Stripe allows you to begin accepting payments in only a matter of minutes. But there are certain steps we recommend you take before going live.

The items within this checklist apply whether you have an account through a connected website, simply use a Stripe plug-in, or developed a custom integration (yourself or through a developer). There are also checklists for taking your integration live (primarily for developers) and ensuring your website conforms to card network standards and best practices.

Enable two-step authentication

For security purposes, we highly recommend enabling two-step authentication on your Stripe account, which adds an additional requirement to log in. With two-step authentication, not only are your username and password needed, but you’ll also have to provide a code received by your mobile device. This makes it much harder for someone else to access your Stripe account.

(Two-step authentication is also sometimes called “two-step verification” or “two factor authentication” or “2fa”, all of which refer to the same concept.)

Confirm your statement descriptor and public information

The statement descriptor appears on customer statements when you charge their card. Missing or incorrect information can result in confused customers creating disputes, so review your information in the Dashboard. Statement descriptors are limited to between 5 and 22 characters. They must contain at least 5 letters and cannot use the special characters <, >, \, ', or ". You may also want to have text on your site telling the user what they’ll see on their statements.

Note that the card issuer can automatically include other account information—e.g., business name, address, email, or phone number—to show on your customer’s statements. Check that all of this information in your Stripe account is acceptable for your customers to see.

Set up your email notifications

Stripe can automatically send emails for some account activity. At the very least, we recommend you specify that you'd like to be emailed for successful charges and disputes. (There are other notification settings, but those two are the most important.)

These settings are specific per team member, so your preferences won't affect anyone else's.

Be prepared to prevent and manage fraud and disputes

Fraud and disputes are unfortunate realities in all commerce, although Stripe is constantly improving its tools to help reduce both. Still, your diligence is imperative, and before going live we recommend you're set up to:

• Regularly review payments in the Dashboard
• Report charges that appear suspicious (via the Dashboard or the API)
• Have evidence at the ready for disputes
• Prevent and mitigate card testing

Review your bank account information

Incorrect bank information is a common cause of transfer delays. Before accepting live charges, confirm your bank details are correct.

If you process charges in multiple currencies and have multiple bank accounts, also confirm you've established the correct default currency. Multiple bank accounts for additional currencies are optional as Stripe can convert any payments into your default currency.

When reviewing your bank information, set your preferred transfer schedule. The recommended and default option is daily—as funds become available—but you can change this to best suit your business and reporting needs.

Establish Stripe access for your teammates

Stripe supports a team of people being able to access the same Stripe account. Different team members can even be given different permissions corresponding to their roles.

Please use this capability and do not give others your login credentials. After inviting a team member, recommend they use two-step verification on their login as well.

Once a team member no longer needs access to your Stripe account, be certain to remove them.