Money moves through Styler in two completely different ways, and telling them apart saves a lot of confusion later.

Stripe payments — deposits and fees that Styler takes from your customer's card automatically, online.

Checkout records — what you tick off at the till when someone pays you in person. Styler writes it down; it doesn't touch the money.

👀 Only the first of those is a payment Styler processes. If you take £40 on your own card machine and record it as Card in checkout, that money never went near Styler or Stripe — you've recorded a fact, not made a transaction.

Styler uses Stripe for three things, all of them taken from the customer's card at the time of booking:

That's the full list. Stripe is not a card terminal for the appointment itself — the balance is settled with you however you normally take payment, and recorded in checkout.

This is self-serve and takes a few minutes. You don't need to wait for anyone to send you a link.

Stripe runs that form, not Styler, so what it asks for is Stripe's requirement. It varies by country and by whether you're a sole trader or a limited company.

💡 Have your bank details and photo ID to hand before you start. Stripe usually asks for both, and stopping halfway is the main reason people never finish.

This is the single most important thing on this page.

If you start Stripe onboarding and don't complete it, Styler treats your account as not connected. If you also require a deposit, customers cannot book at all — they reach the payment step and hit a wall. Nothing tells you this is happening. Your booking page just quietly stops working.

Stripe can also come back later and ask for more information, usually as your takings grow. When it does, the Stripe page in Styler shows "Additional information is required to complete Stripe onboarding" with a Complete onboarding button.

👀 Treat that message as urgent. It is not a reminder — while it's showing, your account is incomplete and deposit-taking bookings can fail.

💡 If a customer ever tells you the booking page wouldn't let them pay, check this page first.

A deposit is taken when the booking is confirmed — not when the appointment happens.

Behind the scenes Styler does this in two steps: it first reserves the amount on the customer's card, then creates the booking, then takes the payment. That order is deliberate. If anything goes wrong while the booking is being saved, the reservation is released and the customer isn't charged for a booking they never got.

If you have no-show or late cancellation fees switched on, Styler also keeps the customer's card on file so those can be charged later without asking them again.

Into your own Stripe account, directly. It doesn't pass through a Styler account on the way, and Styler never holds your takings.

Stripe's processing fees and Styler's are deducted from the payment. For what those come to on your plan, speak to your Styler Consultant.

Payouts are handled entirely by Stripe. There is no payouts screen in Styler — we don't schedule them, hold them or report on them.

To see what you're owed, when it's arriving, or to change your payout bank account, sign in to your Stripe dashboard at dashboard.stripe.com with the details you set up during onboarding.

There you can see your payout schedule and history, change the bank account, and download statements for your accountant.

👀 Your first payout takes longer than the rest. Stripe holds new accounts for a week or so before the first one. That's Stripe's policy for every new business, not something Styler controls or can speed up.

💡 Changing your bank details is done in Stripe, not in Styler. Changing them in Styler isn't possible — there's nowhere to do it, because Styler never sees them.

If a customer disputes a payment with their bank, that's raised against your Stripe account and handled in Stripe. Styler is not told and cannot see it — nothing appears in your Hub, and no report will show it.

Stripe will email you and give you a window to respond with evidence. Respond in the Stripe dashboard.

💡 Your best evidence usually lives in Styler: the booking record, when it was made, your cancellation policy, and any notes on the customer. Pull those together before you reply to Stripe.

👀 Because Styler never hears about a dispute, a payment reversed in Stripe still shows as paid in your Styler reports. Stripe is the source of truth for what actually reached your bank.

When you check someone out, you record how they paid. There are four options:

These are records for your reports. Styler doesn't process any of them, and choosing Card doesn't charge anything — you take the payment on your own machine and tell Styler that's what happened.

👀 This matters when reconciling. Payments marked Card in your Styler reports will not appear in Stripe, because Stripe was never involved. Only deposits and no-show or late cancellation fees appear in both places.

❓ Do I need Stripe to use Styler?

❓ Can I use a Stripe account I already have?

❓ Where do I refund a deposit?

❓ Why hasn't my money arrived?