Connecting vendor Stripe accounts

Overview#

Before Split Pay can transfer funds to a vendor, that vendor must have a Stripe account connected to your platform. There are four ways to connect vendor accounts:

1. Split Pay onboarding PRO — A built-in registration and onboarding flow on your site’s standard WordPress registration page.
2. Front-end shortcode — The [split_pay_vendor_connect] shortcode renders a “Connect with Stripe” button on any page so vendors can onboard without touching wp-admin.
3. Stripe Dashboard onboarding — Manually create connected accounts through your Stripe Dashboard and share an onboarding link.
4. Connect an existing Stripe account — Connect an account that already exists to your platform with Stripe Connect OAuth, from Connect Status.

Once vendors can connect, Split Pay can make the rest hands-off — auto-create a product, give each vendor a payment QR code, email vendors after successful transfers, and send customers one confirmation when their order’s money is sent. See Vendor Automation PRO.

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Method 1: Split Pay onboarding PRO#

The Pro version includes a self-service onboarding flow that lets vendors register and connect their Stripe accounts without you needing to touch the Stripe Dashboard.

Enable vendor onboarding

When enabled, the plugin creates a Vendor (Split Pay Plugin) WordPress user role and adds a Register as a Vendor checkbox to your site’s existing WordPress registration page. No new page is created.

WordPress opens that registration page only when Anyone can register is checked under Settings → General → Membership. If your site keeps public registration off, add vendors yourself as described in Managing vendors.

Vendor registration flow

Once onboarding is enabled, vendors can self-register:

Additional vendor roles

In the Vendor Onboarding settings tab, the Additional Vendor Roles multi-select lets you grant any WordPress role access to the Stripe Connect onboarding page. This is useful when your site already has custom roles (for example, “Seller,” “Artist,” or “Partner”) and you want those users to connect their Stripe accounts without changing their existing role.

Vendor instructions: title and description

You can show vendors your own instructions next to the Stripe Connect button. On the Vendor Onboarding tab, with vendor onboarding enabled, check Enable Title & Description., enter a Title and a Description, and save. Vendors see them at the top of their Stripe Connect page in WordPress admin, above the button to connect their Stripe account. Vendors land on that page when they log in.

If the option is off or a field is blank, vendors see the default heading Stripe Connect Settings and the default text Please connect your Stripe account. Both fields are plain text. Keep them short, for example a title of Stripe Connect Settings and a description such as Please connect your Stripe account. Contact us at you@example.com with any questions.

Managing vendors

Vendors who registered through the built-in flow appear in your WordPress Users list with the Vendor (Split Pay Plugin) role. Use Connect Status to verify the exact connected-account ID and Stripe mode before configuring product-level transfers.

New onboarding and strict identity routing use exact, site-scoped Test/Live pairs. Until an administrator confirms an exact pair or completes a strict platform-key replacement, a site can keep resolving saved recipients by email, then name, then saved account ID.

You can also add a vendor yourself, which is the way to do it when your site does not allow public registration. With vendor onboarding enabled, go to Users → Add New User, enter the vendor’s details, and choose the Vendor (Split Pay Plugin) role. When that vendor logs in, they land on the same Stripe Connect page to connect their account.

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Method 2: front-end vendor onboarding shortcode#

The [split_pay_vendor_connect] shortcode renders a Stripe Connect onboarding button on any public page. Vendors can start or resume onboarding without you exposing the WordPress registration page or admin dashboard. The shortcode works on a WooCommerce site, a FluentCart site, or a hybrid site, in both Free and PRO.

To copy it, open Split Pay → Vendor Onboarding. The Vendor sign-up shortcode box shows [split_pay_vendor_connect] once Split Pay finds a Test or Live platform secret key, for example one saved on the Integrations tab. Until then, the tab asks you to connect your Stripe platform account. Accounts vendors create through the shortcode use the Stripe mode shown on the Vendor Onboarding tab. Use the shortcode for a permanent sign-up page: the links in the Connect links (share with vendors) card on Connect Status expire 7 days after that page is loaded. On a Stripe platform that allows only Accounts v2, the generic links there work only for a vendor who is signed in to your site; see Known limitations.

The shortcode reuses the same Stripe Connect account and account-link flow as Method 1. Once a vendor completes onboarding, Split Pay stores the account ID in this site’s mode-specific connection record and can route transfers to it.

Syntax

Drop the shortcode into any post, page, widget, or template that accepts shortcodes:

[split_pay_vendor_connect]

All four attributes are optional. You can override any subset:

[split_pay_vendor_connect
  button_label="Become a Vendor"
  connected_label="Your Stripe account is connected."
  login_label="Please log in to connect your Stripe account."
  pending_label="Stripe onboarding is in progress. Complete the steps with Stripe to finish."]

Attributes

Runtime states

The shortcode renders one of four states based on the current user:

1. Logged out — spp-vendor-connect spp-vendor-connect--logged-out wrapper. Shows login_label and a Log In button.
2. Logged in, no Stripe account yet — spp-vendor-connect spp-vendor-connect--connect wrapper. Shows the primary button_label button. Clicking it creates the Standard or Express account selected under Vendor account type by default, generates an account link, and redirects the vendor to Stripe’s hosted onboarding.
3. Logged in, onboarding pending — spp-vendor-connect spp-vendor-connect--pending wrapper. Shows pending_label and a Resume Stripe Onboarding button that re-opens the existing Stripe account link.
4. Logged in and connected — spp-vendor-connect spp-vendor-connect--connected wrapper. Shows connected_label, an optional payment QR code when enabled, and a Disconnect Stripe account button.

You can style any of these states using the wrapper class names listed above.

