Connect Stripe & get paid for products
Connect a Stripe account so readers can buy your paid meal plans and memberships, and your earnings are paid to your bank.
On this page
Overview
To sell paid meal plans or a paid membership, you connect a Stripe account. Allspice uses Stripe Connect (Express accounts): Stripe runs the onboarding, verifies your identity and business details, collects your bank account, and pays out your earnings.
Allspice never sees or stores your bank login.
Where to find this setting
The same payments card appears in several places in the Publisher Portal, and they all show the same Stripe account:
- Meal Plans → Products
- Memberships (Program tab)
- Accounts → Payments & Tax (account owner only)
- Integrate → Connections, and a domain's Connections tab
Before you connect, the card reads Connect payments to publish paid products, with a Business country menu and a Connect payments button.
Once connected, it shows Stripe account connected with a green Connected label, a status line such as Charges enabled · Payouts enabled, and two buttons: Manage in Stripe opens your Stripe Express Dashboard, and Manage payments & tax opens Accounts → Payments & Tax.
When you need it
You need a connected Stripe account to publish:
- Paid one-time products, such as paid meal plans
- Subscriptions, including a site membership
You don't need one for free products, Allspice Premium products, or drafts.
Paid products stay in draft until Stripe has finished verifying your account.
How revenue is split
For paid meal plans, memberships, and other products you sell, the split is:
- 90% to the publisher
- 10% to Allspice
The split is calculated after Stripe's payment processing fees. For example, if a reader buys a $20 meal plan, Stripe's fees come off first, and the remaining amount is split 90/10.
In your Stripe dashboard you may see Allspice's application fee taken as 10% of the full charge at checkout, followed shortly after by a partial fee refund that brings it down to 10% of the amount after processing fees. That is expected.
Fees vary by transaction; your Stripe Express Dashboard shows the exact fees, transfers, and payouts. For more detail, see Revenue sharing. For creating and selling plans, see Meal plan products.
Step-by-step setup
1. Choose your business country
Pick the country your business is based in from the Business country menu. Stripe can't change an account's country after it's created, so check this before you continue.
2. Click Connect payments
This opens Stripe's onboarding. Stripe asks for information such as:
- Business or individual name
- Email address and phone number
- Address
- Tax ID
- Bank account for payouts
- Identity verification
What Stripe asks for depends on your country and business type.
3. Return to Allspice
When you finish, Stripe sends you back to the portal. If the status hasn't updated yet, click Refresh status. Verification can take a few minutes.
4. Set up tax
Before you publish a paid product or membership, the account owner has to choose how prices are taxed and set a product classification under Accounts → Payments & Tax. Publishing is blocked until this is done. See Taxes and tax reports.
5. Publish paid products
Once the account shows Connected with charges enabled, you can publish paid meal plans and memberships.
Payment setup statuses
Not connected
You haven't started Stripe onboarding. Choose your business country and click Connect payments.
Finish setting up payments
A Stripe account exists but onboarding isn't complete. Click Continue on Stripe, finish the remaining steps, then click Refresh status.
This state also shows the Business country menu. If you started in the wrong country, choose the right one and click Continue on Stripe: as long as the unfinished account has no activity, Allspice deletes it and starts a new one in the country you chose.
Stripe needs more information
Stripe needs more before the account can take charges. The card lists the outstanding items and any deadline. Click Continue on Stripe and complete them.
Connected
The account can take payments. The status line shows Payouts enabled or Payouts paused. If payouts are paused, open Manage in Stripe and update the information Stripe asks for.
Managing your Stripe account
Click Manage in Stripe to open your Stripe Express Dashboard. There you can see your earnings, upcoming payouts, payout history, account details, and bank account.
Where to view revenue and payout information
Allspice shows product-level reporting: which products are live, how meal plans and your membership are performing, and purchase activity.
Stripe is the source of truth for money: completed payments, processing fees, refunds, disputes, net earnings, payouts, and bank details.
Taxes and tax reports
Stripe collects tax information such as your legal name, tax ID, and address during onboarding. Collecting tax from buyers is set up separately, under Accounts → Payments & Tax, which only the account owner can open.
Tax setup
- How your prices are taxed - Add tax at checkout or Prices already include tax. You must choose before publishing a paid product or membership, and Stripe can't change it on a price once the price exists.
- Business location and product classification - Stripe needs both to calculate tax. Without a classification, publishing is blocked.
- Tax registrations - the places where you are registered to collect tax. Stripe only collects tax where you have added a registration.
Tax reports
The Tax reports card exports a CSV of every transaction where tax was calculated, for your accountant. Choose Last month, Last quarter, Year to date, or a custom range, then click Export transactions (CSV). Transactions appear about a day after they complete.
Allspice can't give tax advice. Ask your tax advisor how to register, collect, and report tax on product revenue for your business.
What information should I use?
- If a company runs your site: use the company's legal business information.
- If you run it as an individual: use your own legal information.
- For payouts: use the bank account where you want your earnings deposited.
Don't enter someone else's tax or bank details unless they are authorized to receive payments for your site.
Do I need my own Stripe account?
No. Clicking Connect payments creates a Stripe Express account for you as part of onboarding.
How payouts work after a buyer purchases
- The reader pays on Stripe's checkout page. They can enter a promotion code there if you have created one in Stripe.
- The payment is made to your connected Stripe account.
- Stripe's processing fees and Allspice's 10% are deducted.
- Stripe pays out the balance to your bank account on your payout schedule.
Refunds and disputes
Refunds are processed through Stripe. What happens on the Allspice side depends on the refund:
- Full refund of a one-time purchase: the buyer loses access to what they bought.
- Partial refund: the refund is recorded, and the buyer keeps access.
- Subscription payments: a refund doesn't end the subscription or remove access by itself.
- On any refund, Allspice returns the matching share of its 10% fee.
When a buyer disputes a charge, Allspice records the dispute; it doesn't change the buyer's access. Stripe shows the details of refunds, disputes, fees, and payout adjustments.
Frequently asked questions
What does "Charges enabled" mean?
Stripe has enabled your account to accept payments.
What does "Payouts enabled" mean?
Stripe can send your earnings to your bank account.
What if payouts are paused?
Stripe needs more information. Click Manage in Stripe and complete the outstanding requirements.
Can I change my bank account later?
Yes, in your Stripe Express Dashboard.
Can I change my business country?
Only while onboarding is unfinished and the account has no activity (see Finish setting up payments). After that, contact Allspice support.
Can I offer discount codes?
Yes. Checkout accepts promotion codes. Create them in Stripe.
Who handles tax forms?
It depends on your country, business type, and volume. Stripe provides tax information and forms for Express accounts where they apply. Ask your tax advisor what applies to you.
Troubleshooting
I started onboarding but didn't finish
Go back to the payments card and click Continue on Stripe.
The portal says Stripe needs more information
Click Continue on Stripe and complete the items listed on the card.
I can't publish a paid product or membership
Check that the payments card says Connected, and that the account owner has set tax behavior and product classification under Accounts → Payments & Tax.
I can't open the Stripe dashboard
Stripe dashboard links expire. Refresh the page and click Manage in Stripe again.
I don't see a payout yet
Payout timing depends on Stripe's payout schedule, your verification status, and your bank. Check Stripe for the current status.