Getting paid - Stripe, PayPal and Wise
Buyers always pay by card through Stripe. What you choose is where your money lands - a bank account via Stripe Connect, a PayPal address, or a local bank account in 160+ countries via Wise.
There are three payout methods on /payments, and picking between them is simpler than the three logos suggest, because one of them is not really a choice you make.
The buyer's side is always Stripe
However you get paid, the money arrives the same way: the buyer pays by card, Stripe processes it, and the funds sit in platform escrow until the work is approved. Nothing you choose here changes what the buyer sees or does.
What you are choosing is where the money goes when escrow releases. That is why the setup cards live under "Payment Setup" rather than in checkout, and why having none of them configured does not stop you selling. It stops you being paid, and the earnings wait in your balance until a method exists.
Stripe Connect - the default when your country is covered
Connect pays out to your own bank account, and because Stripe is already holding the money it is the shortest path: no second provider, no second set of details.
The catch is coverage. Connect payouts work in the countries Stripe supports for payouts, which is 42 of them here. If your country is not on that list the onboarding will tell you so rather than letting you finish and discover it at payout time.
Choose Connect if it offers your country. It is the least moving parts.
Wise - a local bank account in 160+ countries
Wise exists for everyone Connect cannot reach, and for anyone who would simply rather be paid into a local account in their own currency. It pays out to a normal bank account in 160+ countries, and the setup form asks for exactly the fields your country and currency actually need (an IBAN in the eurozone, sort code and account number in the UK, institution and transit numbers in Canada), because it reads those requirements from Wise itself rather than guessing.
Two things worth knowing before you pick it:
- The transfer fee comes out of your payout. REWORK does not add a markup;
what you receive is the released amount minus what Wise charges to move it and convert it. The amount is shown against each transfer.
- It is a payout rail, not a checkout option. Buyers never see it.
Currency is part of the setup, not a per-payout choice. Saving details in a currency means payouts convert to it, so pick the currency of the account you actually spend from.
PayPal - an address instead of an account
PayPal pays out to your PayPal email address. There is no onboarding: you save the address and that is the whole setup, which makes it the fastest to turn on and the easiest to get wrong. A typo in the address is a payout to somebody else, so check it the way you would check an account number.
PayPal is also a checkout option, so some orders arrive paid through PayPal rather than by card.
If PayPal payouts are ever paused platform-wide, the payments page says so where you would enter the address, and Stripe or Wise keep working meanwhile.
Having more than one
You can set up several. If you have both Connect and Wise, a toggle on the Wise card decides which one releases actually use. Set it deliberately, since otherwise a payout can land somewhere you were not watching.
What to pick
- Your country is in Stripe's payout list: use Connect. Fewest steps,
fewest parties.
- It is not, or you want your own currency in a local account: use Wise.
- **You want money in a PayPal balance, or you already run your business from
one**: use PayPal.
None of them changes your fee, your escrow protection, or how a buyer pays. They are only the last step.