There are two very different ways an online-shop platform can handle the money your customers pay you, and the difference is worth real money over a year of trading. Either the platform sits in the middle — taking the payment, holding it, skimming a cut and paying you later — or your shop runs on your own payment account and the money is yours from the first order. Agora takes the second path: you connect your own Stripe, and there are no platform transaction fees. This guide explains what that actually means and what to check.
The two models, plainly
Model one: the platform is the middleman. Your customer pays the platform. The platform holds the funds, deducts a transaction fee — often a percentage of every sale on top of a monthly subscription — and pays out the rest to you on its schedule. You are, in effect, renting access to your own revenue.
Model two: you own the payment account. Your customer pays you, through your own Stripe account connected to the shop. The platform is just the software that shows the products and runs the cart; it never touches the funds. There is no platform cut to take, because the money never passes through the platform to take a cut from.
Agora is model two. You charge €2 a month for the software and nothing else — no percentage of sales, no per-order cent, no revenue share. Stripe charges its own standard processing fee on each card payment, directly to you; Agora takes no share of that and adds nothing to it.
What “no transaction fees” does and doesn’t mean
Be precise here, because it matters. “No transaction fees” means Agora takes nothing from your sales — not that a card payment is free to process. Every card processor, Stripe included, charges a small fee per successful payment; that is the cost of moving card money and it is unavoidable on any platform. The difference is that with the own-Stripe model there is exactly one fee — Stripe’s, paid to Stripe — instead of Stripe’s fee plus a platform’s cut layered on top.
On a €40 order, a platform skimming even 2% is taking €0.80 of your money on every single sale, on top of your subscription. Across a few hundred orders a month, that is the difference between a plan that costs a fixed €2 and one that quietly scales its bite with your success.
Why paying yourself directly is better than just cheaper
The own-Stripe model buys you more than a lower bill:
- Faster access to your money. Stripe pays out to your bank on its normal schedule, with nothing gated behind the platform’s own payout timing. You are not waiting on a middleman to release funds.
- You control refunds and disputes. Because the payments live in your Stripe account, you handle refunds, receipts and chargebacks directly, with Stripe’s own tools — not through a platform’s re-wrapped version of them.
- A clean paper trail. Your Stripe dashboard is a complete, first-party record of every payment, which makes your bookkeeping and your accountant’s job simpler.
- No lock-in on the money. Your customer relationships and payment history are in an account you own. If you ever leave the shop platform, your Stripe account and its history come with you.
How connecting Stripe works
The setup is short:
- In your Agora dashboard, choose to connect Stripe.
- If you already have a Stripe account, you authorise the connection in a couple of clicks. If you do not, you complete Stripe’s own sign-up — business or individual details, and the bank account you want to be paid into.
- Once connected, your checkout takes card payments straight into that account, from your first order onward.
You keep full ownership of the Stripe account throughout — Agora is granted permission to create charges for your shop, not to own your balance or your payouts.
What to check before you start selling
A few sensible checks:
- Your payout bank details are correct in Stripe, so your money reaches the right account.
- Your Stripe account is fully activated (Stripe may ask for a little verification before it releases payouts — standard for any account).
- Your prices are set in the currency your Stripe account settles in. Agora runs one shop in one currency and does not convert between currencies, so decide your selling currency up front.
- You understand your own tax position. Because you are the merchant of record, VAT and tax on your sales are yours to handle — see our general primer, do I need to charge VAT?
The bottom line
Connecting your own Stripe is the single choice that makes a €2-a-month shop possible and keeps your revenue yours. Your customers pay you, Stripe pays you out, and the software just runs the shop. A good month is entirely yours — not a bigger invoice.
Ready to keep every euro? Start your free trial → — 30 days free, no card, then €2 a month with no transaction fees.