Connect Stripe to take payments

Paid subscriptions, offers, gift subscriptions and tips all run through Stripe, the payments company. You connect your own Stripe account, so readers pay you directly and the money lands in your bank account on Stripe’s payout schedule.

• Blogaly takes 0%. There is no platform fee on any payment, on any plan.
• Stripe’s own fees still apply. Stripe takes its processing fee from each payment before paying you out. Check Stripe’s pricing page for the rates in your country.
• Your readers, your customers. Subscriptions, invoices and receipts live in your Stripe account. If you ever leave Blogaly, they stay with you.

Before you start

• A Stripe account. If you don’t have one, create it at stripe.com first. It’s free to open.
• To take real payments, Stripe will ask you to activate the account: your business details, ID and a bank account for payouts. You can connect before that and use test mode while Stripe checks your details.
• Use the same browser for the whole process. The key you paste at the end only works in the admin session that asked for it.

1. Open the Stripe settings

1. 1In your site’s admin, open Settings and go to Membership → Tiers.
2. 2Select Connect with Stripe.

A Getting paid window opens. It links to Stripe’s sign-up page if you still need an account. When you have one, select I have a Stripe account, let’s go →.

2. Choose live or test mode

The next window has two steps and a Test mode switch in the corner.

• Leave Test mode off to take real payments.
• Turn Test mode on to try the whole flow first with Stripe’s test cards. No real money moves. Good for a rehearsal before you launch.

3. Approve the connection in Stripe

1. 1Under Step 1 — Generate secure key, select Connect with Stripe. Stripe opens in a new tab.
2. 2Sign in to Stripe and choose the Stripe account to connect, if you have more than one.
3. 3Approve the connection. Stripe sends you back to a Blogaly page titled Stripe connected.
4. 4Select Copy secure key.

4. Paste the key and save

1. 1Go back to the tab with your admin. The Connect with Stripe window is still open.
2. 2Paste the key into the box under Step 2 — Paste secure key.
3. 3Select Save Stripe settings.

After a moment the window says You are connected with Stripe! with your Stripe account’s name (and (Test mode) if you chose it). Close it. The button on Tiers now reads Connected to Stripe with a green dot.

What changes once you’re connected

• Your first paid tier gets a starting price of $5 a month and $50 a year, and the sign-up pop-up starts offering free, monthly and yearly options. Change the name and prices straight away in Tiers and prices.
• Offers appear under Settings → Growth, and Gift subscriptions and Tips & donations under Membership.
• We add a webhook to your Stripe account, pointing at your-name.blogaly.uk/members/webhooks/stripe/. It tells your site when someone subscribes, renews, changes plan or cancels. Don’t delete it in Stripe. If it goes missing, it’s set up again automatically.
• Readers can now choose a paid tier in your site’s sign-up pop-up and pay on Stripe’s secure checkout page.

Switch from test mode to live

Test and live are separate connections. To go live, open Connected to Stripe, select Disconnect, then connect again with Test mode off.

Common mistakes

Good to know

• One Stripe account per site. To use a different account, disconnect and connect the other one (with no active subscriptions in between).
• Readers pay by card by default. You can offer more methods; see payment methods.
• Set your statement descriptor, branding and receipt emails in your Stripe dashboard under Settings. Readers see them on their bank statement and receipts.
• Refunds and disputes are handled in your Stripe dashboard.
• Your Stripe connection is part of your site’s settings, not your Blogaly account. Each site connects separately.