Connect Stripe to Xero so payouts reconcile themselves
Stripe pays you in lumps. A single deposit hits your bank covering six invoices, minus fees, minus a refund, and now you're meant to work out which is which by hand.
Where it hurts
The number Stripe sends to your bank almost never matches an invoice total, because Stripe has already skimmed its fee and rolled several sales into one payout. So reconciliation turns into a puzzle, and most people either fudge it or leave it for the accountant to sort at year end.
The fees are the sneaky part. If you don't record them properly they quietly disappear from your accounts, which means your profit looks better than it is and your VAT position can drift.
Do this for a busy month of card takings and it's an evening gone, staring at two screens trying to make one figure equal another.
What I'd build
I'd set up a proper Stripe to Xero connection so each payout arrives in Xero already broken down: the sales, the fees as an expense, any refunds, all matched to the right invoices. Xero has a Stripe feed for this and there are solid bridging tools where the native one falls short. Once it's wired up, your bank reconciliation for card payments becomes a case of clicking OK rather than doing detective work.
What changes
- Stripe payouts land in Xero already itemised, fees included
- Reconciling card takings usually takes minutes rather than an evening
- Your fees are recorded properly, so profit and VAT are accurate
- No more retyping figures off the Stripe dashboard
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