Payment methods decide how a tribe can pay. They are managed in the store settings area, and until you enable at least one, nobody can check out. A tribe is one location, branch or business unit inside your organisation.
The four kinds
| Type | What it means | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
| Credit card | Charged through your payment provider at checkout, and stored for renewals. | Immediate card payments and renewals. |
| Bank account | ACH direct debit for USD stores with US bank accounts enabled on the store owner’s organisation Stripe account. | Larger recurring amounts where card fees hurt. |
| Invoice | The order is placed on account and settled later. | Tribes you bill on terms rather than collect from up front. |
| Custom | Anything you handle yourself, with instructions you write. | Payroll deduction, offsetting against a rebate, internal transfers. |
Connecting Stripe and enabling card checkout
Connect Stripe once in the store owner’s Organisation Settings → Payment Providers and set the provider to Active. Gorilla Dash adds an inactive Credit Card method to each of that organisation’s network stores. Stores created later inherit the same connection. Existing card methods keep their names, instructions and active state.
Open Network Store → Settings → Payment Methods. Under Stripe connection, check the account name, then turn on Accept credit cards at checkout when you are ready to offer cards to buyers. The switch saves immediately. You do not need to add Stripe again or choose another provider for the store. If the store has more than one existing card method, each keeps its own switch.
If the store shows a Set up card checkout button instead of the switch, the Stripe connection was made before this screen existed, so the store has no card method yet. Select the button once to add the inactive Credit Card method, then turn on Accept credit cards at checkout.
Use Edit Payment Method to change the card method’s name or payment message. Credit cards and ACH bank payments are both managed under Stripe connection. Use Add Other Payment Method for Invoice or Custom methods. To stop offering cards at checkout, turn the switch off rather than deleting the Stripe connection.
Enabling ACH for tribes and team members
First enable US bank accounts on the payment provider in the store owner’s Organisation Settings. Then open Network Store → Settings → Payment Methods, under Stripe connection, turn on Accept US bank payments (ACH) at checkout. The switch saves immediately. Existing ACH methods keep their names and product selections. If a product restricts payment methods, include ACH in its Allowed Payment Methods. ACH requires USD. For an AUD store with BECS enabled on the organisation Stripe provider, use Accept bank payments at checkout to create or enable its bank payment method; buyers can use an existing verified Australian bank account. Adding a new bank account inside checkout currently supports US accounts only. Both tribes and team members shopping through their profiles use this organisation account; they do not need a tribe payment provider.
At checkout, the buyer selects the ACH payment method and then Add Bank Account, accepts the authorization and follows Stripe’s verification steps. Only a verified account can be selected at checkout. The order shows Processing while the bank debit settles, normally in 3–5 business days. A bank transfer made outside the platform is different: record it as a payment when it arrives.
Invoice and custom methods do not collect money
Both let a tribe complete an order without paying at that moment. The order arrives unpaid and sits in Accounts Receivable until you record the payment. That is the intended behaviour, but it means the money is now your job to chase.
The payment message is what the buyer is shown when they pick the method. Use it to say exactly what happens next — where to transfer, what reference to quote, when payment is due. A vague message here becomes a support ticket later.
Subscriptions need a stored method
A renewal is charged automatically, so it needs something to charge. A tribe on a subscription with only an invoice method will generate an unpaid order every cycle, which somebody then has to chase every cycle.
The dashboard tile Will be billed, no card exists for exactly this — it lists tribes due to renew with nothing saved to charge.
Restricting methods per product
A product can limit which methods it accepts. Leave it open unless there is a real reason — a high-value item you will not put on account, or a subscription that should only ever be bought with a card that can be charged again.
Turning one off
Deactivating a method removes it from checkout. Existing subscriptions already charging against a stored card keep working — but if you are retiring a method entirely, move those tribes onto another one first, or their next renewal fails.