You booked the job, the tent is on the truck, and now you are waiting on a check that is somehow always "in the mail." Connecting Stripe to Apex Rental Pro fixes that. Your customers pay online or tap a card on site, and the money lands in your own bank account instead of your glovebox. Here is exactly how to set it up and what to do once you are connected.
Connecting Stripe to Apex Rental Pro
Stripe is the service that actually moves the money when a customer pays you by card. Apex Rental Pro plugs into it so you can collect deposits, final balances, and in-person sales without copying numbers between two systems. The important part for you to know is simple. The money goes straight into your own Stripe account. Apex just sends the request and keeps your records in sync.
Everything starts in one place. Open Settings, then go to the Payments section. You will see two ways to hook up Stripe. The one we recommend is the one-click Connect with Stripe button. There is also an advanced option for manual keys, but most owners never need to touch it, so leave it alone unless your accountant tells you otherwise.
How to connect your Stripe account
The whole thing takes about two minutes. No spreadsheets, no copying secret codes off a Stripe page and praying you got every character right.
- Open Settings and select Payments.
- Click Connect with Stripe.
- Sign in to your Stripe account. If you do not have one yet, you can create it right there.
- Authorize Apex Rental Pro when Stripe asks for permission.
- You bounce right back to the Payments page, where it now reads Connected to Stripe.
That green "Connected" status is the moment it gets real. From here on, the system can request card payments on your behalf and route every dollar into your account.
No Stripe account yet? No problem.
Plenty of rental and lawn care owners have never used Stripe before. You do not have to set it up in advance. When you click Connect with Stripe, Stripe walks you through creating a brand new account on the spot. It is free to open. You only ever pay Stripe's standard processing fee when a customer actually pays you, so there is no monthly bill sitting there waiting on you.
Finish your Stripe setup so customers can actually pay
Connecting is step one. Stripe still needs to confirm who you are before it will let real money flow, which is the same identity check every payment processor does. If Stripe still needs details, your Payments page will show a friendly heading that reads Stripe needs more info from you with a button to Open Stripe Dashboard and finish.
Inside the Stripe dashboard you will fill in a few things:
- Business details like your legal business name, address, and tax ID or EIN.
- A bank account so Stripe knows where to deposit your payouts.
- A little personal verification to confirm you are who you say you are.
Once that is done, your Payments page flips to Accepting charges and Payouts enabled. That is your green light. If you skip this step, customers will hit a wall when they try to pay, so it is worth knocking out the same day you connect.
What you can do once Stripe is connected
This is where the waiting-on-checks era quietly ends. With Stripe live, a handful of features switch on across Apex Rental Pro.
- Deposit links. Email a customer a secure link to pay their deposit and lock in the date.
- Balance links. Send the remaining balance the same way as the event gets close.
- In-person card payments. Charge a card right at your register or counter with a card reader.
- Automatic receipts. Customers get a clean receipt the moment they pay, with no extra steps from you.
If you already use Apex Rental Pro to build fast, accurate quotes with build kits, this closes the loop. You quote the job, send the deposit link, and get paid before the truck ever leaves the yard.
Deposit links and balance links: the everyday workflow
This is the part most owners fall in love with. Open an event, find the payments area in the documents hub, and click Send Deposit Link. Your customer gets an email with a secure Stripe payment page. They pay from their phone in the carpool line, and your event updates itself to show the deposit is in.
When the event gets close, hit Send Balance Link for whatever is left. No awkward "hey, about that balance" phone calls. The link does the asking for you, which is a much better use of a Friday afternoon.
"I used to chase three or four balances every week. Now I send a link and the money is in my account before I finish my coffee."
One note on plans. Emailing payment links to customers is a Pro plan feature. If you are on Starter, you can still connect Stripe and take payments in person, and an upgrade prompt will show you how to unlock the email links. Lawn care accounts get these tools on every plan.
Taking card payments at your register
Run a storefront, a will-call counter, or a point-of-sale setup? Once Stripe is connected you can take card payments in person too. Pair a card reader, ring up the sale, and have the customer present their card. The sale records itself, the receipt prints or emails, and your numbers stay accurate without anyone keying a total into a separate card machine.
That tidy, all-in-one record matters more than it looks. When every payment lives in the same place as your jobs, your end-of-month math gets a lot less painful. If you want the bigger picture on that, our guide on why expense tracking matters for a young business pairs nicely with this one.
Switching or disconnecting Stripe
You stay in control of the connection. If you ever need to switch Stripe accounts or step away, head back to Settings, then Payments, and click Disconnect. Apex will confirm before it does anything, and disconnecting does not refund or cancel any payments that are already in flight. You can reconnect the same account anytime, so there is no harm in making a change when your business does.
A few things worth knowing
- Apex Rental Pro never takes a cut. We do not take a single penny from your jobs. Every dollar a customer pays goes to your own Stripe account and your bank. The only processing fee is Stripe's own standard rate, which is the cost of accepting any card payment anywhere.
- You can pass Stripe's fee along if you want. If you would rather not absorb Stripe's processing fee yourself, you can add a small convenience fee on emailed payment links to recoup it. You set the percentage in your payment settings. This is your fee to cover Stripe's cost, not a charge from Apex.
- It works alongside your website. If you collect quotes through your Apex rental website, online payments fit right into that same flow.
Getting paid faster is one of the quiet ways profit stops leaking out of a rental business. If that idea hits home, take a look at how profit drains quietly bankrupt a rental business and see how many of those leaks a clean payment flow plugs on its own.
Start getting paid online
Connecting Stripe is one of the highest-payoff ten minutes you will spend in Apex Rental Pro. Open Settings, go to Payments, click Connect with Stripe, finish your Stripe setup, and start sending deposit links today.
Not on Apex Rental Pro yet? Create your account and connect Stripe before your next booking, so the deposit is in your bank before the tent is on the truck.