1 Introduction

Stripe is a major global payment service provider and the preferred payment gateway for many overseas platforms (such as Gumroad, Lemon Squeezy, and Buy Me a Coffee) and independent websites. However, for users in mainland China, registering a valid Stripe account and successfully linking it to a withdrawal account often faces several hurdles. Official service is not yet available in mainland China, and domestic addresses, mobile phone numbers, and bank card numbers often trigger risk control, resulting in registration failure or account restrictions.

Currently, most tutorials on Stripe registration and activation on the Internet start from the company or team identity, and often require providing the business license of the place of registration, company tax number (such as SSN or EIN in the United States), local mobile phone number, and even real local legal person information, etc. This is obviously not realistic for individual users.

Actually, if you just want to successfully register and activate a Stripe account, the process is not complicated, and the information requirements are not that high. As long as you prepare a relatively reasonable set of information (such as a supported registration address, mobile phone number, and personal information), you can successfully complete the account activation.Of course, if you want to withdraw and receive money later, you also need to prepare a local bank account in the place of registration.(For example, bank cards in Singapore), which will also be mentioned in the article.

This articleIndividual usersFrom this perspective, it fully records the entire process of my registration and activation of a Stripe account from scratch, including region selection and information filling during registration, how to avoid common risk control triggers, and precautions for binding a local bank account.

If you plan to work on overseas projects, build an independent website, use a third-party platform to sell digital products, or just want to have a Stripe account that can receive and withdraw money normally, then this article may save you a lot of trial and error costs.

2. Register and activate Stripe

2.1 Visit the official website

First, visit the Stripe website:https://stripe.com.

It is recommended to use a stable scientific Internet environment.Prioritize IP addresses from Singapore, New Zealand, Japan, or other countries that are not blocked by OpenAI and supported by Stripe.Do not use shared proxies, airport accelerators or unstable IP addresses to avoid being judged as a high-risk account right after registration.

Note:When registering, please select a non-mainland China region, such as Singapore or other supported countriesOtherwise, you may be redirected to the Chinese Stripe. In addition, do not use "invitation codes" or "promotional links" circulating online. These may come from bulk registrants who abuse their accounts and indirectly affect your account credit.

2.2 Registration Email Suggestions

Please be sure to use a mainstream international mailbox, such as:

• Gmail
• Outlook (Hotmail)
• iCloud
• ProtonMail (alternative)

Avoid using domestic email accounts such as 163, QQ, etc. Many Stripe emails cannot be received and the registration process may be stuck.

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After Stripe registration is successful,The account email address will be permanently bound and cannot be changedEven if you registered through a Google account, you can only cancel the Google login method and cannot replace it with another email address.

This means:

• One email address can only register one Stripe account;
• If the account is cancelled, the email address will be released and can be re-registered;
• So pleaseChoose your registration email address carefully, it is recommended to use an email address that you control for a long time and is stable and available.

If you're just testing or practicing the registration process, you can try using a secondary email address first. It's safer to register a full-fledged account with your primary email address when you're ready to use it long-term.

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2.3 Country/Region Selection

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This step CrucialAlthough you may be in China,Never select "Mainland China" as your country of registrationOtherwise you will createChina Stripe account(Almost unusable at present), it is impossible to bind most bank cards, and it is also impossible to receive overseas payments.

Recommended registration areas (2025):

• Singapore: It is one of the most stable registration areas at present, with a high registration success rate and relatively loose tolerance for IP and data, making it suitable for most domestic users.
• Other countries/regions with clear support and stable network access: For example: the United States, Japan, Ireland, Estonia, the United Kingdom, etc. These regions are suitable for users with more identity resources or more complex uses.
• Hong Kong Current Situation: Although Hong Kong can still be used to register Stripe accounts, due to frequent abuse in the past, risk control has been significantly strengthened. Using Hong Kong registration information is more likely to trigger address verification, account freezing and other issues. At the same time, withdrawals from Hong Kong virtual banks (such as ZA Bank) are not stable.It is only recommended to use it after understanding the relevant limitations.

This article uses Singapore as an example:

2.4 Business Information

After creating an account, Stripe will guide you to fill out a basic information wizard, which is a step that must be completed before officially entering the account background.

Although this step will not immediately enable the right to receive or withdraw money, it is equivalent toRegister Stripe merchant account initial authenticationAfter filling in the form, you can enter the Stripe dashboard and start subsequent operations (such as adding a bank account, submitting verification, etc.).

The information you need to fill in includes:

• > Company Name: You can fill in a personal brand, blog name, or any name that sounds like a business;
• > Commercial Website: This can be a real website, or a page on GitHub, Notion, WeChat official account homepage, etc. that can showcase your products or services;
• > Business model and payment frequency: You can fill in the information according to the situation, such as "non-recurring payment" or "regular payment";

Note: Although you do not need to submit a bank card or ID at this stage,The information you fill in will affect Stripe's initial judgment of the accountIt is recommended to fill in reasonable and consistent information as much as possible to pave the way for subsequent formal activation and payment.

Then enter the stripe sandbox mode interface:

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Stripe has two modes:

model	use	Can I add a real credit card?
Test Mode	For development testing	❌ Cannot add real cards, only test card numbers
Live Mode	Real operating environment	✅ You can add a real credit card for OpenAI to deduct fees

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After signing up for Stripe, you'll be in a sandbox environment by default, which allows you to test the interface but not actually use it. You'll need to complete a process similar to "activating your account" before you can get a full Stripe account.

