Stripe website requirements checklist for online merchants

Stripe’s published website checklist is short and public. The reasons merchants get paused mid-review are often not exotic — they are about what’s missing from the public site.

Definition. A Stripe-ready website displays a clear product or service description, transparent pricing in a stated currency, accessible refund and cancellation language, a way to contact the business, terms of service, and a privacy policy. HTTPS is mandatory. This guide walks through each requirement and the failure modes we see most often.

What Stripe’s checklist actually says

Stripe publishes a website checklist that summarizes what reviewers look at. The headline requirements are:

• A clear description of what is being sold
• Currency clearly indicated
• Customer service contact information, ideally more than a contact form
• Fulfillment policies including refunds, returns, cancellations, and delivery
• Disclosure of any legal or export restrictions that apply to the business
• A privacy policy
• A physical business address where applicable
• Clear disclosure of promotional terms, free trial conditions, and pricing changes
• HTTPS with secure payment information handling
• Optional but encouraged: accepted card brand logos

These are not exotic requirements. The friction comes from how merchants implement them.

The seven gaps we see most often

1. Refund policy missing from the footer

Many merchants have a refund clause inside their Terms of Service but no standalone refund policy page linked from the footer. Stripe reviewers and customers both expect a discoverable refund policy. If your refund language only exists inside a 12-section ToS at /legal, treat it as missing.

Fix. Publish a refund policy at /refund-policy. Link it from the footer of every page. Include: refund window in days, conditions for eligibility, refund processing time, and the steps to request a refund.

2. Free-trial-to-paid disclosure is vague

If your pricing page says “Try free for 14 days” without naming the charge amount, the charge date, and the cancellation steps, your conversion is at risk of being flagged for billing clarity. This is also one of the highest sources of friendly-fraud disputes.

Fix. Near the trial CTA, state: “After 14 days, your card will be charged $19.00/month unless you cancel. Cancel any time in your account settings or by emailing support.”

3. Product description differs between landing and checkout

Reviewers compare what you advertise on the landing page against what the customer actually buys. If the landing page describes a “lifetime license” but checkout sells a “12-month plan,” that mismatch causes review pauses.

Fix. Audit the language on /, /pricing, /checkout, and the receipt email. They should describe the same product in the same terms.

4. Currency not displayed next to price

“$19/mo” without a currency code is ambiguous to international buyers and weakens dispute defense. Stripe’s checklist explicitly requires currency to be displayed.

Fix. Use $19 USD / month or €19 EUR / month everywhere a price appears.

5. Subscription cancellation flow not described

If a customer signs up for a subscription, they should be able to find out how to cancel without contacting support. Cancellation friction increases disputes and triggers Stripe’s billing-clarity review heuristics.

Fix. Publish a cancellation page or a clearly labeled section in your subscription terms. Describe the exact cancellation steps. Provide self-serve cancellation where possible.

6. Contact pathway is form-only

A contact form is fine. A contact form as the only contact pathway is a gap. Stripe’s checklist asks for ways to reach customer service “ideally more than a contact form,” because forms can fail silently and customers cannot verify a response will arrive.

Fix. Add a visible support email address alongside the form. If the business has a phone number, list it.

7. Legal entity and address not visible

For businesses where Stripe expects a real business location (most physical-goods stores, professional services), the legal entity name and address should appear in the footer or on a contact page. Missing legal identity is a common cause of mid-activation requests.

Fix. Add the legal entity name and address to the footer. If you are a consumer-facing brand operating under a different trade name, both should appear.

A 30-minute audit you can run yourself

1. Open your homepage in an incognito window. Can you find what is sold, the price, the currency, the contact email, and at least three policy links in the footer? If not, fix that first.
2. Click the refund policy link. Does it explain when, how, and within what window? If it lives inside ToS, lift it into its own page.
3. If you have a subscription, can a customer find the cancellation flow without contacting support?
4. If you have a free trial, does the pricing page name the charge amount, the charge date, and the cancellation steps before the signup button?
5. Open the product or service description on your landing page side by side with the checkout summary. Do they describe the same thing?
6. Visit https://www.yourdomain.com and https://yourdomain.com — do both resolve to HTTPS without warnings?
7. View the source of your homepage. Does it set a real <title> and <meta name="description">, or are they auto-generated placeholders?

If any answer is no, you have a finding you can fix before Stripe asks about it.

What this guide does not cover

This is a website-foundation guide. It does not cover Stripe’s restricted businesses list, KYC requirements, or dispute evidence preparation. Each is a separate readiness layer.

We are an independent advisory; we do not represent Stripe. This guide cites Stripe’s public documentation but reflects our own editorial judgment about what most often goes wrong.