Getting Paid

Last updated: October 16, 2026

What this page helps you do: connect Stripe, understand when each order's money is paid out to your bank, and see what is held back and why.

Buyers pay you directly through your own Stripe account, and each order is paid out to your bank after delivery. Until you have 10 clean delivered orders (and fewer than 2% with a problem), orders of $100 or less with tracking are paid when the buyer confirms they arrived, or 7 days after the carrier says delivered, whichever comes first. Orders over $100 are paid 14 days after delivery. After 10 clean delivered orders, every order is paid when the buyer confirms, or if they don’t, 7 days after delivery for orders of $100 or less with tracking and 14 days for the rest. Sellers with a proven selling history elsewhere (eBay, Whatnot, Shopify and similar) can apply for faster payouts. Faster payouts aren’t switched on yet; once Streamster approves you and turns them on, orders of $100 or less with tracking can be paid 3 days after the carrier says delivered, up to $1,000 paid early in any 7 days (anything more is paid on the normal schedule). They pause for the whole store as soon as a buyer opens a claim or a chargeback or card fraud warning arrives, until Streamster reviews it. The 10% reserve still applies. 10% of each order is held for 30 days to cover refunds and chargebacks. Once you have 10 clean delivered orders, the total held at any time is capped at your largest order in the last 30 days (at least $250). These rules apply to orders placed from October 24, 2026. New Stripe accounts also have an initial 7-day delay.

1. Connect Stripe

1. On your dashboard home, open step 4, Connect Stripe so buyers can pay, in the "Get live" checklist (or press Connect Stripe first on the Go live panel), tick the Seller Agreement box and click Connect Stripe.
2. Complete Stripe's onboarding (Stripe Connect Express). Have your bank details and ID ready, it takes a few minutes.
3. When you finish, Stripe sends you back to the page you left.

✓ What success looks like: the Connect Stripe row shows Stripe is connected, buyers can pay you. Until onboarding is finished and Stripe has enabled charges, buyers can't pay you and your buy links can't take payments. You can still practise going live before this.

2. How the money flows

1. A buyer checks out. The charge is made on your Stripe account, you are the merchant of record. Stripe takes its card processing fee (about 2.9% + 30¢ in the US).
2. Streamster's fee is deducted as a Stripe application fee: your plan's commission (Go 6% for your first 90 days, then 8%, Starter 4%, Creator+ 2%, Pro 1%) on the item price only: never on tax or shipping, plus Stripe's payout fee passed through at cost (0.25% of your net on that order + 5¢).
3. You ship within 7 days and the carrier confirms delivery.
4. The buyer confirms it arrived as described. After the carrier confirms delivery we email the buyer "did it arrive as described?", with one reminder a week later; they can confirm from that email or from My orders, and confirming releases the payout early (until you have 10 clean delivered orders, only on orders of $100 or less with tracking; larger orders wait 14 days after delivery). Buyers can report a problem within 14 days of delivery. If they don't respond, the order is released 7 days after the carrier confirms delivery (orders of $100 or less with tracking, before your 10th clean delivered order) or 14 days after (everything else). Either way there must be no open dispute or chargeback and no full refund.
5. The order is paid out. Streamster creates the payout to your bank. Payouts go out daily once at least $10 is due; how long your bank takes after that depends on your bank and Stripe’s payout timing.

3. The dispute reserve

• Part of your seller net on each order is kept back as a dispute reserve: 10%, released 30 days after carrier-confirmed delivery.
• Until you have 10 clean delivered orders the reserve has no cap. After that, the total held at any time is capped at your largest order in the last 30 days, and never less than $250. If there's no carrier-confirmed delivery, the 30 days count from the order date. A reserve is released when no dispute is open, and is included in your next payout.
• Orders placed before October 24, 2026 keep the reserve they were placed under. The old 20% rule (20% held 90 days in a seller's first 90 days of selling) only ever applied to orders placed on or after October 16, 2026 and before October 24, 2026; everything else is 10% held 30 days.
• The Seller Agreement requires a $50 minimum reserve balance; a reserve isn't released if it would take you below that.
• If a buyer dispute ends in a refund, the refund is drawn from your reserve first.

