Rentalbuddy or Stripe — where do I go for what? (refunds, receipts, payouts, fees)

Almost every payment question comes down to one thing: two systems are involved, and it is not obvious which one owns what. This page gives you the split, so you know where to click.

The short version:

• Rentalbuddy decides what the customer is charged (products, prices, taxes, discounts), how the payment step looks, and when money is sent back. It also sends the booking confirmation.
• Stripe is your payment account. It holds the money, decides which payment methods are offered, sends card receipts if you want it to, and pays out to your bank.

Your Stripe account is your own. You reach it by logging in at stripe.com, not from inside Rentalbuddy.

Where to go for what

Question	Rentalbuddy	Stripe
Connect the payment account	Start it under Settings → Payments, which also says what Stripe still needs	Complete Stripe's sign-up and any later requests (Complete at Stripe)
Smallest amount customers can pay online	Shown on Settings → Payments	Set by Stripe per currency
Which payment methods customers see (card, Apple Pay, Klarna, Swish, MB WAY…)	—	Turned on in your Stripe account
Payment inside the booking window or on a separate page	Payment option	—
Turn online payment off	Disable Stripe Payments	—
Currency	Currency	—
Prices, add-ons, promo codes, memberships	Yes	— (promo codes are copied to Stripe for you)
Tax rates	Settings → Taxes (creates them in Stripe)	Can also be created there, then synced
Which tax a product charges	On the product	—
Refunds	On the booking's payment	Possible, but Rentalbuddy's totals don't follow
Booking confirmation email	Settings → Emails	—
Card payment receipt	—	Stripe's receipt email settings
Payouts, payout schedule, bank account	—	Yes
Card fees, disputes, chargebacks	—	Yes
Booking lists and exports	Export on the lists	Payment and payout reports
Your Rentalbuddy subscription	Settings → Billing	—

What you do in Rentalbuddy

Everything below is under Settings in the left menu unless stated.

• Connecting Stripe: the Payments tab, Online payments card, shows Connected or Not connected and the button Connect with Stripe to start handling payments. When Stripe wants something from you (payments paused, payouts held, a deadline), the card says so in words, with Complete at Stripe, and Home shows Stripe needs your attention. The card also shows Stripe's minimum for an online payment in your currency. How to connect and fix problems is in the guide on connecting Stripe. The status is checked each time you open Payments, and the Stripe notices on Home and Payments check again by themselves when you switch back to the admin tab (at most once a minute), so you don't need to reload after finishing at Stripe.
• Checkout settings on the same tab: Payment option (In the booking window (cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay) or On Stripe's payment page (cards, plus Swish, Klarna, MB WAY and other local methods)), Disable Stripe Payments and Currency. Which payment methods need On Stripe's payment page, and why card payments must stay switched on in Stripe, is in the guide on enabling payment methods.
• Apple Pay domains: Rentalbuddy registers its booking pages and each location's website address (URL where book button is implemented on the location's Book button tab) as payment-method domains in your Stripe account by itself: when you connect Stripe, when a new website address is saved, and every night. It only ever adds domains; one you switched off in Stripe stays off.
• Taxes: the Taxes tab. With Stripe connected, taxes are created in your Stripe account from here and read back from it. Each product then gets its tax on the product itself. See the taxes and VAT guide.
• Prices and discounts: products, add-ons, memberships and promo codes are all set up in Rentalbuddy. You do not need to create promo codes in Stripe; Rentalbuddy creates the matching code in your Stripe account for you, which is why you may also see them listed there.
• Refunds: from the booking (see below).
• Emails: the confirmation and reminder emails, their text and timing, under Emails.

What you do in Stripe

None of these exist in Rentalbuddy:

• Payment methods. Rentalbuddy hands the order to Stripe without limiting the methods, so what your customers can pay with is decided by the payment method settings in your Stripe account. If a method is enabled and still missing, see the guide on enabling payment methods.
• Payouts. When money reaches your bank, how often, and to which account.
• Fees. Stripe's card and processing fees are charged by Stripe and shown in Stripe, per payment.
• Disputes and chargebacks. Handled in your Stripe dashboard.
• Card receipts. Whether Stripe emails the customer a receipt, and what is on it, is set in your Stripe account.
• Payment and payout reports. Stripe's reports are where the money side of your bookkeeping lives, including the tax charged per payment.
• Why a card was declined. Rentalbuddy only records the outcome; the reason is in Stripe (see the guide for when a customer can't pay).

Refunds: do them on the booking, not in Stripe

Refunds are made in Rentalbuddy: open the booking, find the payment in the Payment list, and use Refund on that row. It needs a role allowed to refund: account owners and account members can, Booking staff and viewers can't. Cancelling a booking does not refund anything on its own. The exact steps, limits and what the customer sees are in the guide on refunding or cancelling a booking.

You can also refund in the Stripe dashboard, and the refund does show up in the booking's payment list the next time you open the booking. But Rentalbuddy does not update the booking's Paid and Left to pay amounts or its payment status for a refund made in Stripe. Refunding from the booking keeps both systems in step.

