform like Kickstarter
Separate charges and transfers	Multiple connected accounts are involved in the transaction, or Specific connected account isn't known at the time of charge, or Transfer cannot be made at time of charge	An e-commerce marketplace that allows a single shopping cart for goods sold by multiple businesses A house cleaning service where the provider isn't known at the time of booking; provider is paid after cleaning is done

Normally, a single approach is appropriate, but your platform can use more than one approach, or switch approaches should the business change.

Because the charging approach you use impacts how funds flow through Stripe, it may help to also read about account balances.

Direct charges

We recommend you create direct charges on the connected account when using Standalone Accounts, although this approach is also appropriate for some Managed Accounts.

Using this approach:

The connected account is responsible for the cost of the Stripe fees, refunds, and chargebacks
The payment itself appears as a charge in the connected account, not in your platform account
Charges directly increase the connected account’s balance
Your platform’s balance is only increased via application fees

Destination charges

We recommend you create destination charges on the platform account when using Managed Accounts.

Using this approach:

Your platform account is responsible for the cost of the Stripe fees, refunds, and chargebacks, handling these for the connected account
The payment itself appears as a charge in your platform account, followed by an automatic allocation to the connected account, which decreases your platform’s balance and increases the connected account’s balance
Platform fees are earned by allocating less than the entire charge amount to the connected account

Separate charges and transfers

The third approach is to create charges on the platform account and then separately transfer funds to the connected account. This approach is similar to creating destination charges, but provides greater control over the flow of funds at the cost of a more complicated integration.

Using this approach:

Your platform account is responsible for the cost of the Stripe fees, refunds, and chargebacks, handling these for the connected account
The payment itself appears as a charge in your platform account, with a separate, manual allocation to the connected account, which decreases your platform’s balance and increases the connected account’s balance
Funds from charges can be allocated to more than one connected account
Platform fees are earned by allocating less than the entire charge amount to the connected account

Choosing an approach

Direct charges

Destination charges

Separate charges and transfers

Further reading