How to take card payments through Stripe

A club on easygym sells memberships on its own website and at the front desk. The client pays on a Stripe payment page — by card, Apple Pay or Google Pay — and the membership activates by itself as soon as Stripe confirms the payment.

• The money goes to the club’s own Stripe account, and Stripe pays it out to the club’s bank account.
• No developer, separate website or certificates are needed: Stripe shows the payment page, and easygym provides the club website with the plans, the offer, refund terms and contacts.
• Staff see online payments, and payments that need a refund, on the “Payments” tab and in each client’s card.

Two separate money lines

Why the club has its own account rather than a shared easygym one: taking money on behalf of others and passing it on is a regulated financial service. With the club’s own Stripe account easygym does not stand between the client and the club — the money never passes through easygym, and it cannot receive or transfer the club’s funds. easygym uses the club’s key only to create payments, check them, charge saved cards with the client’s consent and refund payments.

The numbers below are for a Stripe account registered in the UAE. For an account in another country Stripe has its own rates and its own payout rules — the pages these numbers come from are linked at the end of the section, and the date they were checked is at the top of this page.

What clients can pay with

Visa and Mastercard — the same cards through Apple Pay, Google Pay and Link. American Express is not on Stripe’s list for accounts in the UAE. Tabby and Tamara do not go through Stripe at all: a club that sells a yearly membership in instalments arranges that with them separately, outside easygym.

What Stripe keeps

Stripe keeps 2.9% + AED 1.00 of a successful payment with a card issued in the UAE. A card issued elsewhere — a tourist or a guest on holiday — adds 1%, and a payment Stripe has to convert adds another 1%.

On a membership of AED 300.00 that is about AED 9.70. The smallest payment Stripe takes is AED 2.00 — a cheaper one is paid in cash or on the club’s own card terminal.

Stripe takes its fee out of the payment before the payout, and easygym takes nothing out of client money at all.

When the money reaches the club

Stripe pays out in dirhams and only to a bank account in the UAE. The first payout goes about 7 days after the first payment; after that the money for a payment arrives in 5 business days. Payouts land on working days, never on a weekend or a public holiday, and the smallest payout is AED 20.00.

Tell clients about this before the launch: the money for the first memberships sold is not late, it is simply still on the way.

Tax and receipts

No fiscal device is needed in the UAE, and Stripe adds no tax to the price: the client pays exactly the amount on the website, and easygym emails them a receipt for it. A club registered for VAT therefore puts the tax inside the plan price and shows its TRN in the seller details — they go on the receipt and onto the offer page of the website.

The club needs its own Stripe account: this is where client money goes. Open it for the business that sells memberships to clients — the one named as the seller in the offer on the club website.

What Stripe asks for

Stripe verifies the business before the account can take real money. What exactly it asks for depends on the country and the type of business, and Stripe shows the list while you activate the account.

• In the UAE, the account is opened for a business with a trade licence.
• In the US, for a company or a sole proprietor, with the business details Stripe asks for.
• In other countries, check first that Stripe works there: the list of countries is on its website.
• Everywhere, Stripe asks about the business and the people behind it, and for a bank account to pay the money out to.

How to open the account

1. 1Sign up at stripe.com with the club’s business email.
2. 2Activate payments: the business details, its owner and the bank account for payouts. Until then the account works only in test mode — meanwhile you can go through the whole wizard with test keys.
3. 3Fill in the public details: the business name, the website — give it the club website on easygym — and support contacts. Clients see them on the payment page, in Stripe receipts and on their card statements.
4. 4In the same public details set the statement descriptor: the short name that stands next to the charge in the client’s bank app. Put the club name in it — a line nobody recognises a month after the purchase is what sends people to their bank to dispute the charge instead of calling the club.
5. 5In Settings → Branding set the club’s logo and colours, so the payment page looks like the club.

The country of an account cannot be changed after activation: a business in another country needs its own account.

easygym works with the club’s Stripe account through an API key. In the Stripe Dashboard open Developers → API keys. A secret key (sk_…) will work, but we recommend a restricted key (rk_…): it can do only what you allow, and if it ever leaks, nobody can use it for anything else.

