Stripe Connect and the Charges API

Learn how Connect lets you make charges and issue transfers for connected accounts. How you configure these options determines your Stripe fees.

Connect supports three approaches to creating payments for a connected account. For more information about the different types of Connect charges, see the documentation on choosing an approach. Stripe fees are determined by how you configure these options.

This page explains only how to make calls to the Charges API for connected accounts. Check the linked pages for more information about calls to other APIs for related operations.

Direct charges

To create a direct charge on the connected account, create a Charge object and add the Stripe-Account header with a value of the connected account ID:

curl https://api.stripe.com/v1/charges \
  -u 
sk_test_4eC39HqLyjWDarjtT1zdp7dc
: \
  -d "amount"="1000" \
  -d "currency"="usd" \
  -d "source"="tok_visa"
  -H "Stripe-Account: {{CONNECTED_STRIPE_ACCOUNT_ID}}"

This example uses a test token—tok_visa—but you could tokenize a test card using Stripe.js and Elements instead.

See Accept a payment for more details.

Collect application fees on direct charges

With Connect, your platform can take an application fee on direct charges. To assess an application fee on a charge, pass an optional application_fee_amount value as a positive integer:

curl https://api.stripe.com/v1/charges \
  -u 
sk_test_4eC39HqLyjWDarjtT1zdp7dc
: \
  -d "amount"="1000" \
  -d "currency"="usd" \
  -d "source"="tok_visa"
  -d "application_fee_amount"=123,
  -H "Stripe-Account: {{CONNECTED_STRIPE_ACCOUNT_ID}}"

See Direct charges for information on transfer availability, refunds, and more.

Destination charges

To create a destination charge, pass the connected account’s ID in the transfer_data[destination] attribute:

curl https://api.stripe.com/v1/charges \
  -u 
sk_test_4eC39HqLyjWDarjtT1zdp7dc
: \
  -d "amount"="1000" \
  -d "currency"="usd" \
  -d "source"="tok_visa"
  -d "transfer_data[destination]"="{{CONNECTED_STRIPE_ACCOUNT_ID}}"

This example uses a test token—tok_visa—but you could tokenize a test card using Stripe.js and Elements instead.

See Accept a payment for more details.

Collect fees on destination charges with application_fee_amount

When creating destination charges with an application_fee_amount, the full charge amount is immediately transferred from the platform to the transfer_data[destination] account after the charge is captured. The application_fee_amount (capped at the full amount of the charge) is then transferred back to the platform.

curl https://api.stripe.com/v1/charges \
  -u 
sk_test_4eC39HqLyjWDarjtT1zdp7dc
: \
  -d "amount"="1000" \
  -d "currency"="usd" \
  -d "source"="tok_visa"
  -d "application_fee_amount"=123,
  -d "transfer_data[destination]"="{{CONNECTED_STRIPE_ACCOUNT_ID}}"

To provide a better reporting experience, an application fee object is created after the application fee is collected. Use the amount property on the application fee object for reporting. You can then access these objects with the Application Fees endpoint.

Collect fees on destination charges with transfer_data[amount]

You can also take a fee by using transfer_data[amount].

The transfer_data[amount] is a positive integer reflecting the amount of the charge that’s transferred to the transfer_data[destination]. You subtract your platform’s fees from the charge amount, then pass the result of this calculation as the transfer_data[amount]:

curl https://api.stripe.com/v1/charges \
  -u 
sk_test_4eC39HqLyjWDarjtT1zdp7dc
: \
  -d "amount"="1000" \
  -d "currency"="usd" \
  -d "source"="tok_visa"
  -d "transfer_data[amount]"=877
  -d "transfer_data[destination]"="{{CONNECTED_STRIPE_ACCOUNT_ID}}"

See Destination charges for information on transfer availability, refunds, and more.

Separate charges and transfers

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

# Create a Charge:
curl https://api.stripe.com/v1/charges \
  -u 
sk_test_4eC39HqLyjWDarjtT1zdp7dc
: \
  -d "amount"=10000 \
  -d "currency"="usd" \
  -d "source"="tok_visa" \
  -d "transfer_group"="{ORDER10}"

# Create a Transfer to a connected account (later):
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}"

# Create a second Transfer to another connected account (later):
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}"

This example uses a test token—tok_visa—but you could tokenize a test card using Stripe.js and Elements instead.

See Accept a payment for more information.

Using on_behalf_of with separate charges and transfers

With separate charges and transfers, by default:

• Charges are settled in the platform’s country
• The fee structure for the platform’s country is used
• The platform’s information is displayed on the customer’s credit card statement

To use the connected account’s country and to display their information instead, use the on_behalf_of argument.

curl https://api.stripe.com/v1/charges \
  -u 
sk_test_4eC39HqLyjWDarjtT1zdp7dc
: \
  -d "amount"="1000" \
  -d "currency"="usd" \
  -d "source"="tok_visa"
  -d "on_behalf_of"="{{CONNECTED_STRIPE_ACCOUNT_ID}}"

See Creating separate charges and transfers for information on transfer availability, refunds, and more.