Receiving Stripe payouts

Last updated: June 27, 2025

When you use our Circle paywalls feature, Stripe handles the payments and transfers the money you earn from membership payments directly to your bank account. These transfers are called payouts.

Whenever someone buys a membership through one of your Circle paywalls, the payment first goes to your connected Stripe account.

According to your payout schedule, Stripe then groups payments from paywall transactions within a payout period, minus transaction fees and any refunds you provided before payout, and sends them to your bank account.

If your payout is negative, Stripe may also debit payments from your bank account.

📚 For a comprehensive guide on payouts, see Stripe’s support article on receiving payouts.

To receive payouts, you must have a bank account linked to your Stripe account in the business settings. This is where your payouts are sent. When you connect your Stripe account for paywalls, Stripe asks for your bank account details for payouts during the process.

If you need to add or update your bank account afterwards, you can do it directly in your Stripe account dashboard by navigating to Settings > Business settings.

Your first payout from Stripe generally takes 7-14 days after the first successful payment from a paywall purchase. There is usually at least a 7-day waiting period for the first payout as part of risk mitigation practices by Stripe.

After your first payout, future payouts follow the payout schedule you have set in your Stripe account.

Note that the first payout might take longer, depending on your industry risk level and country of operation. If you have questions or concerns related to your first payout, please reach out to Stripe support.

In Stripe, you can control how and when you get paid. Here's what you can manage:

• Payout schedule: Decide how often you get paid. Depending on the country, Stripe provides a variety of payout options such as instant payouts, manual payouts, and automatic payouts on a daily, weekly, or monthly frequency.

• Payout speed: Select the speed at which your funds are available for payout after a successful payment from members. You will see available speed options in your settings page.

To access payout settings, follow these steps:

1. In your Stripe account dashboard, go to Settings.

2. In the settings menu, select Business settings.

3. Go to External Payout Accounts and Scheduling.

4. From here, you can:

   • Add or edit your bank account

   • Adjust your payout schedule

   • Change your payout speed

5. After making changes, make sure to save them.

You can view your payouts in the Stripe dashboard. To do so:

1. Go to your Stripe account dashboard.

2. In the navigation bar, click Balances.

3. Go to the Payouts tab.

From this page, you can:

• Filter payouts by date or status.

• Export payout reports.

• Click any payout for a detailed breakdown, including transaction fees, transactions included in the payouts, refunds, and adjustments, if any.