A restricted key for easygym

1. 1On the API keys page choose “Create restricted key” and name it, for example, “easygym”.
2. 2Set the permissions from the table below and leave everything else at “None”.
3. 3Create the key and copy it right away: Stripe shows it only once.

Permissions the key needs

Write access includes read access. If the key lacks a permission, Stripe refuses the request, and the key’s request log in the Stripe Dashboard shows which request failed — add the permission with “Edit key”.

Where to paste the key

1. 1In the admin open Settings → Payments — step 2 of the wizard.
2. 2Paste the key into “Secret key”. The publishable key (pk_…) is optional: payment pages work without it.
3. 3Press “Verify and connect”. easygym first checks the key with Stripe and creates the webhook, and only then saves the key — encrypted.

The saved key is never shown again, not even to the club owner. To change it, press “Replace keys” and paste a new one; “Disconnect” deletes it from easygym.

Before taking real money, walk the client’s path with test keys: they work like live ones, but no money moves. In Stripe this is test mode, also called a sandbox, and its keys start with sk_test_ or rk_test_.

How to check

1. 1Connect a test key in step 2, the same way as a live one.
2. 2In step 3 create a small payment in the club currency — AED 4.00, $1.00, or €1.00. The amount is a little above the Stripe minimum, so it goes through whatever currency the account pays out in. Open the payment page and pay with a test card.
3. 3Press “Check payment”: easygym asks Stripe whether the payment has arrived.
4. 4Refund the payment with the button in the same step — it goes back the way a real refund would.
5. 5For the full picture, buy a plan on the club website: the membership becomes active, an email arrives and the purchase appears in the client’s account.

Test cards

Card 4242 4242 4242 4242 with any future expiry date and any CVC always goes through. Card 4000 0000 0000 0002 is always declined — this is how you see what a client sees when the bank says no.

Stripe takes payments in the club currency when it is AED, USD, or EUR. For any other currency the wizard creates no test payment: change the club currency first.

Test and live mode in Stripe are separate: each has its own keys, permissions and webhooks. So after the test you connect a live key the same way.

Switching to live

1. 1Wait until Stripe activates the account: without that, live keys take no payments.
2. 2In live mode create the same restricted key (rk_live_…) with the same permissions.
3. 3In step 2 press “Replace keys” and paste the live key. easygym creates a new webhook for it and removes the one it created before.
4. 4Make the first real payment: buy the cheapest plan on the club website with your own card, or create a payment in step 3 and refund it.

The admin shows which mode is connected: “Test mode” or “Live mode”.

“Disconnect” deletes the keys from easygym and removes the webhook easygym created, and the website stops opening payment pages. A page a client has already opened can still be paid in Stripe, but easygym will not see that payment — check such payments in the Stripe Dashboard.

Stripe reports each payment to easygym through a webhook — an address in easygym that Stripe calls when something happens to a payment. That is why a membership activates the moment the client pays, even if they close the page right away.

easygym creates it itself

When you connect the key, easygym creates the webhook in the club’s Stripe account: at this club’s own address, only for the events it needs, with the description “easygym”. It saves the webhook’s signing secret and checks every message against it, so a forged message is rejected.

Events easygym subscribes to

• payment_intent.succeeded
• payment_intent.processing
• payment_intent.payment_failed
• payment_intent.canceled
• checkout.session.completed
• checkout.session.expired
• charge.refunded
• charge.refund.updated

Other events of your account never reach easygym: the account can keep serving your other tools.

If easygym cannot create it

A key without the Webhook Endpoints permission, or an address Stripe does not accept, stops the wizard with an explanation. Then create the webhook by hand:

1. 1In the Stripe Dashboard open Developers → Webhooks and add an endpoint.
2. 2Endpoint URL — the address shown in step 2 of the wizard under “Adding the webhook by hand”, with a copy button.
3. 3Select the events from the list above.
4. 4Open the new endpoint, reveal its signing secret (whsec_…) and paste it into “Webhook signing secret (optional)” together with the key.

