#mounirmtl
ripe gyro
Hello again! No, there's no way I know of to transfer a connected account to a different owner. You should create a new, separate connected account for them instead.
vague flare
How about all payment history and the ability to refund them?
ripe gyro
That would be up to the original owner of the account.
Or you, as the platform, potentially.
vague flare
Could merchants update how to login to the account link UI?
ripe gyro
What do you mean?
vague flare
When we create an account link to redirect our merchants to the onboarding UI, they are asked to enter a code that stripe send them to their phone number.
This phone number is set the 1st time they navigate to that account link UI after the connected account has been created.
Is there a way to update that phone number on their behalf. Whether it's via the dashboard we have access to or via an API?
ripe gyro
No, not that I know of.
vague flare
What happens if a merchant change their phone number for some reason? They will never be able to login and send required documents to stripe anymore?
ripe gyro
Let's back up a bit... these are Express accounts? Or another type?
vague flare
Custom accounts
We're using this API to allow them to send documents stripe requires to enable payouts and payments
https://stripe.com/docs/api/account_links/create?lang=go
ripe gyro
Oh, okay, I thought you were using Express. My bad. You should be able to update their phone via the API: https://stripe.com/docs/api/accounts/update#update_account-individual-phone
But I think there's still a bit of a disconnect between that and what you're trying to do?
vague flare
Oh? What are you thinking about?
ripe gyro
Well, going back to the core issue, you're trying to change the owner of a Custom account to a completely different entity, right?
vague flare
Not really. The business is eventually the same, it's just someone else operating it
One of our use case is our whote glove service: We're building a store and the product catalogs on our merchants behalf.
In doing so, our operator is now set as the owner of the store in stripe connect because the operator uses their account to create the store and do stuff on it.
Once that store is ready to go live, that operator needs to give control back to the merchant and make sure stripe connect store ownership is set to the merchant account and identity
Also as a side note about 👇
Oh, okay, I thought you were using Express. My bad. You should be able to update their phone via the API
The individual phone field is not set in connected accounts we've already logged in to as merchants, using the create_account_link.
So would setting up that field make stripe use that phone number instead of the one that has been used before?
ripe gyro
Okay, I think that's the part I'm confused about... with Custom accounts Stripe doesn't really interact with your connected account holders directly. Why would Stripe use their phone number for anything after the account has completed onboarding?
vague flare
That's a good question. When we create an account link and we click on it we're redirected to a the a stripe connect account onboarding UI.
- The 1st time: we have to enter our phone number and we're sent a 6 digits code to continue
- The subsequent times: stripe automatically sends us a 6 digits code on our phone number that we have to enter to continue.
But If I changed my phone number in between, I'm not sure how I can make it send the 6 digits phone to my new phone number
From what you've said, this should be fixes by updating the individual phone number via the stripe account API.
But i would have expected the phone number we entered the 1st time to be set in that field. For us it's still empty despite successfully having gone though the onboarding the 1st time
I'm talking about that screen if that makes more sense
ripe gyro
Why are you sending them back to onboarding?
vague flare
Isn't it where they should go whenever new requirements are due or if they haven't fully completed their onboarding?
account_update mode has the exact same behavior for what it's worth
ripe gyro
Yep, that's correct. So these accounts aren't fully onboarded yet?
vague flare
I mean they are, but if the owner changes, they should be able to change the phone number on which this code is sent to. Whether they do it by asking us so we can do it manually, or if there's an API or a field we can update so we do it automatically
By the way, I just tried to update the contact information and support phone numbers but the code is still sent to the old phone number
I guess the problem I'm trying to solve is:
if there's new requirements or I want to update my info via the account_update mode and I've changed my phone number. How can I still do it or how can I tell that I changed my phone number so the code is sent to the new one
ripe gyro
I don't know of a way, but asking internally, hang on...
vague flare
Thank you
ripe gyro
Can you share the account ID for that connected account where this is happening in test mode?
vague flare
yes give me a sec
That's connected account id -> acct_1NqdYrRgyfOjBFcP
And our stripe account -> acct_1IH9JXDGzQPcepdh
ripe gyro
So we're fairly confused by this whole thing, to be honest. Usually Custom accounts don't require a phone number or the verification codes at all. They do require it when you have bank account collection enabled. If you disable that in order to prevent phone verification would that work?
vague flare
We do ask stripe to collect bank account information for payouts
Is there a way to enable payouts without asking stripe to collect bank account information?
ripe gyro
You can collect the bank info and provide it via the API rather than having them do it via the Account Link.
vague flare
ahhh.
The whole point of using account_links in a 1st place is that we can rely on stripe expertise to do that safely instead of us. There's so many bank formats out there that it sounds like a product in itself.
Which is kind of is since, well, you built a product for it 😅
That being said it doesn't solve the fact that a merchant can change their phone number. How should they proceed in that case?
ripe gyro
Yeah, that's what we're working on figuring out internally right now. Give us a few minutes. 🙂
vague flare
Oh sorry 😅 Thank you for taking the time btw. I really appreciate that
ripe gyro
No worries at all! We're here to help, and this is an interesting edge case.
icy prismBOT
ripe gyro
Okay, so in this situation, where a Custom account is prompted to add a phone number and authenticate with it, they actually have a Stripe user account behind the scenes. They can talk to Stripe support to get the phone number they're using changed. This isn't something you, as the platform, can see or control.
We're trying to improve this, but no ETA for when this might change yet.
vague flare
That's great. Thank you.
In the meantime, could we be the one talking to stripe on merchant's behalf?
We're 100% ok with a manual process for now
ripe gyro
No. The account holder would need to talk to Stripe support directly.
vague flare
oh that's too bad 😦
ripe gyro
Yeah, this is far from ideal.
I'm surprised a flow like this is required, but it's unfortunately the current state of things.
vague flare
It's ok. You've been a pretty successful company so far without it. So I guess there must be a good reason for it.
This solves our use case for when we crate an account on a merchant's behalf though. Because we'd be the one owning the account at this point. So that's all good I guess.
We just can't enable account transfer for merchant to merchant until there's a better process that doesnt require a merchant to talk to stripe directly, though
How do we reach out to stripe for the 1st use case?
ripe gyro
I'm not sure there will ever be a better process for existing accounts. We might improve the process for new accounts, but for existing they might always be required to do this. I recommend you send a message to Stripe support detailing what you want to do, what's blocking you, and ask them for both updates for when this flow changes in the future and workarounds in the meantime: https://support.stripe.com/contact/email