Payout

A payout is the transfer of your available account balance from your payment processor to your own bank account. It's the last step in the money-in journey: customers pay, the funds settle into your balance, and a payout moves that cash to your bank.

The payout lifecycle

A payout moves through a series of states:

• `pending` — the payout is created but not yet submitted to the bank.
• `in_transit` — the funds have been sent and are moving through the banking network.
• `paid` — the transfer succeeded and the money has reached your bank account.
• `failed` or `canceled` — the payout did not complete, usually returned within a few business days.

In Stripe, the payout.paid event fires when funds actually land in the bank, while payout.failed signals a problem such as a closed or invalid bank account.

Payouts vs. settlement

Only funds that have already cleared settlement and moved to your available balance can be paid out. Your payout schedule — daily, weekly, or monthly — controls the cadence, but it can't release funds that are still pending. Every payout groups a set of balance transactions, so the payout amount equals your net volume for that batch, after fees and refunds.

Watching payouts

A landed payout is one of the most satisfying numbers to see, and a failed one needs fast attention because it blocks your cash. ChargeBell can post a plain-English Slack alert when a payout lands (💰), so your team knows the money arrived without opening the Stripe dashboard.