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Taking payments with Stripe Connect

Connect your Stripe account once, then customers can pay deposits and balances with a card and the money lands directly in your bank — no platform middleman holding it.

BakeBase uses Stripe Connect, which means each baker connects their
own Stripe account and money flows straight from the customer's card to
your bank. We don't hold your money. You don't share Stripe credentials
with us. Setup takes about 10 minutes and Stripe handles the boring legal
bits.

Before you start

Have to hand:

  • Personal details — full name, date of birth, address (Stripe verifies you against UK identity records)
  • A bank account — sort code + account number. Personal accounts are accepted for amounts under a Stripe-set threshold; a business account lifts that ceiling.
  • A bit of background on your business — what you sell, roughly how much you'll process per month
  • About 10 minutes of uninterrupted time (Stripe will time you out if you wander off)

You don't need to have registered as self-employed with HMRC yet — Stripe
will accept individual sole-trader setups. (You should register with HMRC
the moment your bakery makes more than £1,000 a year, but that's a separate
conversation.)

Step 1 — Click "Connect Stripe Account"

In BakeBase, go to Account → Stripe Payments → Connect Stripe Account.
That sends you to Stripe's secure setup page (you'll see the Stripe URL
in your browser bar — that's right, you're on Stripe's side now).

If Stripe isn't configured on this server yet, you'll see an amber
"Stripe isn't configured" notice instead. That means the BakeBase admin
hasn't added the platform Stripe keys to the env — drop them an email
and they'll sort it.

Step 2 — Walk through Stripe's form

Stripe's onboarding asks the same things every time:

  • Country (United Kingdom)
  • Business type (Individual / Sole trader is fine for most home bakers)
  • Personal details and address
  • Industry — pick "Food and drink → Bakeries" or the closest match
  • Bank details
  • A photo of ID (passport or driving licence)

The whole thing usually takes 8–10 minutes. You're filling this in on
Stripe's site, not BakeBase's — it's encrypted, properly KYC-compliant,
and we never see any of it.

When you finish, Stripe redirects you back to BakeBase and you'll see a
green ✓ Connected on your Account page. Your Stripe account ID will be
shown (it starts with acct_…).

Step 3 — Test it works

Easiest test: create a fake order on yourself.

  1. Visit your public site → place a custom-cake enquiry (use a different
    email address than your BakeBase login)
  2. Go back to your BakeBase dashboard, find the enquiry, hit
    Move to Quoted, set a small price (e.g. £10)
  3. The customer (you) gets the quote email; click the deposit link
  4. Pay with Stripe test card 4242 4242 4242 4242 (any future expiry, any CVC, any postcode) — this only works in test mode
  5. Order auto-flips to deposit_paid and you get the receipt email

If you're on Stripe live mode, that test card won't work — you'd need
to use a real card and refund yourself afterwards (Stripe takes a small
fee on real test transactions).

Step 4 — Know what fees you're paying

There are two layers of fees on every Stripe charge:

  1. Stripe's own processing fee — 1.5% + 20p for UK cards (lower for
    European cards, higher for non-EEA). Stripe takes this directly.
  2. The platform fee (BakeBase) — set per plan. Free plan can't use
    Stripe Connect at all. Standard and Pro plans are typically 0% —
    we'll tell you on your Account page exactly what your rate is.

Worked example: customer pays £30 deposit on a Standard plan.

  • Stripe takes 1.5% + 20p = £0.65
  • BakeBase takes £0
  • You receive £29.35

The deposit lands in your Stripe balance immediately, and Stripe pays it
out to your bank on a rolling schedule (typically every 7 days for a new
account; faster once you've been around a while).

Common questions

Can I use Stripe in test mode while I'm setting up?

The Stripe Connect onboarding always uses live mode if the platform is
configured for live, and test mode if it's configured for test. If you
need to dry-run the whole flow on test cards, ask the BakeBase admin
which mode is currently active.

A customer paid by bank transfer, not Stripe

Use Mark Deposit Paid (or Mark Balance Paid) on the order. We record
it as paid for the audit trail, but no money moves through Stripe. You
should still see the bank deposit in your own account separately.

I need to refund a customer

Do it from your Stripe dashboard at dashboard.stripe.com, not from
BakeBase — Stripe is the source of truth for the actual money movement.
Then update the order in BakeBase (cancel it, or adjust the price down)
so your records match.

Can I disconnect Stripe?

Yes — Account → Stripe Payments → Disconnect. New customers won't be
able to pay you through BakeBase after that, but historic orders are
unaffected and your Stripe account itself stays open.

How does this affect my taxes?

Stripe sends you a year-end summary of what you've earned through the
platform — that goes into your Self Assessment. We don't withhold anything;
the full payment (less Stripe + platform fees) lands in your account, and
how you handle it tax-wise is between you and HMRC.

What if Stripe holds my money?

Stripe sometimes pauses payouts on new accounts while they review. They'll
email you with a clear explanation and what they need (usually a copy of
ID or proof of address). It's normal — usually clears within 2–3 working
days.

Why we picked Stripe Connect

Two alternatives we rejected:

  • A platform Stripe account where we hold your money — too much
    liability, slower payouts, less trust.
  • No payments — bakers handle bank transfer themselves — works for
    some, but most customers want a "click here to pay" button.

Stripe Connect is the same model used by big platforms like Substack,
Etsy, and Patreon. It means we can never accidentally hold your money
hostage and you have a direct relationship with Stripe if anything goes
wrong.

Want a deeper read? Stripe's own Connect docs
are excellent.