How Sellers Connect Stripe
Every seller on your marketplace needs a Stripe account linked to yours so they can receive payouts. This page explains how that happens — and what you, the marketplace owner, need to do.
The Short Version
There is no manual linking step. Sellers complete Stripe's hosted onboarding from their seller dashboard, and the webhook you configured in Payments & Stripe automatically links their account to your marketplace. If they already made sales before connecting, those earnings are paid out automatically the moment onboarding completes.
Prerequisite: Your Webhook Must Be Configured
For sellers to be automatically linked after onboarding, your store's Stripe Connect webhook must be set up first. This is a one-time task done by you, the marketplace owner.
If the webhook isn't set up, seller status will not update automatically after they finish Stripe onboarding, and deferred payouts will not process.
See the webhook setup video & instructions in the Payments & Stripe docs.
Self-Serve Flow (Default)
This is how it works for sellers who sign up themselves and manage their own account.
Seller Signs Up & Starts Listing
A seller signs up on your marketplace and can immediately create listings and make sales. No Stripe setup is required up front — they don't have to configure anything before getting started.
Seller Clicks "Connect Stripe" in Their Dashboard
When ready, the seller goes to their seller dashboard (/s/<your-store>/dashboard) and clicks the Connect Stripe banner. Prometora creates a Stripe Connect account for them and generates a hosted onboarding link.
Seller Completes Stripe's Hosted Form
They're redirected to Stripe's own onboarding page, where they provide:
- Identity verification (ID, date of birth, address)
- Business details (if applicable)
- Bank account for payouts
Everything happens on Stripe's hosted flow — neither you nor Prometora ever sees their sensitive data.
Automatic Linking (No Manual Step)
The moment they finish, Stripe sends an account.updated webhook to your Prometora store. The seller's status flips to Verified on their dashboard automatically. They can now receive payouts.
Deferred Earnings (Sales Before Onboarding)
Sellers can make sales before completing Stripe onboarding. Here's what happens:
- The customer pays normally — checkout isn't blocked.
- The seller's share of each sale is tracked in their Pending Earnings, visible on their dashboard.
- The money is safely held on the platform until the seller is ready to receive payouts.
- When the seller finishes Stripe onboarding, all pending earnings are automatically transferred to their Stripe account in a single payout.
- Nothing is lost. Nobody has to manually move money around.
Why this matters: You can invite sellers and let them start listing immediately, without forcing them through the Stripe onboarding flow before they're committed. Many sellers want to see whether they'll make a sale before going through ID verification — and with deferred earnings, you don't lose them to onboarding friction.
Alternative: Managed Sellers
Some sellers aren't comfortable setting up Stripe themselves — for example, local artisans, small farmers, or non-technical vendors. For them, you can use the Managed Sellers feature (Pro & Business plans).
With managed sellers, you create the account on their behalf and generate a Stripe Connect onboarding link you can share via email, SMS, or fill in together with them. Each seller still ends up with their own Stripe account — you just help them get there.
Learn more: Managed Sellers documentation
What You (the Store Owner) Need to Do
For the self-serve flow, your involvement is minimal:
- Configure your Stripe Connect keys in Payments & Stripe (one-time setup).
- Configure the Stripe webhook pointing to your store — see the video walkthrough (also one-time).
- That's it. Sellers handle the rest themselves from their dashboard.
Troubleshooting
A seller's status isn't updating after they finished onboarding
- Check that your Stripe webhook is configured and showing Configured ✓ in Payments settings.
- In your Stripe dashboard, go to Developers → Webhooks → your Prometora destination → check the recent deliveries for failures.
- Make sure the webhook was created under “Events from: Connected and v2 accounts” — otherwise you won't receive
account.updatedevents.
The seller says they can't see the “Connect Stripe” button
- Confirm they're logged in as a seller (not a regular customer) on your marketplace.
- Confirm your Stripe Connect keys are saved in Payments settings — without them, the button cannot be created.
Pending earnings didn't pay out after onboarding
- The automatic payout is triggered by the same
account.updatedwebhook. Check webhook deliveries in Stripe for errors. - In rare cases, the seller's account may be onboarded but not yet charges_enabled / payouts_enabled — Stripe may require additional verification. The payout will trigger once Stripe fully verifies them.