The complete guide to Stripe payouts

Stripe's default setup to receive funds is by making payouts to your bank account. There are a number of ways you can adjust the timing of these payments to best fit your business' needs. In addition, there are several factors to the timing and cadence of these payouts, including:

  • Industry
  • Country
  • Recency of Stripe account
  • Other risks
First Payout

In most cases, your first payout from Stripe will be received in your bank account between 7-14 days from your first successful payment. The first payout generally takes longer than subsequent payouts, as this time period is used by Stripe to determine the validity and establish your Stripe account.

In other cases, depending on the status of your account, your payout may arrive within 2 business days.

Subsequent and Future Payouts

Once your Stripe account has been verified and establishes history with Stripe, you will begin receiving your payouts on an automatic daily rolling basis, if you choose to have automatic payments applied in that manner. There are several other ways you can choose to have payouts happen, including:

  • Daily
  • Weekly
  • Monthly
  • Custom
  • Manually

Depending on the option you choose, your payments will be bundled together and deposited based on the cadence above. In addition, depending on the agreement with your bank, it may be beneficial to adjust your payout schedule, in the event you receive any type of fee for receiving ACH transfers.

By choosing manual payouts, your Stripe balance will continue to grow and adjust until you decide to transfer the balance to your bank account. In this instance, think of Stripe as another checking account, which will hold your funds until you are ready to receive them. Oftentimes, businesses will use this avenue when making changes to their own banking system, or saving for future expenses.

Instant Payouts

Stripe offers an option for Instant Payouts to many businesses in the US, Canada and Singapore. You will need to check your eligibility, as not all accounts are eligible. This allows companies to receive funds within minutes to an eligible debit card, 24x7, including nights, weekends and holidays. An additional fee applies of 1% of the payout amount. Daily payout limits may also apply.

Held in Reserve

In some circumstances, Stripe may hold funds in your Stripe Balance “in reserve”. These reserved funds are used to prevent negative balances due to disputes and fraud on your Stripe account. Most of these reserve holds are temporary, and will become available within the next 45-180 days. This can be very troublesome for businesses who rely on that cash flow to operate, so make sure that your Stripe account is verified by providing as much documentation as requested.

Some of the reasons your funds may be held in reserve included, but are not limited to:

  • Additional insight required to determine your normal charge behavior
  • Your Stripe account is experiencing high chargeback or dispute rates
  • Your business operates in a high risk industry
  • Your business collects funds far in advance of delivery of goods or services
Removing a Reserve

Unfortunately, Stripe has full jurisdiction over when to remove a reserve once they have been placed. However, if you believe the reserve has been applied in error, you should reach out to Stripe Support's team by replying to the notification email you received. From there, you may be asked to provide additional information and documentation to assist with removal of the reserve.

Account Verification

Stripe may require several pieces of documentation before they are able to verify your account. This information may include several details about the business, like type, address and tax identification numbers. In addition, other details may be required of owners and representatives of the company, like the last four of a social security number in the US.

More information about account verification can be found here: Blog: Stripe Account Verification

Ryan Scherf

Ryan Scherf

Solo-founder. Engineer. Designer.
Minneapolis, MN