Stripe isn’t available in my country. How do I get paid?
Use a Merchant of Record. It sells your product in its own name, takes the card payment, handles the tax and pays you out to your bank or wallet, so Stripe does not need to support your country. The other routes are opening a company abroad, or asking clients for bank transfers.
Four ways to take card payments
From simplest to hardest.
- Minutes to startA Merchant of Record
AgentaOS, Paddle, Lemon Squeezy, Creem and others sell for you and pay you out. No company abroad. Check which ones pay out where you live in this table. Paddle and Lemon Squeezy do not take services like coaching or consulting.
- Weeks, yearly costsA US company with Stripe Atlas
Stripe Atlas forms a Delaware company for $500. Then come $400 a year in Delaware LLC tax, $100 a year for the registered agent, and a yearly IRS Form 5472, which carries a $25,000 penalty if missed. See the first-year costs.
- Weeks, yearly costsAn EU company through e-Residency
Estonia’s e-Residency lets you run an EU company online, with an accountant and VAT filings to keep up. See the first-year costs.
- Slow, no cardsBank transfers and PayPal
Fine for a few clients, but buyers cannot pay by card at checkout, subscriptions are manual, and PayPal cannot receive money in some countries (North Macedonia, Montenegro, Kosovo).
What does not work
Getting paid by Stripe through a platform is not a Stripe account. Bandcamp, Kick or X can pay creators in countries like Serbia or North Macedonia through Stripe, but you cannot sell your own product with that.
Opening Stripe in another country you do not live in breaks Stripe’s terms. Accounts like that get closed, often with money held. Stripe also does not let you change an account’s country later. Why it goes wrong.
Related questions
What is a Merchant of Record?
A company that legally sells your product to your buyer. It takes the payment, handles VAT and sales tax, sends the invoice in its name, and pays you what is left.
Can I sell as an individual?
With AgentaOS, yes: you can sell as an individual or a company, with no company abroad.
Which countries can get paid?
AgentaOS pays out to 86 countries by bank or wallet. Check yours.
Know what to charge before you launch
Paste your product or store link. Pricing Intelligence tells you what to charge and how to package it. Free, no card.
€0 account, no cardSell as an individual or a company