Afterpay and Clearpay payments

Afterpay is a buy now, pay later (BNPL) payment method that allows customers to split purchases into interest-free installments. When customers select Afterpay as their payment method, Stripe redirects them to complete authentication and approval. You’re paid immediately while customers pay over time.

Eligibility and availability

Account eligibility

In addition to the categories of businesses restricted from using Stripe overall, the following categories are prohibited from using Afterpay.

• Alcohol
• Donations
• Pre-orders
• NFTs
• B2B

For the complete list, see the terms of service.

Your account might be reviewed after activation to confirm eligibility. While Afterpay doesn’t enforce any additional website requirements, make sure that you provide a website that meets the Stripe account activation requirements. You can contact Stripe support to appeal any Afterpay capability restrictions.

Payment support

Payment options

Customer country filtering

Customer country filtering applies when you enable a dynamic payment method on the Payment Element or Checkout Session. Afterpay only displays as a payment method option if the customer’s country is supported.

We determine the customer’s country in the following priority order:

1. Shipping address country: The two-letter country code, not the full name of the country.
2. Geocoded country: The country based on the client-side IP address.

Capabilities

Refunds

You have up to 120 days from the original payment to submit a refund using the Dashboard or Refunds API. This is the maximum the payment method allows-your return policy determines what you offer customers.

Refunds for Afterpay payments are asynchronous and take up to 10 business days to complete. Afterpay refunds can’t be canceled.

Refund process

Afterpay refunds are never processed as reversals. When you issue a refund, Afterpay cancels any remaining scheduled payments and returns any amounts the customer has already paid. The customer sees the update reflected in their Afterpay account.

Tracking refunds

You can view refund status in the Dashboard. Open the payment and click View Details on the refund entry, or retrieve the Refund object and check its status field. Stripe also notifies you of the final refund status using the refund.updated or refund.failed webhook event. When a refund succeeds, the status of the Refund object transitions to succeeded. If a refund fails, the status transitions to failed, Stripe returns the amount to your Stripe balance, and you must arrange an alternative way to provide your customer with a refund.

Disputes

Customers have up to 120 calendar days from the date of purchase to file Afterpay disputes.

Afterpay payments can only be disputed once.

Dispute process

1. Dispute opened: Afterpay opens a dispute. Stripe immediately withholds the disputed amount from your balance. You have 14 calendar days to submit evidence.
2. Decision: Afterpay reviews your evidence and issues a final decision within 30 calendar days of dispute creation.

Dispute notifications

When a Afterpay dispute is opened, Stripe notifies you through:

• Email
• The Stripe Dashboard
• A charge.dispute.created webhook event

The dispute reason is available in the Dashboard and in the reason field of the Dispute object. The evidence submission deadline is available in the Dashboard and in the evidence_due_by field of the Dispute object.

Responding to disputes

You have 14 calendar days from dispute creation to submit evidence.

Stripe requests that you upload compelling evidence that you fulfilled the purchase order using the Stripe Dashboard. This evidence can include: a received return confirmation, the tracking ID, the shipping date, a record of purchase for intangible goods (such as an IP address or email receipt), or a record of purchase for services or physical goods (such as a phone number or proof of receipt).

You can submit evidence and manage Afterpay disputes in the Dashboard or programmatically using the Disputes API. In the Dashboard, go to the Needs Response tab, click the disputed payment, then click Counter dispute to submit your evidence, or Accept dispute to accept the loss. To submit evidence through the API, upload supporting files using the Files API and include the returned file IDs when you update the Dispute Evidence object.

Dispute outcomes

If Afterpay resolves the dispute in your favor, Stripe returns the disputed amount to your Stripe balance.

If they rule in favor of the customer, the balance charge becomes permanent.

Fraud and liability

Customers must authenticate Afterpay payments by logging into their Afterpay account. This requirement helps reduce the risk of fraud or unrecognized payments. Afterpay covers losses incurred from customer fraud or the inability to repay installments. However, Stripe might contact you on behalf of Afterpay and request to stop or pause a shipment before any losses are incurred. It’s important to comply promptly with these requests.

Stripe product support

Add Afterpay branding to your website

Let your customers know you accept payments with Afterpay by including the Payment Method Messaging Element on your product and cart pages.

Afterpay also provides static visual assets and branding guidance. In AU, CA, NZ and the US, consumers know Afterpay as ‘Afterpay’. In the UK, they know it as ‘Clearpay’. Make sure you pick the right location (see the footer in the Afterpay documentation) so that you get the appropriate assets. For Clearpay, see the UK assets and branding guidance.

Customer experience

Transaction identifiers

After a customer completes an Afterpay payment, the transactions that appear on the customer’s bank or card statement show AFTERPAY along with the merchant statement descriptor.

Set a custom statement descriptor on the PaymentIntent before confirming the payment. If you don’t set one, the descriptor defaults to the account level statement descriptor. For connect scenarios, learn more about how statement descriptors are set with Connect.

After the payment completes, expand latest_charge on the PaymentIntent to retrieve the Afterpay order ID from latest_charge.payment_method_details.afterpay_clearpay.order_id. Share it with customers to help them locate the payment in their Afterpay account or when contacting Afterpay support.

Enable Afterpay

If you use our front-end products, you can enable Afterpay directly from your payment method settings. Stripe then automatically determines the most relevant payment methods to display to your customers.

If your integration requires manually listing payment methods, learn how to manually configure Afterpay as a payment.