Connect platforms may require adding additional funds to their Stripe balance as part of normal business operations. To satisfy this need, Stripe supports top-ups: the ability to add funds from a platform bank account.

Platforms can use top-ups to:

• Enable bonuses or other one-off payouts detached from specific charges
• Add funds from non-Stripe income (e.g., checks)
• Enable faster payouts (i.e., pay a vendor before the charge funds become available)
• Use different bank accounts for incoming and outgoing funds (e.g., separating premiums from claims)

While top-ups is in Private Beta, you can only top up your account in the Dashboard. Support for top-ups via the API is forthcoming.

Requirements

You must meet all of these requirements to use top-ups:

• The platform must use manual payouts.
• Top-up funds can only be sent to Custom or Express accounts.
• Both the platform and the connected account receiving top-up funds must be in the U.S.
• Only team members with administrator access to the platform Stripe account can create top-ups.

Also know that top-up funds may take a few business days to appear in your Stripe balance.

Verifying your bank account

Top-ups can only be initiated from an attached and verified bank account. Verification is accomplished using micro-deposits: we send two small deposits to the bank account and you confirm those amounts with us. The verification process is triggered the first time you attempt to create a top-up from an unverified bank account.

When you’re ready, head to the Balance page of the Dashboard. In the Available to pay out section, click Add top-up.

For unverified bank accounts, this creates a modal window with verification instructions. In the modal window, click Send deposits.

Watch your bank activity for two deposits each less than $1 with a statement descriptor of AMNTS. They should arrive within 1-3 business days. You’ll also see a green notification in the Dashboard when we think the deposits have arrived at your bank.

Once you know the micro-deposit amounts, return to the Balance page of the Stripe Dashboard. In the green notification at the top, click Complete verification.

In the modal window that appears, enter the two micro-deposit amounts. Then click Verify account to complete the verification.

Assuming you entered the correct amounts, your bank account is now verified and you are ready to create top-ups.

Creating a top-up

Once you’ve verified a bank account, you can create a top-up:

1. Navigate to the Balance page of the Dashboard.
2. Click Add top-up.
3. In the resulting modal window (shown below), enter an amount in USD.
4. Click Add top-up to complete the request.
5. Upon receiving the top-up funds in your Stripe balance, use the Payouts tab to transfer those funds to a connected account’s bank.

You can optionally set the statement descriptor for the top-up. This value appears on your bank statement for the transfer out. You can also set a description, which appears on the top-up object in your Stripe account.

Viewing top-ups

You can find all top-ups in the Dashboard on the Top-up tab of the Balance page. Each top-up has a unique ID in the format tu_XXXXXX. If you provided a top-up description, you can also search in the Dashboard using that value.