#ike - Connect
mental brook
Hello! To clarify, how are the Contestants represented in Stripe? Are they Customers or do they have their own Stripe accounts?
lethal wedge
Hey Rubeus! They are indeed.
mental brook
They are indeed what? Those two options (Customers vs. people with their own Stripe Accounts) are mutually exclusive. 🙂
Unless it's both somehow?
In which case I would need more details.
lethal wedge
Oh, shoot, sorry, they are Customers and they are set up with Express accounts.
mental brook
Okay, so your platform has Organizations connected to it and Contestants connected to it. Contestants pay funds that flow through your platform to the Organization, then at the end the prize money needs to flow from the Organization to the winning Contestant(s)?
If the above is correct, what type of connected account are you using for the Organizations?
lethal wedge
Yes, that is all correct. Sorry, we have a dev out who works on this project and I'm filling in, so I'm literally reading the codebase as fast as I can to give you details.
The Organizations are using Standard accounts.
mental brook
Ah, okay, that means you cannot use account debits, which was going to be my suggestion if the Organizations were Express or Custom accounts: https://stripe.com/docs/connect/account-debits
How much time passes between the first funds flow in from the Contestants and when the prize money is paid out?
lethal wedge
I believe registration for events is opened 2-3 months prior to the events taking place. Could be longer or shorter in some cases.
We are also in a spot in this app where we could feasible change the Organization account types. We currently are in Beta with the Stripe system with only one live Organization signed up so far.
Just want to put that out there in case that helps us find a better solution.
mental brook
Once the funds flow into the Standard account there's not really a good way to move them back to your platform. I recommend either switching to Express accounts for the organizations and using account debits, or hold the funds on your platform and transfer them out at the end of the process using separate charges and transfers: https://stripe.com/docs/connect/charges-transfers
One thing I want to note is that I'm telling you what's technically possible; some of this may be subject to laws or regulations, so make sure you check with your legal people to make sure what you build is okay (and this is not legal advice).
And I'm not a lawyer. Not at all. 😅
lethal wedge
Got it. Luckily, I think it's very feasible to convert to Express accounts. We are a little concerned, however, that the receipts for contestants will reflect our App business name and liability for refunds and disputes will land on the platform. Is there a way around that or do we need to just factor that risk into our business plan?
Maybe more of a legal question, so I understand if you do not want to answer. For the written record, I understand that you are not an/my attorney 🙂
mental brook
As far as I know you'd need to factor that in.
lethal wedge
OK, got it. We will.
mental brook
But yeah, I think Express with account debits is probably best for your use case. Standard is not recommended with separate charges and transfers, but it is technically possible.
mental brook
I don't think so. Pricing is not my forte, but if we had a fee for it I believe it would be listed here: https://stripe.com/pricing
Not seeing anything though.
lethal wedge
Ok, we'll run some tests and see how it works. It looks like we have some options here. I really appreciate your help working through this process, @mental brook!