How payments work on Offkai

• Free events — no money changes hands. Offkai does nothing payment-related.
• External methods (Venmo / Zelle / PayPal / Wise / cash) — attendee pays host directly. Offkai displays the host's handle and the attendee uploads a screenshot for the host to verify. Offkai never sees or holds the money.
• Card (Stripe) — Stripe processes the charge. The host is the merchant of record.

Offkai uses Stripe Connect Direct Charges. Concretely:

• Funds settle to your Stripe account, not Offkai's.
• Your business name appears on attendee statements as <your descriptor>* OFFKAI APP.
• Card networks, Stripe, and tax authorities treat you as the seller.

Card payments run through Stripe Connect. You connect once from Profile → Stripe, pick your country (US / JP / SG / AU / GB), and finish Stripe's hosted onboarding (ID, bank account). A few things to know:

• Two-factor is required before you can connect — Stripe holds real money, so the connect step is gated behind 2FA on your Offkai account.
• Onboarding incomplete — if you start but don't finish, your profile shows an amber “finish onboarding” banner with a resume link. Card can't be enabled on events until charges are active.
• Active — once Stripe verifies you, the section turns green and you can tick Card (Stripe) on any event.
• Restricted — if Stripe later needs more info, payouts pause and the banner turns red with the exact requirement and a resume link.
• Disconnecting is blocked while you have active events accepting card or pending Stripe RSVPs — clear those first so nobody pays into a disconnected account.

Your country sets your settlement currency and fee rates (see Multi-currency below). It can't be changed after onboarding, so pick the country your bank account is in.

Stripe's hosted onboarding is its own form, separate from Offkai, and it's where most hosts get stuck. None of it requires a registered business or a website — you can sign up as an individual. Here's what the confusing fields actually want:

• A business website — not required. Stripe just wants a link where your events or services are promoted, so a social page works: your Instagram, X, or Discord. Paste the full URL (e.g. instagram.com/yourpage), not just your handle. No online presence at all? Pick the option to describe what you sell and write a sentence instead.
• Business type — most hosts are an Individual (sole proprietor), not a company. Pick Individual unless you actually run a registered business; you can sell tickets either way.
• Industry / product description — keep it plain and honest, e.g. “Tickets to fan meetups and events” or “Event admission”. It just tells Stripe what you're charging for.
• Your ID, SSN (or last 4), date of birth — identity verification (KYC) that Stripe is legally required to do before paying anyone out. It stays with Stripe — Offkai never sees it.
• Bank account — where your payouts land. Use an account in the country you picked above.

If a link expires mid-onboarding, your profile shows a resume link — just pick up where you left off. Stripe remembers your progress, so you can save and come back.

Your responsibilities

• Chargebacks. If an attendee disputes a charge with their card issuer, the funds come back from your Stripe balance + Stripe charges a $15 dispute fee (regardless of outcome). Win the dispute and you keep the original charge; lose it and you lose both.
• Income tax. Ticket sales are your income. Stripe issues a 1099-K when you cross IRS thresholds (currently $5,000 federal; varies by state, some as low as $600). Consult an accountant.
• Sales tax. If your jurisdiction taxes event tickets, you collect and remit. Offkai doesn't calculate or remit taxes.
• Refunds. Refund amounts come out of your Stripe balance. Two non-recoverable costs stay with you on each refund: the $0.35 Offkai service fee (charged at sale, not refunded by us) and Stripe's original processing fee (~$0.60 on a $20 charge — Stripe doesn't refund their own fee). Net: a refunded $20 ticket costs you ~$0.95.

What Offkai handles

• Event listing, RSVPs, ticket emails, QR check-in, host/attendee communication.
• Routing the payment through Stripe Connect with the $0.35 service fee.
• A receipt UI on the attendee's /my-rsvps page.
• Cancellation-policy logic (when an attendee self-refund is eligible vs requires you).

What Stripe handles

• Card processing.
• KYC — identity verification of you as a seller.
• Payouts to your bank account on Stripe's schedule.
• Receipt emails to attendees on every successful payment.
• The dispute / chargeback workflow.

What attendees pay and what you take home depends on (1) the ticket price and (2) whether the event uses pass-through fees (default) or absorb fees. Numbers below assume the default +0% processing-fee buffer (Stripe's base US-card rate of 2.9% + $0.30); international cards cost more on the Stripe side.

Pass-through (default) — fees ride on top

The attendee covers both Offkai's service fee and Stripe's processing fee. You receive the full ticket price.