Receipts: what your customer gets

Operators often mix up two documents:

• The booking confirmation is Rentalbuddy's. Right after booking, the customer sees a confirmation page in the booking window ("Thank you for your order:" with the order number, their details, what they booked, the tax and the total). They also get the confirmation email, which can show the customer's name and address, the order ID, the booking lines with the tax amount and the total price including tax. You edit it under Settings → Emails (see the email guide).
• The card receipt is Stripe's proof that the card was charged. Rentalbuddy does not produce it; if your customers get one, it comes from Stripe, based on your Stripe account's receipt settings. What it shows, for example whether it carries the customer's name, is Stripe's decision.

Customers asking for a receipt with their name, company or organisation number (for example for a wellness allowance): Rentalbuddy has no separate PDF receipt. The confirmation email is the document to use. It already carries the customer's name and the booking with tax and total. To add an organisation number or company name, ask for it at checkout with your own question (a custom field, see the customer flow guide) and put the [Custom checkout fields] variable in the confirmation email text, which prints the customer's answers. Your own company details can be written into the email text as well.

Fees: who charges what

• Stripe's fees for each payment are taken by Stripe from the payment and shown in your Stripe dashboard. Rentalbuddy does not set, see or change them.
• Your Rentalbuddy subscription is billed separately and has nothing to do with your Stripe payment account. You find it under Settings → Billing.

For current prices, see Rentalbuddy's and Stripe's own price pages; this guide doesn't list any.

Bookkeeping: which system gives you what

• Money in and out (each payment, fee, refund, payout and the tax on each payment): Stripe's reports. Stripe pays out in batches, so the payout on your bank statement usually covers several bookings; Stripe's payout reports show which payments are in each payout.
• Bookings (who booked what, when, at which location): the Export on the Bookings list. What's in it, and how to read revenue per location on the dashboard, is in the reports and exports guide.
• There is no built-in link to accounting software. Stripe itself offers apps and exports for many accounting systems.

Extending a booking when Stripe payments are off

With Disable Stripe Payments on, customers can still extend their booking. The extension is recorded as paid on site, so you collect the extra amount yourself, just like the original booking.

How to trace one booking to its payment

1. Open the booking under Bookings.
2. Scroll to Payment. At the top you see Total (VAT incl), Paid and Left to pay, and a payment status chip.
3. Each payment line shows Amount, a status, Payment method, Payment ID, Registered by and when it was created. For a card payment, Payment ID is the payment's ID in Stripe: copy it and search for it in your Stripe dashboard.
4. Refunds appear as their own lines under the payment, with the method Stripe (return).
5. A Test chip on a payment line, and Paid with test payment at the top, means someone registered a manual payment of the type Test payment. It counts toward Paid, but no money moved and there is nothing to find in Stripe. The booking still counts in the dashboard's revenue until it is cancelled.
6. A Test chip next to the booking's status, and a notice "This is a test booking…" on the booking, means it was made with Make a test booking. It is left out of the dashboard figures and cancelled automatically 30 minutes after it was made. If it was a Test with a real payment, you find a small charge in Stripe and its refund, made at once; Stripe keeps its fee. In Bookings, test bookings are hidden unless you switch on Show test bookings.

Going the other way works too: the booking's order number is saved as the payment's description in Stripe, so searching Stripe for the order number finds its payment.

Common questions

Where do I find the basis for my monthly accounting? The money side (payments, fees, refunds, payouts, tax per payment) is in Stripe's reports; the booking side is the Export on the Bookings list.

Do I have to book-keep every transaction, or just the payout? That's a question for your accountant, but both are available: Stripe's payout reports show which payments make up each payout.

If I cancel a booking, does the customer get their money back? No. Cancelling doesn't refund. Refund from the booking's payment list with Refund.

My customer wants a receipt with their name and organisation number. Can Rentalbuddy send one? There is no separate receipt document. Use the confirmation email: it has the customer's name, booking, tax and total, and a checkout question plus [Custom checkout fields] can add their organisation number.

Where do I see Stripe's fees? In your Stripe dashboard, per payment. Rentalbuddy doesn't show or set them.

Do I need to create my promo codes in Stripe too? No. Create them in Rentalbuddy under Promo codes; the matching code is created in your Stripe account automatically.

Where do I change how often I get paid? In Stripe's payout settings. There is no such setting in Rentalbuddy.

Home says "Stripe needs your attention". Where do I fix it? At Stripe. Open Settings → Payments, read the notice, and press Complete at Stripe (or Open Stripe); Stripe shows what is missing.

Can I see which location a payout came from? Not in the payout itself. Trace each payment to its booking with the Payment ID or order number, and use the dashboard or bookings export for revenue per location.

Do I need to reload the admin after finishing something at Stripe? No. The Stripe notices on Home and Payments check again by themselves when you switch back to the admin tab, and the Connected status is checked each time you open Payments.

Do I have to add my website domain in Stripe for Apple Pay? No. Rentalbuddy adds its booking pages and each location's website address to your Stripe account's payment-method domains automatically, and checks again every night.