For a local test setup, forward events with the Stripe CLI (stripe listen) and paste the signing secret it prints.

Payments collect in the balance of the club’s Stripe account, and Stripe pays them out to the club’s bank account on the payout schedule of that account. The first payout usually takes longer than the following ones.

easygym takes no part in payouts and does not see them: every payout and its expected arrival date are shown in the Stripe Dashboard.

The bank account for payouts is added and changed in the Stripe payout settings. Which accounts and currencies are possible depends on the country of the Stripe account.

For an account in the UAE the currency, the schedule and the smallest payout are in “Payments in the UAE”.

Stripe charges its fees under the club’s own agreement with it. The rates depend on the country of the account, the card and the payment method, and they change — so we do not quote them here: the current ones are on the Stripe pricing page.

For an account in the UAE — the main market — the rates are in “Payments in the UAE”.

easygym deducts nothing from client payments. Its own fee is a separate payment for the platform, not a share of the club’s revenue.

What happens to the Stripe fee when a payment is refunded, and what a dispute costs, is also on the Stripe pricing page.

The club is the seller, so it decides on refunds — under the terms on the refunds page of its website.

A refund from easygym

1. 1Open the payment in the client’s card: Members → Online payments → Refund.
2. 2Enter the amount — everything that remains on the payment, or less — write the reason and confirm. easygym refunds it to the card the client paid with. A refund of everything that remains at once cancels the membership and the access the payment paid for; a partial refund leaves them.
3. 3When the money reaches the client depends on their bank. Until Stripe confirms the refund, the payment shows “Refund in progress”.

Refunds are available to staff who manage the club’s money.

A refund in the Stripe Dashboard

You can also refund in the Stripe Dashboard. easygym learns about a full refund and marks the payment as refunded, but leaves the membership as it is — what to do with it is up to the club. A partial refund does not change the payment in easygym.

If money arrives for a sale that has already been voided — say, a guest paid the QR page after the cashier cancelled it — easygym marks the payment “Needs refund” on the “Payments” tab: refund it to the client.

Rarely, the client’s bank does not accept a refund made from easygym or a full refund from the Stripe Dashboard — say, the card has been closed. Stripe then puts the money back in the club’s balance, which can take up to 30 days. easygym marks the payment “Needs refund” on the “Payments” tab with the bank’s reason, and the client’s card shows “Bank declined the refund”. Refund it again from there, or return the money to the client another way. A membership cancelled with the refund stays cancelled. A failed partial refund from the Stripe Dashboard changes nothing in easygym, just like the partial refund itself.

Disputes (chargebacks) are handled in the Stripe Dashboard: easygym does not receive them. How to respond to one is explained in the Stripe documentation.

For a membership to renew by itself, the client’s card has to be saved. The card is stored in the club’s Stripe account: easygym keeps only Stripe’s reference to it and the masked number — never the full number, the expiry date or the CVC.

How it works

• The card is saved only with the client’s separate consent on the purchase page, next to the auto-renewal terms: the amount, how often and how to cancel.
• Before the first automatic charge, and before a charge at a new price, the client gets an email in advance.
• On the charge date, a few days before the renewal date, easygym charges the saved card through the club’s Stripe account, without the client.
• If the bank declines, or asks the client to confirm the payment, the client gets an email with a link to pay, and easygym tries the card again over the following days. If every attempt fails, auto-renewal stops, and the renewal can still be paid by the link.
• After every charge the client gets a receipt by email.
• The client stops auto-renewal in their account: My account → Memberships → Stop auto-renewal. A card removed there is also detached in Stripe.

The front desk needs no card terminal for Stripe: the guest pays on their own phone, and the money goes to the same club Stripe account as payments on the website.

How it goes

1. 1The cashier adds items to the receipt in the register and chooses “Card (QR)”.
2. 2“Show QR code” opens a Stripe payment page for the receipt amount and shows its QR code on the screen.
3. 3The guest scans the code with the phone camera and pays by card, Apple Pay or Google Pay.
4. 4As soon as Stripe confirms the payment, the register shows “Payment received”: the sale is recorded and the stock is updated.