Payouts
When attendees pay for your event, that money is yours, Sunfish never holds it. This page explains how it reaches your bank account.
Where the money goes
Payments run through your own connected Stripe account. When someone registers and pays, the funds land in your Stripe balance right away. From there, Stripe transfers the money to your bank account. This transfer is called a payout.
Because everything flows through your Stripe account, you're always in control of your funds. Sunfish sits on top to manage your event, orders, and registrations, but it doesn't sit between you and your money.
Haven't connected Stripe yet? You'll need to before you can accept payments. See Connecting Stripe.
When you get paid
Payouts follow Stripe's normal schedule, not a Sunfish one. For most accounts that means funds are paid out automatically on a regular cycle, often daily or every few days, after a short initial hold when you first start taking payments.
The exact schedule and any holds are set on the Stripe side and can vary by account and region. To see or adjust your payout timing, check your Stripe dashboard.
There's usually a brief delay between when an attendee pays and when that money is eligible for payout. This is standard for card payments and is set by Stripe, not Sunfish.
How refunds and disputes affect payouts
Money doesn't only flow one way. A few things reduce what gets paid out:
- Refunds you issue are returned to the attendee from your balance. If a payout has already gone out, the refunded amount is drawn from your upcoming funds. See Refunds & cancellations.
- Disputes temporarily hold the disputed amount while the attendee's bank reviews it. See Disputes.
- Fees, Stripe's processing fees and any platform fee, come out before the money reaches your bank.
Your Stripe balance always reflects the current picture, so it's the best place to check what's headed to your bank.
Where to look for details
For anything about the money itself, your balance, payout schedule, bank details, and the exact fees on each payment, your Stripe dashboard is the source of truth. Sunfish shows you the orders and what each attendee paid; Stripe shows you the payouts to your bank.
Reconciling your books? Match your orders in Sunfish against your payouts in Stripe. The order number on each registration makes it easy to trace a payment from your event through to your bank.