Getting paid to your own bank (Stripe & Paystack)

Online invoice payments need somewhere to land. The "Getting paid" card in Settings is where you connect your own payout account so that when a client pays an invoice online, the money goes to your bank, not the app's. Platybooks takes no cut of those payments; you only pay your payment processor's normal fees.

There are two ways to connect, and which one you see depends on how your workspace is set up. If your business uses Stripe, you connect through Stripe's own onboarding. If you collect in South African Rand through Paystack, you enter your South African bank details directly. The card automatically shows the right option for your workspace.

Live payouts are switched on: connecting a real Stripe or Paystack account is available right now from this card, and once it's connected, real money from your invoice payments lands straight in your bank on the processor's own schedule.

Connecting a payout account is owner-only. Only the workspace owner sees the connect button or the bank-details form; admins and members see a read-only message and can ask the owner to finish the setup. This keeps control of where money lands with the person who owns the workspace.

Getting paid online is part of the online payment links feature, so it's gated by plan. It's included on the Starter, Pro, and Business plans and is not available on the Free plan. On Free, the "Getting paid" card shows an upgrade prompt instead of the connect options. If you don't see the connect flow at all, check both your role and your plan.

Stripe runs its own secure onboarding (identity checks, your bank details, and so on), so you finish setup on Stripe's website and come back when you're done. The app never sees or stores your raw bank details.

Paystack has no separate hosted onboarding screen. Instead you enter your South African bank account once, and the app sets up a payout account behind the scenes so Rand (ZAR) invoice payments are split straight to your bank. Your account details are handled securely on the server; only the bank and the last four digits of the account number are kept for display.

Collection becomes available only once onboarding is genuinely complete. For Stripe, that means your connected account is verified and able to accept charges; the card shows "Stripe connected" with a "Payouts enabled" (or "Payouts pending") badge. For Paystack, it's ready as soon as your bank account is connected. Readiness is confirmed on Stripe's side rather than just because you returned from the onboarding page, so if Stripe is still verifying, you'll see a "verifying your account" note until it's done. Until an account is ready, your invoices' public pages simply won't show a Pay option to clients, and clicking "Get payment link" yourself will ask you to finish setup first.

Refunds go back to the customer through the same provider that took the payment. In an invoice's payments list, owners and admins get a "Refund" action next to a successful card payment. Confirming it returns the money to the payer via Stripe or Paystack (whichever processed it) and updates the invoice's paid amount and status. Stripe refunds are recorded straight away; Paystack refunds are queued and settle shortly. This is separate from manually recording an offline refund.

Platybooks doesn't add a platform fee on top of what your client pays — 100% of an online payment goes to your connected account, minus only your payment processor's own transaction fee. There's nothing to configure; the fee is simply deducted by Paystack or Stripe before the money settles.

For Paystack in South Africa, the published 2026 rates are 2.9% + R1.00 (VAT exclusive) per local card transaction, 3.1% + R1.00 for international cards, and 2% for EFT. So on a R10,000 invoice, Paystack's cut is roughly R291 (before VAT on the fee itself), and you'd settle around R9,709. Paystack negotiates lower rates at volume, and rates do change over time — check Paystack's own pricing page for the current numbers before relying on an exact figure.

For Stripe, the rate depends on your account's country, the card's origin, and your Stripe plan, so there's no single number that applies to every workspace — your Stripe dashboard shows the exact rate you're on.

These fees only apply to card payments taken through a connected payout account. Recording a payment manually — cash, EFT, a bank transfer someone made directly to you — never incurs a processor fee, because no card network is involved.

When a client pays online, the invoice marks itself paid right away — but the cash lands in your bank a little later, on your payment processor's own settlement schedule. Platybooks doesn't hold or delay your money; the timing is entirely between you and Stripe or Paystack, and payouts are automatic (there's no "withdraw" button to press).

For Paystack in South Africa, settlements are automatic on a rolling basis and typically reach your bank about one to two business days after the payment (roughly T+1 to T+2). Payments made over a weekend or public holiday settle on the next business day. Brand-new accounts sometimes start on a slightly longer cycle until a little transaction history builds up, then move to the standard schedule.

For Stripe, payouts also run automatically to your connected bank account on Stripe's schedule for your country, which is commonly a rolling few business days. Your first payout can take a bit longer than later ones while Stripe finishes verifying the account. You can always see the exact upcoming payout dates in your own Stripe or Paystack dashboard — that dashboard is the source of truth for settlement timing, not Platybooks.