Stripe for sports clubs

Guide · 8 min read

Stripe for sports clubs is how most padel, tennis and racket venues now take court payments online, and the way it is connected decides whether you truly own your money. The short version: connect your own Stripe account, be the merchant of record, and pay 0% platform commission.

Be the merchant of record

Being the merchant of record means your club is the legal seller on every transaction. With direct payments, RocketCourt uses Stripe Connect to link your own Stripe account, so funds settle to you and you control payouts, refunds and disputes. This is very different from a marketplace that collects into its own balance and pays you out later, minus a cut.

Why it matters in practice: you set the bank details, the statement descriptor your players see, and the payout timing. Nothing sits in a third-party wallet, and there is no platform between you and your cash.

How Stripe payouts work

When a player pays, Stripe authorises and captures the card, then settles the balance to your bank on the payout schedule you choose in your Stripe dashboard, typically daily or weekly. Because RocketCourt never holds funds, there is no marketplace clearing step and no waiting for a platform to release your money.

Refunds, disputes and chargebacks

Refunds are issued straight from your own account. In RocketCourt a full or partial refund is one click and auto-frees the slot so it can be rebooked, and every refund is reflected in your payments list as taken, refunded and net. If a player raises a dispute or chargeback, it is handled in your Stripe dashboard because you are the merchant of record, the same place you would respond with evidence. There is no platform deciding the outcome on your behalf.

Stripe fees vs platform commission

Two costs often get confused. Stripe's standard card fees apply to each transaction and are billed by Stripe to your account, the same as any business taking cards. Separately, many booking platforms add a commission on top of that, often a percentage of every booking. RocketCourt's commission is 0%: you pay only Stripe's processing fee plus a flat monthly subscription, so your cost does not climb as your bookings grow. See the difference on keeping 100% of your booking revenue and our flat pricing.

Direct payments vs a marketplace wallet

A marketplace model pools players across many venues and holds the money centrally, which is what lets those platforms charge per-booking commission and control your payouts. Direct payments invert that: the relationship and the funds are yours. You keep your customer data, your branding on a white-label site and custom domain, and the full booking value. If you are weighing the two, our comparison of the alternatives lays it out.

Security and PCI compliance

Payments run through Stripe Checkout, so card details are entered on Stripe's hosted, PCI-compliant pages and are never stored by RocketCourt or your club. That keeps your PCI scope minimal and means you are not handling raw card numbers. Reputable booking software orchestrates the checkout on your account rather than touching the funds.

Cut no-shows by taking payment up front

Taking payment at the point of booking, rather than on arrival, gives players a reason to turn up and tends to reduce no-shows. Pair it with a clear free-cancellation window and a waitlist that refills freed slots automatically, and you protect both your court occupancy and your revenue.