Where to place it

• A dedicated Become a Vendor landing page on your site.
• The vendor’s profile or dashboard page (an account-area template).
• Inside a sidebar widget on pages where you want to recruit vendors.
• Anywhere the standard WordPress shortcode runner is invoked — including FluentCart product pages, WooCommerce account pages, and Gutenberg/Classic-Editor content.

Required capabilities and configuration

• Visitor: by default, any logged-in WordPress user can use the connect button; the shortcode does not require the Vendor (Split Pay Plugin) role. If the optional identity-bound WCFM Connect flow is enabled, it instead requires an authorized, signed-in WCFM vendor.
• Site administrator: Save the mode-matched Stripe platform secret key on Split Pay → Integrations. If Split Pay cannot resolve a key for that mode, the connect action returns “Stripe is not yet configured by the site administrator” and creates no account.
• HTTPS: Stripe Connect onboarding URLs only function over HTTPS. Make sure your site is served with a valid TLS certificate before pointing vendors at the page.

Example

A minimal “Become a Vendor” page might contain:

<h1>Join the marketplace</h1>
<p>Sign up and connect your Stripe account to start receiving payouts.</p>
[split_pay_vendor_connect button_label="Become a Vendor"]

On the same page you can customise the messaging for other states without changing markup:

[split_pay_vendor_connect
  button_label="Connect Stripe"
  connected_label="You’re all set — payouts will land in your Stripe account."
  login_label="Log in to start your vendor onboarding."
  pending_label="Almost there — finish your Stripe verification."]

Operational notes

• Connect actions open Stripe’s hosted onboarding on connect.stripe.com, also when Split Pay creates an Accounts v2 account because your platform refuses Accounts v1 account creation (see Known limitations). Allow this Stripe domain in any security plugin that restricts redirects, and don’t whitelist a different domain.
• Each connect action carries a one-time nonce (_spp_connect_nonce). Don’t cache the page output too aggressively or vendors may receive an “Invalid request” error if the nonce expires before they click.
• New accounts created by the shortcode, a Split Pay Connect link, or built-in/admin onboarding use the saved Vendor account type setting by default. Standard is the default. A saved choice is honored, and developer code can override the creation arguments. Changing the setting does not convert an account that already exists. On a Stripe platform that refuses Accounts v1 account creation, a new account gets the Express Dashboard even when the setting is Standard. See Vendor account types.

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Method 3: Stripe Dashboard onboarding#

With the free version (or if you prefer manual control), you can create connected accounts directly through the Stripe Dashboard.

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Method 4: connect an existing Stripe account#

The onboarding flows and Connect links above always create a new Stripe account. To connect an account that already exists — for example your own Stripe account, or a vendor’s account made outside Split Pay — use the Connect an existing Stripe account card on Split Pay → Connect Status. It uses Stripe Connect OAuth for Standard accounts. The card appears once a platform secret key is saved, and only site administrators can use it.

Back on Connect Status, Split Pay refreshes the account list and confirms the connection, for example Connected … in Test mode. It is listed under Connected accounts below and can now be chosen as a recipient. To pay a WCFM vendor through that account, link the vendor on the WCFM card; see Link a vendor to an existing Stripe account.

Each connection you start is valid for 30 minutes and can be used once. Split Pay refuses a Stripe response that was already used, has expired, or was started by another administrator, with This Stripe response expired or was not started from this site. Start the connection again. If Stripe connects an account in the other mode, Split Pay asks you to start again from the matching Test or Live button. If the account doesn’t appear yet, click Refresh from Stripe.

Account requirements#

Regardless of which method you use, connected accounts must meet these requirements before they can receive transfers:

• The account must have completed Stripe onboarding (identity verification, banking details, etc.).
• The account must be enabled for transfers — Stripe may require additional verification for some account types or countries.
• The account must be connected to your platform’s Stripe account (not a different platform).
• Stripe controls cross-border eligibility. Split Pay does not treat a fixed list of countries as a guarantee. Verify a different-country platform/account pairing in Stripe and with a Test order before using it in Live mode.

Accounts Split Pay has stopped paying#

When Stripe reports that a connected account was disconnected from your platform, Split Pay stops paying it. Every transfer to that account is skipped without a request to Stripe, and the order note ends with FAILED: destination account deauthorized by Stripe. The account appears on Split Pay → Platform Status in the Vendor accounts Split Pay has stopped paying card, which appears while at least one account is blocked.

Split Pay adds an account to this list only when Stripe’s account.application.deauthorized event reaches your store at the WooCommerce Stripe gateway’s webhook URL and is signed with the webhook signing secret saved in the WooCommerce Stripe settings for the gateway’s current Test or Live mode. An event signed with any other endpoint’s secret is ignored. If Stripe later sends account.application.authorized for the account the same way, Split Pay removes it from the list. If these events don’t reach your store, the list stays empty and Split Pay keeps attempting transfers to the account.

To start paying a blocked account again:

Unblock only takes the account off the list — it moves no money. Transfers to the account resume on later orders. For a WooCommerce order that already failed while the account was blocked, use Retry Split Pay Transfers, unless you already paid that vendor by hand in Stripe. Only site administrators can unblock an account, and the card lists up to 50 accounts.

Finding the Stripe account ID#

Every connected Stripe account has a unique identifier that starts with acct_. You can find it in:

• Stripe Dashboard: Go to Connect → Accounts, click on the account, and the ID appears at the top of the page.
• Vendor user profile on a single-site install: Split Pay mirrors the site connection there for compatibility. On multisite, use Connect Status or Stripe Dashboard instead because Split Pay does not write site identity into network-shared user metadata.