4. Things that hold an order

• No carrier-confirmed delivery yet (add real tracking when you ship, see Shipping with Shippo).
• The buyer hasn't confirmed yet and the 7 or 14 days after carrier-confirmed delivery haven't passed, or the buyer reported a problem. Before your 10th clean delivered order, orders over $100 (or without tracking) wait 14 days after delivery, confirmed or not.
• The order is held for a review (for example the buyer looks like the seller, or the order went over your limits).
• A refund, chargeback or open buyer dispute on the order.
• Your Stripe account is new (initial 7-day delay) or Stripe needs more information from you.

5. Refunds

When an order is refunded, by you, by an automatic refund (for example a missed 7-day ship deadline or an unanswered dispute), or after a buyer cancels before you buy a label. Streamster's commission and the payout-fee pass-through on that order are returned along with it. Stripe doesn't return its own processing fee.

6. New stores: approval, selling limits and restricted categories

• Approval. Every new store is reviewed by a person before it can take orders. You can set up, add products and practice-stream while you wait; we usually review within 1 business day.
• Selling limits (from October 24, 2026). You start at up to $250 per order and $2,500 per rolling 7 days ($1,000 per 7 days for your first 14 days of selling). Every 10 clean delivered orders (delivered, no refund, chargeback, lost dispute or late shipment) moves you up a step: $1,000 / $10,000, then $2,500 / $25,000, then $5,000 / $50,000, then no cap while your store meets our seller standard (below). If we've marked your store as having a proven selling history elsewhere, you start at $1,000 / $10,000 and climb from there. Limits count the item price times quantity, before tax. If an order would go over, the buyer sees "This seller can't take orders this large yet". Your dashboard shows your limits and what you've used; if you already sell on eBay, Whatnot, Shopify or similar, click Request higher limits and send links to your store.
• Earned payouts. Until you have 10 clean delivered orders (and fewer than 2% problem orders), the buyer's confirmation releases orders of $100 or less with tracking right away; larger orders wait until 14 days after carrier-confirmed delivery. After that, every order is paid when the buyer confirms. (Orders placed before October 24, 2026 in a seller's first 90 days still wait 14 days after delivery.)
• Restricted categories. Some categories need approval before you can sell them: luxury bags, sneakers, watches, graded cards and supplements. A listing in one of these is hidden from buyers until we approve that category for your store.
• Buying from your own store isn't allowed. Checkout refuses it, and an order where the buyer looks like you (same email, card or address) is held for review before payout.

7. Seller standards

Every night we look at your last 90 days of orders. An order counts as a problem order if:

• the buyer won a dispute (full or partial refund),
• the buyer's bank reversed the payment (a chargeback you didn't win),
• you shipped late: the label or tracking was added after the ship-by date, or the carrier's first scan came more than 3 days after it, or
• you cancelled it, or refunded it before it shipped (this includes the automatic refund for a missed ship-by date).

Orders the buyer cancelled, orders we cancelled because of a card fraud warning or a blocked buyer, and disputes from buyers we've blocked don't count. Your dashboard shows your status once you have 10 or more orders in 90 days:

• Below standard: more than 2% problem orders (and at least 2): each order is limited to $250, sales to $1,000 per 7 days, and payouts wait 30 days after the carrier delivers (a buyer's "it arrived" doesn't pay you early). It lifts on its own once you're back at 2% or under.
• Standard: the normal rules: your selling limits follow your clean delivered orders (see above).
• Top rated: under 0.5% after your first 90 days: shown on your dashboard. Your selling limits still follow your clean delivered orders.

Card fraud warnings. If a buyer's card company reports a payment as likely fraud, we refund it straight away so it can't become a chargeback (which would add a $15 fee and a dispute to your record), cancel the order if it hasn't shipped, and email you. Don't ship a cancelled order. If the order has already shipped and its item total is over $250, we don't refund it straight away: we hold that order's payout and email you to ask the carrier to return the parcel (a package intercept), then our team either refunds the buyer or releases your payout. Orders over $250 also ask the buyer's bank to verify the buyer (3D Secure), which usually moves fraud liability to the bank. Neither counts against your standards.

Blocked buyers. A buyer with 3 or more disputes or chargebacks in 90 days can't check out. If one gets through, we cancel and refund the order and tell you. It doesn't count against you.

Next Steps

• Payments & Fees: plans, commission and the full fee example
• Shipping with Shippo: ship on time so delivery is confirmed
• Orders & Fulfillment: refunds and order statuses

Frequently Asked Questions