Online payments
Accept payments online
Online payment processing for US small businesses. Get paid through payment links, invoices, subscriptions, a checkout for your store's cart or the API, by card or bank payment, with every fee published and payouts every business day.
Ways to get paid
Pick how your customers pay.
Every option takes Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover, plus Apple Pay and Google Pay where the customer's device supports them, and you set each one up on your Candor account page. Card payments through a link, the checkout or the API cost 3.9% + 30¢ on Simple, or card costs + 1% + 30¢ on Clear. Clear isn't open yet, so every account starts on Simple for now. On invoices and subscriptions, Stripe charges its own invoicing or billing fee, which we pass through at cost.
Payment links No code
Create a link for any amount on your Candor account page and send it by email, text or chat, or put a reusable one on your website as a pay button. Your customer pays on a secure Stripe page, and the payment shows on your Candor dashboard straight away.
Bank payments (ACH) 1% + Stripe's bank fee
Lower-cost payments for large invoices and B2B customers, through a payment link or an invoice. The customer's bank account is verified before it's debited, and any return shows on your Candor dashboard. Through a link, you pay our 1% plus Stripe's bank fee of 0.8%, never more than $5, plus $1.50. A $100 bank payment costs $3.30, $1,000 costs $16.50 and $10,000 costs $106.50.
Hosted checkout 3.9% + 30¢
A payment page connected to your store's cart. Add your products, and your store's Checkout button sends customers to your checkout address with what's in the cart, then back to your website. Card numbers are typed into Stripe's page, so they never touch your website.
Invoices 4.3% + 30¢
Itemized invoices, emailed with a pay button and a PDF, paid online by card or from the customer's bank account. Reminders go out 3 days before the due date, on the day, and 3 and 7 days after, until it's paid. By card, the price includes Stripe's 0.4% invoicing fee at cost; by bank, it's 1.4% + Stripe's bank fee.
Subscriptions 4.6% + 30¢
Monthly or yearly plans, with an optional free trial of 7, 14 or 30 days. Subscribers get a reminder before a trial ends and before each yearly renewal, update their card or cancel on their own page, and get an email and more tries when a payment fails. The price includes Stripe's 0.7% billing fee at cost.
API and webhooks For developers
Build your own checkout or put payments inside your software: create checkouts, payment links, invoices and plans from your server. Signed webhooks tell your system about payments, refunds, disputes, invoices, subscriptions and payouts as they happen. Read the API docs.
Fraud and disputes
Fewer bad payments, fewer disputes.
The first four come with every payment at no extra cost. The last two are coming later.
Fraud screening
Every card payment is screened by Stripe Radar, which learns from payments across Stripe's network. Payments it finds very likely to be fraud are blocked.
3-D Secure
An extra check by the customer's bank, used when the bank asks for it. When it passes, the card's bank usually carries the loss on fraud disputes instead of you.
Security-code checks
Every card payment is checked against the card's security code, the three or four digits printed on the card.
Disputes, with deadlines
We email you as soon as a customer disputes a payment, with the reason and the deadline. Each dispute shows on your Candor dashboard, and you send your evidence from there. Refunding before a dispute is opened avoids it entirely.
Early dispute alerts Coming later
Some card banks warn the processor before a dispute is filed, so you can refund first. Alerts will be priced at cost, and the price is shown before you turn them on.
Limits and a review queue Coming later
Cap how many attempts one card or email can make, block cards you've had trouble with, and hold risky payments for you to release or refund.
Your money
Payouts you can add up yourself.
Payouts go to your business bank account every business day. Your Candor dashboard shows what's ready to pay out, what's on its way and when your next payout arrives, and breaks each payout down: sales, minus refunds, disputed amounts and fees, equals the payout.
Payout schedule
Every business day, unless you choose weekly (on the day you pick) or monthly (on the date you pick) in your Candor settings. Card payments are paid out about two business days after the payment, and bank payments (ACH) about four. Your first payout takes longer, usually 7 to 14 days after your first payment, while Stripe gets to know your account. If you need money sooner, an instant payout reaches an eligible bank account in about 30 minutes, any day, for 1.5% of the payout, at least 50¢. Stripe decides which accounts can use them, and new accounts aren't eligible right away.
Payout emails
We email you each time a payout is sent, with the amount, your bank account and the day it's due. You can turn those off. We always email you if a payout fails, with what to fix, or if a customer disputes a payment.
Reserves
Candor doesn't set reserves. Stripe, which processes your payments, can hold back part of your balance if it sees a risk on your account. It tells you directly, by email, and your Candor dashboard shows what it needs from you.
Holds
Candor can't pause your payouts. Stripe can slow or pause them while it checks something, and it shows you what it needs. Tell us too: we aim to reply within one business day and help you get it resolved.
Bank holidays
Banks don't move money on weekends or federal bank holidays, so a payout due on one arrives the next business day. Your Candor dashboard shows each payout's expected date.
Running the business
The rest of what you need.
The first four are on your Candor dashboard, in your account. The last two are coming later.
Fees on every payment
Open any payment to see what it cost, including Candor's fee, to the cent.
Refunds
Refund a payment in full or in part. Sending a refund is free.
Reports
A balance summary and a payout-by-payout breakdown you can download for your accountant.
Your bank details
Change the bank account your payouts go to yourself, without emailing anyone.
Team access Coming later
Roles for owners, staff and accountants, two-factor sign-in, and a log of who did what.
Card network health Coming later
Your fraud and dispute rates against Visa's and Mastercard's limits, updated every day. Until then, we watch them and warn you at 0.5%.
Security
Card numbers stay off your systems.
Card numbers are collected and stored by Stripe, which is certified as a PCI DSS Level 1 service provider, the most rigorous level of the card industry's security standard. Your website and staff never see full card numbers.
Payment links, the checkout, invoices and subscriptions all take card details on Stripe's pages, so a business that takes payments only through them usually qualifies for the shortest PCI self-assessment questionnaire, SAQ A. That includes checkouts you create with the API. We'll tell you which questionnaire fits your setup.
The Candor website never asks for card numbers, Social Security numbers or bank details. Stripe collects your ID and bank details itself, in its own secure forms on your Candor account page.
Not yet
What we don't offer today.
We'd rather tell you now than after you've applied.
Sales tax, coupons and usage-based billing
Checkout and invoices don't add sales tax for you yet, plans have no coupons or upgrades, and an invoice is paid in one payment.
The Clear plan
Clear isn't open yet, so every account starts on Simple for now.
In-person payments
No card readers or point-of-sale system yet. Version 1 is for online payments only.
Businesses outside the US
You need a US-registered business and a US bank account in the business's name.
Other currencies
Charges are in US dollars. Customers abroad can pay, and their bank may add its own foreign transaction fee.
Start with the first form.
It asks about your business, what you sell and how you take payments today. Nothing sensitive.