Take card payments with Stripe

At a glance

Time: about 15 minutes, then a few minutes while Stripe checks your details.

Plan: Pro (choose it under “Your plan”, as in the WhatsApp guide).

You’ll need:

• your legal name, date of birth and home address;
• the last four digits of your Social Security number (Stripe may ask for all nine);
• your bank’s routing and account numbers;
• your booking link, which Stripe can use as your website.

No company needed. If you work for yourself, choose individual or sole proprietor. You don’t need an EIN.

What it costs: Stripe’s standard rate on each card payment, a percentage plus a few cents (see Stripe’s pricing). Stripe charges no monthly fee for this, and Pawservation takes no cut.

When money arrives: Stripe pays you directly. Your first payout usually takes one to two weeks after your first payment; after that, money usually reaches your bank about two business days after each payment.

Part 1: Connect Stripe

1. In your dashboard, open Settings → Services & Rates and scroll to the bottom, then find “Card payments” and choose “Open card payments”. It opens in a new tab.
2. Press “Connect Stripe”. Stripe’s own page opens.
3. Fill in your details. For your website, paste your booking link from Settings → Your website (“Copy the link”).
4. Add the bank account you want paid into.
5. When Stripe sends you back, wait a few minutes if it says it’s still checking. If it says “Continue setup”, press it and give Stripe what it asks for.

Part 2: Add a connection key

You’ll make the key in your dashboard (it’s called an access token there) and paste it into card payments.

1. In your dashboard tab, open Settings → Business → Access tokens, type “Card payments” as the name, and press “Create token”.
2. Press “Copy”. The key is shown only once.
3. Back in the card payments tab, paste it and press “Save token”.

This lets card payments record a deposit when you’re not signed in. Use a different key from the one for WhatsApp, so turning one off never stops the other.

Part 3: Choose a deposit (optional)

1. Choose “No deposit”, “A fixed amount” or “A percentage of the estimate”.
2. Press “Set deposit rule”, read the sentence it shows, and press “Confirm deposit rule”.

Clients then see a “Pay deposit” button under “My bookings” on confirmed stays that haven’t ended, which opens Stripe’s own payment page.

Part 4: Charge saved cards after stays (optional)

This only ever happens to a client who asked for it. A client who has paid a deposit by card can ask, on WhatsApp or through their own assistant, to have that card charged after each stay, and taps “Allow charges after stays”. When you press “Charge saved cards after stays” and confirm, each of those clients is charged what their booking still owes, as your balance shows it, the morning after the stay ends. Clients who don’t opt in pay you the way they do now. If a card is declined, it is not tried again: the amount stays owed and you collect it as usual.

Done

You’re done when card payments says it’s on and names the Stripe account your money goes to.

If something goes wrong

Stripe asks for your full Social Security number. That’s normal when the last four digits can’t be matched. It’s Stripe asking, on Stripe’s own page.

Stripe is still checking after a day. Press “Continue setup” to see what Stripe needs.

Payouts are paused. Check your bank details in Stripe.

It says the access token stopped working. Create a new key named “Card payments” and save it again.

Still stuck? Email hello@pawservation.com with your business name. A person reads it.

Two kinds of Stripe page. Paying for your own Pawservation plan also happens on a Stripe page, but it’s separate: your clients’ payments go to your own Stripe account, and your plan is paid to Pawservation.

Turning it off. “Disconnect Stripe” removes saved cards, closes open payment links and stops any scheduled charges. Payments already made stay in your Stripe account.

Next: let clients book on WhatsApp.