💳 6.1 Payment Processing
Set up Stripe payouts, manage refunds, and resolve payment verification issues
Overview
Sweatpals uses Stripe Connect to process all payments, issue refunds, and deliver automated payouts. Before you can receive funds, Stripe must verify your identity and account information (Know Your Customer – KYC compliance).
Before You Start
Before activating payments, confirm the following:
- ✅ You have a valid government ID (front + back).
- ✅ Your legal name and date of birth match your tax documents.
- ✅ You can provide a physical address — P.O. Boxes are not accepted.
- ✅ You have an active checking account in your legal name.
Stripe Verification (KYC)
Verification Step | What Stripe Requires | Common Issues |
|---|---|---|
Identity Check | Photo ID (passport, license, national ID) | Blurred photo / expired document |
Address Validation | Proof of address (utility bill, bank statement) | File too old / address mismatch |
Bank Verification | Account must match legal entity | Business vs personal account conflict |
Business Details | Registered name and tax ID (if applicable) | Incorrect entity type or region |
If Verification Fails
- Log into your Stripe Dashboard (via Sweatpals → Transactions → Stripe).
- Review alerts under Requirements.
- Re‑upload clear documents or update info.
- Stripe re‑reviews within 24–48 hours.
Business website URL
During Stripe KYC, the Business website URL field may only accept links on the sweatpals.com domain. This is expected behavior for accounts connected through Sweatpals.
What to enter ->Your Sweatpals community page URL
If you ever plan on transferring the ownership of your Sweatpals community to someone else, it is crucial to transfer the ownership of the Stripe account connected to the community as well. Otherwise, the new owner will be unable to receive payouts in their payment account or manage other details from the Stripe dashboard.
Our support team at Sweatpals has limited access to Stripe accounts connected to communities, so in order to make the transition as smooth as possible, completing the transfer on your end directly is very important.
You can review the steps for transferring ownership of your Stripe account in this article from their database.
Payment Management & Processing Times
While Sweatpals handles the forwarding of payments from your attendees and community members to Stripe, the process of routing those funds to your connected bank account is handled by their system. An easy way to see it is that Sweatpals acts as a handshake between your attendees' payments and Stripe's processing system.
Payout Schedule
Type | Description |
|---|---|
Manual (Default) | Initiated via the Transactions page on Sweatpals, or through your Stripe dashboard. |
Automatic (Daily, Weekly or Monthly) | Batch transfers on a set cadence. Needs to be enabled by our support team. |
- Track payout status in Dashboard → Transactions - Stripe emails you if a payout is delayed or fails.
International Hosts Guide: Non-US Payments and Local Currency Display
Sweatpals payment processing is currently available for US-based business entities. At this time, we do not generally support non-US business entities for payment processing, though exceptions may be possible in some cases.
If you’re a non-US business and want to process payments
If your business entity is registered outside the US and you’d like to use Sweatpals to process payments, please contact Support. Share:
- Your business legal name
- Country of registration
- A short description of how you plan to use payments on Sweatpals
Our team will review your request and let you know what options may be available.
If you’re a US entity hosting international events and need local currency display
If your business entity is US-based but you host events internationally and want those events to display in the local currency, please contact Support. Include:
- The event link(s) or event name(s)
- The country/city where the event is hosted
- The currency you want displayed
We’ll help confirm what’s possible and assist with setup.
Refunds
To issue a refund:
1. Go to Dashboard → Transactions 2. Locate the payment and click on the More (...) button. 3. Click Refund 4. Confirm.
Refunds post to the customer’s card in 3–5 business days.
Partial Refunds
You can now use the Dashboard panel to issue both Full and Partial Refunds. In order to Issue a partial refund:
- Head over to the Dashboard.
- Search for the specific attendee/order while in the Community or Experiences tab.
- Type the attendee's name or email to locate their account.
- Click on their order/purchases tab.
- Click on "Refund Order"
- Enter the partial refund amount.
- (Optional): Select whether the ticket is to be cancelled or to keep it active.
Refund Policies for Events:
Hosts can enable or disable the refund policies for your events. When the policy is enabled, attendees may self refund up to 24 hours before the event. When the policy is disabled, all sales will be final, but hosts may still refund manually.
Cancelation Policies for Class Packs:
Both Hosts and Pals may cancel tickets used via Class Packs, however, doing this will not reimburse the credit for the user. This is intended to protect hosts, by preventing last-minute cancelations that could limit the event's attendance.
How to enable self refunds:
- Select a particular event
- Select "Advanced Settings"
- Enable "Refund Policy"
- Save changes.
Using Tap to Pay or Point of Sale (PoS)
- Log into your account on the mobile app and select the event.
- Select PoS.
- Add a custom charge or set up standard charges.
- Enter payment amount.
- Enter item name.
- If this is the first time using PoS, make sure to set up your payment method first.
- Select 'charge' to initiate payment. The person will then hold their phone/card up to your phone.
- You can save the item as a standard item for future purchases by selecting 'save'.
Tap to Pay (Troubleshooting)
If in‑person payments fail:
- Ensure you’re using an iPhone XR or newer (iOS 15 +).
- Bluetooth and NFC must be enabled.
- Confirm Stripe account is verified.
- Retry transaction after restarting app.
Common Stripe Issues & Fixes
Issue | Cause | Resolution |
|---|---|---|
Payout Delayed | Verification pending / weekend processing | Check Stripe dashboard → Requirements tab |
Account Restricted | Missing KYC documents | Upload documents again via Stripe |
Payment Failed | Card declined or expired | Ask member to update card info |
Refund Error | Past 90‑day window / insufficient balance | Process manual refund via Stripe |