Connecting to Stripe

Stripe is our most recommended and popular payment processor. They have great support and affordable fees. They also work seamlessly with all eCommerce platforms Recharge integrates with and allow you to sell your items without any hassle. Connecting your Stripe account to Recharge is an easy process that can have your customers checking out within minutes.

Before you start

• Using Stripe as a payment processor is only available to merchants using the Recharge Checkout on Shopify or BigCommerce. If you are using the Shopify Checkout Integration to process subscription payments, you will need to configure your Shopify Payments account.
• If your store is on Shopify, the Stripe account must be separate from Shopify Payments in order to store customer's credit cards. For more information, visit Payment processors FAQ.
• It is important to know what is allowed by Stripe as you can be denied due to the nature of the product. Products such as cannabis paraphernalia, pseudo-pharmaceuticals, guns, weapons, gambling or a variety of others are not allowed.
• We recommend that you turn off the Stripe receipt email in your Stripe account settings since Recharge and your eCommerce platform will handle order confirmation notifications.
• Stripe's processing fees vary depending on where you're located. Visit Stripe's documentation for more details:
  • United States
  • United Kingdom
  • Ireland
  • Australia

  Contact Stripe for help if you do not see your country listed.

Step 1 - Connect to Stripe

1. In the Recharge Dashboard, click on the wrench icon and select Payment (General).
2. Under the Payment processor section, select Stripe from the dropdown.
3. Click on Connect with Stripe.

Step 2 - Add a Stripe account

New account:

1. On the following page, click Sign up in the upper right-hand corner.
   
2. Complete the Activate your account form.
3. Click Authorize access to this account to complete sign-up and connect your account to Recharge.

Existing account:

1. On the following page, click Sign in with Stripe to connect which will prompt you to enter your Stripe credentials.
2. Enter in your Stripe email and password and click Sign into your account.
3. Select the Stripe account from the dropdown and click Connect my Stripe account. 

Stripe deferred account activation

While signing up for Recharge, we offer the option to create a deferred Stripe account. Doing so will enable quick setup for Stripe and allow you to seamlessly finish payments set up on Recharge. You have a week to finish account activation with Stripe, including filling out your banking information and providing personal information verification. 

Issue a manual charge

You may need to charge a customer directly through Stripe. If you are using Braintree, please visit this link.

1. Log into Stripe
2. Search for the customer
3. Scroll down to the Payments section and click the + Create Payment button.
4. Enter the currency and amount. Be sure to note in the description that it's a manual charge. This will help you in the future when you need to quickly know the reason for this. Click Charge Customer and you're done.

Auto-updater for expired cards

When you save a customer with Stripe, their card will continue to work even if the physical card gets replaced by the bank. For more information about the automated card update feature in Stripe, visit Saving Cards.

Stripe and Paypal

Although we do recommend Stripe, we also have an option for accepting payments with PayPal via Braintree. Both Stripe and Braintree can be enabled on your Recharge store at the same time. For help setting up both processors, visit Connecting Paypal as a secondary processor.

Testing credentials

If you are setting up a development or test store, you can enable Developer Tools and enter in Stripe API test keys.

1. In the Recharge Dashboard, click on the wrench icon and select Payment (General).
2. Under the Payment processor section, select Stripe from the dropdown.
3. Under Developer Tools, check the checkbox to enable the Stripe testing environment.
   
4. Enter in the secret key and publishable key for your Stripe test account.
5. Click Save when finished.

Change Stripe accounts

If you have an existing Stripe account connected and you need to switch to a different Stripe account, visit Changing Stripe accounts.