Creating separate charges and transfers

Separate charges and transfers are recommended for Express or Custom accounts where you collect charges that can be a different amount than what’s paid out to your connected accounts. The platform is responsible for Stripe fees, refunds, and chargebacks. For more information about the different types of Connect charges, see the documentation on choosing an approach.

To create a charge and set up the associated transfer, create a transfer_group and assign the charge to the transfer_group.

curl https://api.stripe.com/v1/payment_intents \
  -u "
sk_test_4eC39HqLyjWDarjtT1zdp7dc
:" \
  -d amount=10000 \
  -d currency=usd \
  -d transfer_group=ORDER10

curl https://api.stripe.com/v1/transfers \
  -u "
sk_test_4eC39HqLyjWDarjtT1zdp7dc
:" \
  -d amount=7000 \
  -d currency=usd \
  -d destination={{CONNECTED_STRIPE_ACCOUNT_ID}} \
  -d transfer_group=ORDER10

curl https://api.stripe.com/v1/transfers \
  -u "
sk_test_4eC39HqLyjWDarjtT1zdp7dc
:" \
  -d amount=2000 \
  -d currency=usd \
  -d destination={{OTHER_CONNECTED_STRIPE_ACCOUNT_ID}} \
  -d transfer_group=ORDER10

For the complete flow, see accept a payment.

Transfer options

You can assign any value to the transfer_group string, but it must represent a single business action. You can also make a transfer with neither an associated charge nor a transfer_group—for example, when you must pay a provider but there’s no associated customer payment.

Transfer and charge amounts don’t have to match. You can split a single charge between multiple transfers or include multiple charges in a single transfer. You can perform transfers and charges in any order.

By default, a transfer request fails when the amount exceeds the platform’s available account balance. If the transfer has a source_transaction defined, the transfer request automatically succeeds but the transfer itself doesn’t occur until the funds from the source_transaction become available.

Collecting fees

When using separate charges and transfers, the platform can collect fees on a charge by reducing the amount it transfers to the destination accounts. For example, consider a restaurant delivery service transaction that involves payments to the restaurant and to the driver:

1. The customer pays a 100 USD charge.
2. Stripe collects a 3.20 USD fee and adds the remaining 96.80 USD to the platform account’s pending balance.
3. The platform transfers 70 USD to the restaurant’s connected account and 20 USD to the driver’s connected account.
4. A platform fee of 6.80 USD remains in the platform account.

To learn about processing payments in multiple currencies with Connect, see Working with multiple currencies.

Refunding charges

You can refund charges created on your platform using its secret key. However, refunding a charge has no impact on any associated transfers. It’s up to your platform to reconcile any amount owed back to it by reducing subsequent transfer amounts or by reversing transfers (as explained next).

curl https://api.stripe.com/v1/refunds \
  -u "
sk_test_4eC39HqLyjWDarjtT1zdp7dc
:" \
  -d charge=
{{CHARGE_ID}}

Reversing transfers

Connect supports the ability to reverse transfers made to connected accounts, either entirely or partially (by setting an amount value):

curl https://api.stripe.com/v1/transfers/
{{TRANSFER_ID}}
/reversals \
  -u "
sk_test_4eC39HqLyjWDarjtT1zdp7dc
:" \
  -d amount=500

Transfer reversals add the specified (or entire) amount back to the platform’s available balance, reducing the connected account’s available balance accordingly. It is only possible to reverse a transfer if the connected account’s available balance is greater than the reversal amount or has connected reserves enabled.

If the transfer reversal requires the currency to be converted, and the reversal amount results in a zero balance after the conversion, it returns an error.

Using on_behalf_of

Optionally, you can set the on_behalf_of parameter to the ID of a connected account to make that account the business of record for the payment. When using on_behalf_of:

• Charges are settled in the connected account’s country and settlement currency.
• The fee structure for the connected account’s country is used.
• The connected account’s statement descriptor is displayed on the customer’s credit card statement.
• If the connected account is in a different country than the platform, the connected account’s address and phone number are displayed on the customer’s credit card statement.
• The number of days that a pending balance is held before being paid out depends on the delay_days setting on the connected account.

If on_behalf_of is omitted, the platform is the business of record for the payment.

curl https://api.stripe.com/v1/payment_intents \
  -u "
sk_test_4eC39HqLyjWDarjtT1zdp7dc
:" \
  -d amount=1000 \
  -d currency="{% $merchant.currency %}" \
  -d "automatic_payment_methods[enabled]"=true \
  -d on_behalf_of=
{{CONNECTED_ACCOUNT_ID}}

Transfer availability

When creating separate charges and transfers, your platform can attempt a transfer that exceeds its available balance. Doing so raises an error and the transfer attempt fails. If you’re commonly experiencing this problem, you can use the source_transaction parameter to tie a transfer to an existing charge. With a source_transaction, the transfer request succeeds regardless of your available balance and the transfer itself only occurs after the charge’s funds become available.

curl https://api.stripe.com/v1/transfers \
  -u "
sk_test_4eC39HqLyjWDarjtT1zdp7dc
:" \
  -d amount=1000 \
  -d currency=usd \
  -d source_transaction=
{{CHARGE_ID}} \
  -d destination=
{{CONNECTED_ACCOUNT_ID}}

When using this parameter:

• The amount of the transfer must not exceed the amount of the source charge
• You can create multiple transfers with the same source_transaction, as long as the sum of the transfers doesn’t exceed the source charge
• The transfer takes on the pending status of the associated charge: if the funds from the charge become available in N days, the payment that the destination Stripe account receives from the transfer also becomes available in N days
• Stripe automatically creates a transfer_group for you
• The currency of the balance transaction associated with the charge must match the currency of the transfer

Asychronous payment methods, like ACH, can fail after a subsequent transfer request is made. For these payments, avoid using source_transaction. Instead, wait until a charge.succeeded event is triggered before transferring the funds. If you have to use source_transaction with these payments, you must implement functionality to manage payment failures.

When a payment used as a source_transaction fails, funds from your platform’s account balance are transferred to the connected account to cover the payment. To recover these funds, reverse the transfer associated with the failed source_transaction.