2.5 "Activate" Stripe's real account

Follow the steps below to activate your Stripe account. Click "Get your real user" in the upper right corner of the page to start the activation process:

Select the business location (Singapore in this case). For individual users, select “NO” for the UEN option, keep the business type as default, and click “Continue”:

Fill in your first and last name in pinyin, fill in your email address normally, and select China as your nationality:

Then fill in your birthday, Singapore address, phone number, personal identification number and other information.It is recommended to fill in a real domestic mobile phone number, so that you can smoothly receive the verification SMS sent by Stripe, and it is also easier to receive subsequent account verification or security reminders.It is recommended to fill in the real domestic ID number, especially if you plan to use this account for formal transactions or collections later. Although Stripe may not immediately conduct strict verification at this stage, once identity verification or withdrawal review is involved, providing real and verifiable information can significantly reduce risk control risks and avoid account freezing or re-verification requirements that make it difficult to cooperate. I only used screenshots here for writing this article, so I didn't fill in my real personal ID number. Don't follow my example:




Then comes the key withdrawal account. Here you must fill in a real bank account in the country of registration. Of course, the bank card account information filled in this step can be modified later, so you can fill in a reasonable one first (for example, if you choose ICBC, use ICBC card number, at least the first digit looks like an ICBC card~). There is no authenticity verification here. For example, I chose ICBC Singapore because I have an ICBC card from a long time ago:

Then add your own secondary verification method:

You can add multiple secondary verification methods just in case:

Then there is the information about tax calculation. I will skip it here for now. If you really want to receive or withdraw money, you can study it yourself:

I am speechless about this climate contribution, so let's see what we like:

Then review all the previously filled in contents and submit:


success:

Enter the page again, and you can see that the previous sandbox prompts at the top have disappeared:

In general, during the Stripe activation process, in order to ensure account security and smooth review, please pay attention to the following points:

• Avoid using a mainland China address as your registered address: Stripe recommends using an address that matches your registered country (e.g., Singapore). Using a mainland China address while your IP, website, and phone number are displayed in other regions increases the likelihood of risk control or verification failure.
• Mainland China mobile phone numbers can use: Feel free to use your real domestic mobile phone number for SMS, login verification, or customer support. Stripe supports +86 numbers. If privacy is a concern, you can choose not to publish your number on invoices or receipts.
• Avoid frequent data modification and device IP switching: Stripe records account changes. Frequent changes to your address, bank details, login IP address, or device can easily be identified as abnormal behavior by the system. We recommend completing all required information at once to maintain a stable login environment.
• Bank account information can be filled in with the correct format of the placeholder account number: If you're just completing activation and don't plan to use Stripe for payment, you can choose any bank (such as ICBC, Bank of China, etc.) and enter a valid account number as a placeholder. It doesn't need to be authentic, but the format must pass verification.
• Statement Descriptors should maintain a consistent style: The merchant name, website, and customer service phone number you fill in should be kept consistent as much as possible. For example, use an English name, .com domain name, and support email address to avoid misjudgment due to a cluttered information style.

In addition, after completing the "activation" process and obtaining a real account, you will receive an email from Stripe with the following content:

The main content of this email is to remind you: If you want to use Stripe to receive payments and withdraw cash to your bank account, you will need to provide additional identity verification materials (such as uploading identity documents, selfies, etc., so you must fill in your real identity information beforehand~).

At this point, the Stripe account has been activated. However, to officially start receiving and withdrawing money, you will be asked to verify some of the information you filled in previously, such as phone number, email address, identity, etc. That's why I emphasized that you must fill in the real information before. I filled in some fake information before, so I had to cancel the account and register again when I wanted to use it later.

3. Afterword

This article only sorts out the registration and activation process of Stripe step by step, but in fact, if you plan to use it for realReceiving and withdrawing funds, the challenge has just begun.

For example, you'll need a real bank card from your country of registration, such as a Singaporean bank account. You'll also likely have to deal with Stripe's subsequent risk management mechanisms, transaction reviews, and even tax compliance. While these are certainly high barriers to entry for individual users, they're not out of reach.

It is worth mentioning that although this article focuses on Stripe Receiving Payments, but Stripe itself is also a payment method - if the service provider's payment page directly calls Stripe (such as some agency platforms, API service providers, etc.), you can use the credit card or other payment methods bound to the Stripe account to make payments.Payment, bypassing the credit card restrictions of some platforms. Of course, this depends on whether the other party supports Stripe payments. For example, the OpenAI official website uses Stripe at the bottom layer, but does not provide a Stripe entry on the front end, so it cannot be used directly.

Stripe is a powerful global payment infrastructure. It connects not only OpenAI but also Midjourney, Notion AI, Stability AI, and more—in theory, even your own future standalone website or SaaS product could rely on it to complete a closed-loop. So, consider this Stripe activation process a starting point for exploration, not an end point.

I hope this article can help you avoid some unnecessary pitfalls. Maybe you won’t need the withdrawal function for the time being, but one day when you have overseas customers, your own products, and the need to run the entire process, you will look back and find that you are already on the right track.

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Note: Recommendations on when to register with Stripe

Currently, using a Singapore IP to register and activate a Stripe account is still a relatively stable and successful method. However, as the number of users increases, risk control may be tightened and information requirements may be increased in the future. If you expect Will use Stripe to collect payments or conduct related transactions within six monthsIt is recommended to register and activate your account in advance. Even if you don't use it immediately after filling in the correct information, it's fine. If you don't have a clear plan yet, you can first record the process and required materials to make it safer to operate as needed in the future.

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