How Payments Work on TradeCraft: A Guide for Business Owners

At TradeCraft, we know that getting paid quickly and securely is critical to your business. We've designed our payment system to be robust, secure, and transparent. This post breaks down exactly how money moves through our platform, from your customers to you.

Two Distinct Payment Flows

It's important to understand that there are two separate types of payments managed by TradeCraft:

1. Your TradeCraft Subscription Fees: These are the payments you make to us for using the platform (e.g., your monthly or yearly plan). These payments go directly to the TradeCraft Stripe account.

2. Your Customer's Invoice Payments: These are the payments your customers make to you for your services. This is where the magic of Stripe Connect comes in.

How Stripe Connect Powers Your Payments

To ensure your revenue is handled securely and goes directly to you, we use Stripe Connect. When you set up your company on TradeCraft, you'll be prompted to connect your own Stripe account.

Here’s how it works:

1. Secure Onboarding: You connect your existing Stripe account or create a new one through a secure onboarding process hosted by Stripe. Your financial details are shared only with Stripe, never with TradeCraft.

2. Direct Payment Routing: When your customer pays an invoice through your public payment link, the funds are routed directly to your connected Stripe account. We act as the facilitator, but the money never sits in our account.

3. Automated Platform Fees: For every successful invoice payment we facilitate, a small, pre-agreed platform fee is automatically deducted and sent to TradeCraft. This fee is configurable based on your contract with us and allows us to continue building and supporting the platform.

Why This Matters for You

• Security: By using Stripe Connect, we drastically reduce our PCI compliance scope. We never see or store your customers' sensitive credit card information. All payment data is handled directly by Stripe's secure infrastructure.
• Trust: Your customers pay you directly. They see your company name on their statements, building trust and brand recognition.
• Control: You have full control over your funds. Payouts from your Stripe account to your bank account are managed by you, on your schedule, directly from your own Stripe dashboard.

Our goal is to provide a seamless payment experience so you can focus on your work, confident that your finances are being managed securely and efficiently.