Stripe Connect setup
10 minutes, one time
Stripe Connect onboarding is the gateway to accepting card payments + deposits + tap-to-pay on goldenhour. The flow is hosted by Stripe (not us); goldenhour never sees your SSN. Bring the five things below + you’re done in 10 minutes.
What you need
Five-item checklist
Legal name + SSN
The owner of record on the bank account. Stripe verifies identity against your SSN: goldenhour never sees this data; it flows directly from your browser to Stripe.
Business name + DBA (if any)
Your business name as you want it to appear on customer card statements. If you operate under a DBA, use that; otherwise your legal name works.
Business address
Where the business is officially located. Home address is fine for solo pros + service-area businesses; PO boxes aren't accepted by Stripe.
Bank account info
Routing + account number for where payouts should land. Personal checking accounts work; business checking accounts are cleaner for bookkeeping. Stripe verifies via micro-deposits or instant verification depending on your bank.
Date of birth
Required for KYC. Stripe uses it as a tiebreaker against SSN-shared identity records.
The flow
Four steps
- 01Settings → Payments → Connect with Stripe.
- 02You bounce to a Stripe-hosted form (URL bar shows connect.stripe.com). Fill in the five items above.
- 03Stripe verifies + bounces you back to goldenhour. If instant verification works, you’re charges-enabled immediately. If micro-deposits are needed, allow 1-2 business days.
- 04Goldenhour’s payment indicator turns green; you can now collect deposits + run checkout on the booking page.
When it fails
Three common holdups
- Routing number issue. Some online-only banks (Chime, Cash App, etc.) have routing numbers that confuse Stripe. Use a checking account at a traditional bank or Stripe-supported neobank.
- SSN-mismatch verification fail. Most common reason: address on file at the IRS differs from what you entered. Update with the IRS first (Form 8822) then retry Stripe in 48-72 hours.
- Document upload requested. Driver’s license photo (both sides), bank statement screenshot. Not a problem with you: just standard KYC review. Provide what they ask + check status in Stripe’s dashboard.
Privacy posture
Goldenhour never sees your SSN. The Stripe onboarding form runs on connect.stripe.com: your browser posts directly to Stripe. We only store the resulting Connect account ID (e.g. acct_1ABC123…) + a flag indicating you’re charges-enabled.
Stripe is SOC 2 Type II certified, PCI Level 1, and the most-used payment processor for SaaS businesses globally. Your data is in the safest hands available in this part of the stack.
FAQ
- Why do I need to give Stripe my SSN?
- US federal law (KYC + AML) requires payment processors to verify the identity of business owners receiving money. Stripe asks for SSN as part of identity verification: the data is stored at Stripe (not goldenhour) under SOC-2-certified processes. Goldenhour never sees your SSN.
- Sole prop vs LLC: which should I pick during Stripe onboarding?
- Pick what matches your tax filing. Most solo artists start as sole prop (default for one-person businesses) and switch to LLC later. The Stripe flow asks the same identity questions either way; the difference is the business-type field + the tax-reporting structure.
- What's the payout schedule?
- Default is 2-business-day rolling payouts (new accounts) accelerating to next-day after the first 90 days. Goldenhour doesn't override this; whatever Stripe sets is what flows. You can also enable instant payouts (15-minute, 1% fee per payout) from the Stripe dashboard.
- What if Stripe asks for additional documents?
- Stripe sometimes requests additional ID verification (a driver's license photo, a bank-statement screenshot) when the algorithm flags an account for review. It's not a sign that you've done something wrong: just routine KYC. Provide what they ask; the dashboard tells you the next-step status.