Stripe and Commas for paid Webinars

Stripe and Commas are the payment providers implemented in Webinars → Settings → Payment accounts. They collect revenue for paid Webinar checkouts. Pricing remains configured on each Webinar.

Provider visibility and the ability to connect can vary by plan, environment, country, workspace role, agency ownership, and rollout. A read-only banner or disabled action means a workspace administrator must complete that step.

Readiness requirements

A payment provider is not ready merely because credentials were saved. The current screen evaluates:

• The connected account identity.
• Whether charges are enabled.
• Whether payouts are enabled or confirmed.
• Whether provider webhooks are configured.
• Sandbox or production environment.
• Last validation time.
• Paid Webinars that block disconnection.

Do not enable public paid registration until the provider row reports Ready and an end-to-end test has confirmed the expected currency, amount, receipt, registration, refund process, and webhook-driven state changes.

Connect Stripe

Stripe uses a hosted onboarding flow rather than asking Spacebrain users to paste a secret API key.

1. Open Webinars → Settings → Payment accounts.
2. Find Stripe and choose Connect Stripe.
3. Choose the country where the business is legally established.
4. Review the warning that this country cannot be changed after Stripe setup begins.
5. Continue to Stripe and complete the provider's onboarding requirements for the intended legal business and payout account.
6. Return to Spacebrain. The page refreshes the Stripe connection state.
7. If the row shows Needs attention, choose Finish setup or Refresh status after completing the outstanding item in Stripe.
8. Confirm that charges, payouts, and webhooks show ready before assigning Stripe to a production Webinar.

The exact identity, verification, capability, country, payout, and compliance questions belong to Stripe and may differ by account. Do not invent substitute information to clear a requirement. If onboarding opens the wrong Stripe account, stop before accepting payments and reconnect through the correct business owner.

When the account is connected directly by the workspace, Open dashboard opens the related Stripe dashboard and Refresh status rechecks readiness. An account marked as inherited from an agency is managed by that agency; contact an agency administrator when the account or readiness must change.

Connect Commas

Commas uses credentials entered in Spacebrain.

1. Open Webinars → Settings → Payment accounts.
2. Find Commas and choose Connect Commas.
3. Enter the Commas API key.
4. Enter the creator ID or account reference supplied by Commas.
5. Choose Sandbox — test payments only or Production — accept real payments.
6. Choose Connect and verify.
7. After connection, use Test connection and review account, charges, payouts, webhook, and validation details.

Credentials are encrypted after saving, and the current screen does not display the API key again. Store the source secret in an approved password or secrets manager, never in a shared document or support ticket. Rotate it according to the provider's process when the owner changes or exposure is suspected.

Start in Sandbox when it is offered. A successfully connected sandbox is intentionally not ready for real money. Complete test checkout, failure, cancellation, and refund paths there, then explicitly connect or switch to the production account and repeat a small controlled production test.

Commas readiness includes signed webhook delivery. Valid API credentials do not prove that a checkout event, payment confirmation, or refund update can return to Spacebrain. Use the provider row and actual test transactions to validate the whole path.

Configure a paid Webinar

After the provider is ready:

1. Open the intended Webinar and enable its paid registration or payment configuration.
2. Select the verified provider.
3. Set the exact price and currency supported by the product and provider account.
4. Review customer-facing description, refund terms, tax handling, and support ownership.
5. Publish only to an internal or unlisted audience for the first test.
6. Complete a checkout with a permitted provider test method in sandbox, or an approved small real transaction in production.
7. Confirm the provider transaction, Spacebrain payment state, registration, receipt, join access, and related automation.
8. Exercise a failed payment and refund or cancellation path before public launch.

Payment-provider webhooks can arrive after the browser returns from checkout. Do not treat the return page alone as final payment authority, and do not manually mark a customer paid simply because the provider dashboard shows a pending object. Let the documented reconciliation path finish or escalate with safe identifiers.

Troubleshoot readiness

• Not connected: authorize Stripe or enter and verify Commas credentials.
• Needs attention: read the provider message and detail fields; finish onboarding, enable charges or payouts, configure event delivery, or retest.
• Sandbox: test transactions only; do not advertise live payment acceptance.
• Webhook setup required: the account may authenticate while payment state cannot reliably synchronize.
• Inherited from agency: the workspace cannot replace or disconnect it; contact the agency administrator.
• Status unavailable: wait briefly, check provider availability, and retry once before escalating.

When reporting a payment issue, include workspace, Webinar, provider, environment, time and timezone, currency and amount, safe checkout or transaction identifier, and the displayed readiness message. Never send full card data, API keys, OAuth codes, cookies, bank details, or identity documents to Spacebrain support.

Disconnect or replace a processor

The page lists paid Webinars that currently block disconnection. For each blocker, change the provider or disable payment before disconnecting. This protects active checkouts from losing their processor.

Before confirming disconnection:

1. Stop or migrate new paid registration.
2. Account for in-flight checkout sessions and pending webhooks.
3. Preserve the access needed for refunds, disputes, taxes, payout reconciliation, and records retention.
4. Update customer support and finance owners.
5. Disconnect in Spacebrain, then separately review provider-side authorization and webhook endpoints.
6. Test the replacement provider before reopening registration.

Disconnecting stops new Spacebrain checkouts from using that account; it does not erase completed transactions or remove legal and financial obligations at the provider.