If you're building an app that involves payments, especially ones that require handling transactions between multiple parties, Stripe Connect is your go-to solution. Whether you're creating a marketplace, an on-demand service platform, or any app where users can sell products or services to other users, Stripe Connect seamlessly manages payments, ensuring security and compliance (and easy integration!).

What is Stripe Connect?

Stripe Connect is a powerful tool designed to facilitate payments on platforms that connect buyers and sellers. It enables you to manage complex payment flows, such as taking a commission from transactions or allowing users to pay directly to other users. Essentially, it's a payment gateway that lets your app act as an intermediary between customers and merchants.

Why use Stripe Connect?

• Scalability

Whether you're running a small marketplace or a large-scale platform, Stripe Connect scales with your needs.

• Compliance and security

Stripe handles the heavy lifting of compliance with financial regulations, including KYC (know your customer) and AML (anti-money laundering) requirements, ensuring that your platform is secure and legally compliant.

• Global reach

With support for over 135 currencies and multiple payment methods, Stripe Connect allows you to expand your platform globally.

How Stripe Connect works

Stripe Connect simplifies the process of managing payments by creating a seamless flow between customers, merchants, and your platform. Here's a basic rundown of how it works:

1. Create a Stripe account - each user who will be receiving payments (a merchant) needs a Stripe account. Stripe Connect allows you to programmatically create these accounts on behalf of your users (the client who is purchasing also needs a Stripe account!).

2. Link accounts to your platform - once a Stripe account is created, it's linked to your platform, allowing you to manage transactions, handle payouts, and take commissions. You can save these Stripe account details in your database and use those to reach your Stripe dashboard at any time.

3. Manage transactions - when a customer makes a purchase, Stripe handles the payment processing, splits the payment as needed (e.g., taking your platform's commission), and transfers the appropriate amount to the merchant. This all happens in real-time and you have nothing to do with it!

Real-life use cases

Stripe Connect is incredibly versatile and can be applied to a wide range of use cases.

• Marketplaces are platforms like Etsy or Airbnb and they use Stripe Connect to handle payments between buyers and sellers, managing commissions and payouts automatically.

• On-demand services are apps like Uber or Lyft and they use Stripe Connect to manage payments between riders and drivers, ensuring secure and compliant transactions.

• Crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter use a similar payment model to distribute funds to project creators while taking a small commission for the platform.

And many more...

Key API endpoints

To kickstart your Stripe Connect setup, here are some of the most important API endpoints you'll need:‚Äç

Create a Stripe customer (check these docs: https://docs.stripe.com/api/customers/create)

https://api.stripe.com/v1/customers

Create a connected account (merchant - the "platform") (check these docs: https://docs.stripe.com/api/account_links/create)

https://api.stripe.com/v1/account_links

Check merchant dashboard/balance (check these docs: https://docs.stripe.com/api/accounts/retrieve)

https://api.stripe.com/v1/accounts/[account_id]/login_links

This will cover the merchant side of things. They will have a created Stripe account, a connected Stripe Connect (Express) account and an ability to view their dashboard. However, we still need to integrate the client-side of the integration. The client-side is much simpler and can be handled in 2 steps: 

1. Create a Stripe customer (same API endpoint as above)

2. Create a payment intent (when attempting to purchase something)

3. Pay the payment intent

However, for the client-side, we need to do some custom coding and make a custom solution.

Setting up Stripe Connect in FlutterFlow

While Stripe Connect handles the backend processing of payments, you'll still need to create a seamless user experience on the frontend. This typically involves building custom integrations to manage the user interface for payments, handling errors, and confirming transactions.

Integrations can become complex when we take into account ephemeral keys, products, subscriptions, branding, customer portals and error handling. For developers who might find this challenging or need assistance, we offer custom Stripe integrations tailored to your app's needs. Whether it's setting up payment flows, handling complex scenarios, or making sure everything works smoothly, we're here to help.

Conclusion

Stripe Connect is an incredibly powerful tool for any app that involves handling payments between multiple parties. With its global reach, robust security features, and flexibility, it's the perfect solution for marketplaces, on-demand services, and more.

If you're ready to integrate Stripe Connect into your FlutterFlow app but need help with the frontend implementation or any other aspect of the setup, don't hesitate to reach out. We're here to ensure your platform is ready to handle payments securely and efficiently.