Setting up payments vs. sending a payment link

Every business on the platform gets its own payments account, and it belongs to you outright — your name, your bank details, your login at Stripe. We set it up for you and start the sign-up, so you never have to go find a payment processor or "connect" one from somewhere else. Because the account is genuinely yours, you can also sign in to Stripe directly at dashboard.stripe.com any time to see payouts, receipts, and anything Stripe needs from you — and it stays yours if you ever leave us.

Wherever this comes up — in Settings → Payments or in chat — you'll see a plain explanation right alongside the Stripe link, not just a bare URL: what Stripe is, why it's the way we get you paid in a tax-compliant way, and that the account is genuinely yours.

Two different things, easy to mix up

Onboarding is a one-time step: verifying your identity and saying where your payouts should go. Stripe asks the questions and you answer them directly — we never collect your ID documents or bank details ourselves. Anything you've already told us — your email address, your business name, and your website address — is filled in for you before you get there, so you're not retyping it. Stripe may still ask you to confirm or correct those details, and whatever you enter there is what counts. Until it's done, your account can't accept money yet. You'll see its status in Settings → Payments — along with anything Stripe still needs from you — with a button to pick up where you left off. If Stripe needs something more from you later, it asks you in its own dashboard and by email. This step happens once.

A payment link is a link you send a customer so they can pay you a specific amount — for a job, a deposit, a product, whatever you're charging for. The one set up for your main offer is the one your website follows. You can have as many one-off links as you need, and your co-founder makes one whenever you ask — "make me a payment link for $500 for the Johnson job." One-off links don't change your website.

Payment links are in US dollars only, and a single link can be for at most $25,000. If you need a larger amount or a different currency, ask in chat: your co-founder will offer to send that to the ZenBusiness team. Don't split it into two links, and don't try to build one yourself in Stripe or in Settings — there isn't a self-serve builder for payment links.

If your account isn't finished with onboarding yet, your co-founder will tell you that plainly and help you finish it rather than handing you the wrong kind of link.

Seeing where your payments stand at a glance

The Payments card in the co-founder panel (the Activity tab on a phone) always shows where your account stands:

• Not connected — you haven't started yet. "Set up payments" takes you to Settings → Payments.
• Almost set up — you started connecting Stripe but haven't finished. "Finish setup" picks up where you left off.
• Needs info — Stripe wants a few more details to keep your payments running. The card lists what's outstanding, and when it's due if Stripe has set a date.
• Paused — Stripe has paused your account, so payments can't come in right now. "See what to do" takes you to Settings → Payments.
• Connected — you're live. The card shows this month's sales: what customers paid, and what you keep after Stripe's fees and refunds. Until your first sale it just says there are no sales yet this month.

Tap a Try saying suggestion like "Set up my Stripe" or "Sell a new product" to put those words in the chat box, ready to edit and send. None shows while Stripe needs details or has paused you.

The card updates on its own when anything changes, even if you finish with Stripe in another tab. If it can't check right now, it says so rather than showing you a zero.

I'll ask you to connect Stripe once, in chat. After that I won't keep asking or list it under "Waiting on you"; the Payments card is where you'll see it. Your evening summary still mentions that payments aren't switched on yet, as a status rather than a request, until your account is connected.

Where to look versus what to ask for

Settings → Payments is a status page — your onboarding progress and this month's totals — not a place to create a link or a product. To get an actual payment link, ask your co-founder in chat; there's no self-service link builder anywhere in the app today.

When money actually lands in your account

See "When you get paid" for the payout timing once a customer has paid.

If you already invoice in another tool, see "I already invoice somewhere else" before you decide whether to take payments here too.