Absorb — fees come out of your payout

Ticket price is the flat total. You absorb both Offkai's service fee and Stripe's processing fee from your payout.

The math

• Offkai service fee: flat $0.35 per paid Stripe ticket.
• Stripe processing fee (US cards): 2.9% × total charge + $0.30. International cards: 3.9% + $0.30. Currency-converted: +1% on top.
• Processing-fee buffer — a per-event setting you choose in the event form (0% / +1% / +2%). It adds margin on top of Stripe's 2.9% baseline so international-card variance doesn't eat into your payout. Tables above assume +0%; bump to +1% and the attendee pays a touch more while your payout holds at face value regardless of card type.

Offkai supports hosts settling in USD, JPY, SGD, AUD, and GBP (set by your Stripe country). When you create an event you also choose the currency attendees are charged in — and it doesn't have to match your settlement currency.

• Price in any supported currency. A US host running an event in Tokyo can price in ¥3,000; Stripe charges the attendee in JPY and converts to your USD payout at Stripe's daily rate.
• Live FX estimate. When the event currency differs from your settlement currency, the price field shows an estimate (“≈ $20 at today's rate”). It's only an estimate — Stripe converts at their rate at charge time.
• Zero-decimal currencies (JPY, KRW, …) have no cents, so prices step in whole units — ¥3000, not ¥30.00. Offkai handles this everywhere: checkout, receipts, and refunds.
• Currency is locked after creation. Set it right the first time — you can't switch an event's currency once it exists.

Conversion adds a small Stripe cost (~1% on top of the card rate), already reflected in the “currency-converted” line of the fee math above.

Hosts can edit an attendee's guest count or add-ons after the original RSVP. What happens next depends on how the attendee originally paid.

Stripe attendees — top-up payments

If the edit increases what the attendee owes, they receive an email with a “Pay $X.XX now” button linking to Stripe Checkout for just the delta. The same Payment Link surfaces as a yellow “Payment due” banner on their /my-rsvps detail page until paid.

• The top-up is a separate charge on top of the original RSVP charge — both stay intact, each with its own Stripe receipt.
• If the event is later cancelled (or the attendee cancels), the top-up amount is included in the refund calculation, even if the host edited the order multiple times.
• For hosts: a paid top-up is its own charge in Stripe. If you later need to refund an RSVP that has a top-up, refund the top-up charge separately from the Stripe Dashboard.

External-method attendees (Venmo / Zelle / PayPal / Wise / cash)

No automatic charge or refund — the host settles the difference with you directly via your original method. You'll get a “Your RSVP for {event} was updated” email:

• If you owe more, the email shows the extra amount and which payment method to use.
• If you're owed a refund, the email lets you know and the host follows up.

Order history on your RSVP page

Whenever a host adjusts your order, an Order history card appears on your /my-rsvps detail page. Each entry is expandable and shows when the change happened, which host made it, what changed (guest count, add-ons), the new total and delta from before, and an optional reason from the host.

Every event carries a cancellation policy you pick when creating it. It sets when an attendee is entitled to a refund and drives the wording in their emails and on the event page:

• Flexible — full refund up to 7 days before the event.
• Standard — full refund up to 48 hours before the event.
• Non-refundable — no refunds.
• Custom — your own policy text, shown to attendees verbatim.

When you cancel an entire event, every paid RSVP is refunded and the seat freed — Stripe attendees are refunded to their card automatically; external-method attendees you settle manually. You can also refund a single RSVP any time from the guest list.

On any refund the $0.35 Offkai fee and Stripe's original processing fee stay with you — Stripe doesn't return their fee. The refund confirmation shows the exact face value the attendee gets back before you commit.

1. Reconcile Stripe payouts monthly — match payouts to ticket revenue from your events. Stripe's dashboard has this view.
2. Export your guest list after each event (Guests → Export CSV) — redundant copy alongside Stripe's records.
3. Keep receipts for event expenses (venue, supplies) so you can deduct them against ticket income at tax time.
4. Document any refund decisions beyond the auto-refund window — Offkai records the initiator per RSVP, but a separate note helps if a chargeback comes in later.
5. Get an accountant if you cross $5k+ in annual ticket sales.

You retain control of your funds — they go to your bank, not Offkai's. Offkai stays out of the money-services-business legal regime. Each host is independently accountable for their own event. The trade-off: more responsibility on you, less middleman friction.

• Setting up Stripe + the refund flow → Hosting Guide §6
• Fee structure → Hosting Guide §7
• Statement descriptor format → Hosting Guide §7.9