Stripe connected account

A Stripe connected account is the Stripe account of one seller, service provider or business on a Stripe Connect platform. It has its own ID starting with acct_, its own pending and available balance, its own payout schedule and its own verification requirements. The platform creates or links the account, and depending on the setup, it can control most of what the account holder sees.

How a Stripe connected account is created

Platforms get connected accounts in two ways. They create them with the Accounts API, or they link existing Stripe accounts through Connect OAuth, which uses the v1 Accounts API.

Configuration decides what the account can do and who carries the risk:

• In Accounts v2, configurations give the account roles. merchant lets it accept payments and includes the card_payments and payouts capabilities. recipient lets it receive transfers. customer lets the platform charge it.
• In Accounts v1, controller properties decide who pays Stripe's fees (controller.fees.payer) and who is liable for a negative balance (controller.losses.payments). They also decide who collects verification details and which dashboard the account holder gets. The choices are the full Stripe Dashboard, the lighter Express Dashboard, or none, and you can't change the dashboard later.
• The older Standard, Express and Custom types map onto those settings. Standard accounts get the full Dashboard, Express accounts get the Express Dashboard, and Custom accounts get none, so the platform handles their support.

Two booleans sum up an account's health. charges_enabled says whether it can take charges, and payouts_enabled says whether its funds can be paid out. The requirements hash lists what still needs collecting or verifying, when it is due, and why the account might be disabled.

How money reaches a connected account

With direct charges, the payment is created on the connected account and lands in its balance, minus any application fee the platform takes. With destination charges or separate charges and transfers, the platform charges the customer and a transfer moves the seller's share into the connected account. Either way, the money then follows that account's own payout schedule to its bank.

Refunds and chargebacks come out of the account the charge was made on. If the balance goes negative, Stripe tries to recover it from future payments. If debit_negative_balances is on, it can debit the account's bank. Payouts to the account pause while its balance is negative.

What goes wrong with connected accounts

• Verification lapses. When requirements go past due, Stripe can disable charges or payouts. The seller usually notices first, when a payout doesn't arrive.
• Failed payouts. When a payout fails, Stripe disables the bank account and sends no more payouts until it is updated.
• Negative balances. If the platform is liable for losses, it covers what Stripe can't recover.
• Disconnections. Accounts with Dashboard access can disconnect from your platform, which fires account.application.deauthorized.

Webhooks for connected accounts

1. Engineering runs a webhook endpoint for connected accounts. It reads the top-level account field on each event, checks every webhook signature, and checks livemode, because production Connect endpoints also receive test events.
2. Operations acts on account.updated and capability.updated. When requirements shows something currently due, contact the seller before the deadline.
3. Support watches account.external_account.updated and payout.failed, so a seller hears about a bank problem from you first.
4. Finance reconciles per account. That covers what each seller earned, what the platform kept, and when each payout left.

Connected accounts and ChargeBell

ChargeBell doesn't alert on connected accounts' onboarding, requirements or balances. It connects to Stripe through a read-only OAuth link that you approve on a Stripe screen. It reads events on the account you connect and can't create charges, issue refunds, move funds or change settings. If you run a platform, connecting your platform account brings its payments, refunds, disputes and payout alerts into Slack. Events from connected accounts still belong in your own Connect webhook handler.