Do you need your own Stripe account to sell websites?

In short

Not always. PinPoint Lite needs no Stripe account, since PMV processes the client's payment and sends you the rest. PinPoint Pro and Pindrop both pay the client's money straight into the seller's own Stripe account instead. Which setup fits you depends on whether you want to handle payment processing yourself or let PinPoint do it for a slightly larger cut.

If you want to sell websites to local businesses, one question comes up early: do you need your own Stripe account to collect payment from clients? The answer is different depending on whether you use PinPoint Lite, PinPoint Pro, or Pindrop, so it is worth checking before you pick a plan or an app.

What PinPoint Lite does with payments

With PinPoint Lite, you do not need to open your own Stripe account before you sell your first website. The client's payment is made to PMV instead. PMV keeps 10% of the website price and 10% of each month of hosting, and sends you the rest, less the card processing fee, 7 days after the client pays. You still set the price and the monthly hosting fee yourself, and the client stays yours, with the finished site carrying your name. Lite also comes with 20 template sites and 300 searches a month, which is enough for someone testing out selling websites part time before deciding whether to go further.

What PinPoint Pro does with payments

PinPoint Pro works differently. The client pays straight into your own Stripe account, so you do need to set one up before you take your first sale. PMV receives 5% of the website price and 5% of each month of hosting, a smaller cut than Lite takes. Pro also unlocks 10 custom AI-designed sites a month on top of unlimited template sites, and a search limit of 1,000 businesses a month, against Lite's 20 template sites and 300 searches. If you already have a Stripe account from other work, Pro skips the wait on PMV to pass along your share, since the money lands with you directly as soon as the client pays.

How Pindrop handles the same question

Pindrop takes the same approach as PinPoint Pro on this specific point: its homepage says the client pays by card and 90% goes to the seller's own Stripe account each month, so a Stripe account is required no matter which plan a seller picks. The subscription itself, though, is between the seller and Pindrop, not between the seller and the client. Pindrop's help center explains what happens if a seller stops paying for their own plan: a change request left unanswered for 10 days brings a warning, and at 14 days Pindrop takes over that client, ending the seller's share on it. Owning the Stripe account does not change that part of the arrangement, since the plan payment and the client payment are two separate things worth keeping straight.

What Pindrop's own numbers show

Pindrop publishes a pricing study on its own site that updates daily. As of November 2, 2026, it listed 496 prices from 232 builders, with only 21 of those prices paid by the owner so far, which is a small share of the total listed. The median build fee asked was $500 and the median monthly charge asked was $50 a month. Those numbers describe prices builders have asked for, not confirmed sales, and they say nothing about Stripe accounts directly. But they are worth knowing before comparing payout splits, since a 90/10 split only matters once a client actually pays, and most of the listed prices on that study have not been paid yet.

Which setup fits you

PinPoint Lite: no Stripe account to set up, PMV keeps 10% of the website price and 10% of hosting each month, and the payout lands 7 days after the client pays.
PinPoint Pro: you set up your own Stripe account, PMV keeps 5% of the website price and 5% of hosting each month, and the client's payment reaches you directly.
Pindrop: you set up your own Stripe account, the client's payment follows a 90/10 split, and the seller's own plan with Pindrop can lead to a client takeover after 14 days unpaid.

If you are just starting and do not want another account to manage, PinPoint Lite lets you sell a website the same day without setting anything else up first. If you already run other client work through Stripe, or you plan to sell enough websites that the smaller cut adds up over time, PinPoint Pro's direct payment may be worth the extra setup step. See PinPoint Lite versus Pro for how the search limits and site types compare side by side before you choose between them.

Getting started

Whichever plan you pick, the client relationship stays yours in both PinPoint plans: you set the price, the client pays through whichever channel the plan uses, and the finished website carries your name. That is a different structure from Pindrop, where the client's subscription sits with Pindrop itself rather than with the seller. For a closer look at that difference, read our Pindrop review. PinPoint is available on the App Store for iPhone and on Google Play for Android. Once you have the app, you can search nearby businesses, build a site from a Google listing, and decide then whether Lite's simpler payout or Pro's direct Stripe account fits how you want to work day to day, with or without a Stripe account of your own.

PinPoint was developed from the app our own sales people have been using for over a year.

Questions people ask

Do you need a Stripe account to sell websites with PinPoint Lite?

No. PMV processes the client's payment, keeps 10% of the website price and 10% of each month of hosting, and sends you the rest 7 days after the client pays.

Do you need a Stripe account to sell websites with PinPoint Pro?

Yes. The client pays straight into your own Stripe account, and PMV receives 5% of the website price and 5% of each month of hosting.

Does Pindrop require a Stripe account?

Yes. Pindrop's homepage says the client pays by card and 90% goes to the seller's own Stripe account each month.

What happens if a Pindrop seller stops paying for their own plan?

Pindrop's help center says an unanswered change request brings a warning at 10 days, and at 14 days Pindrop takes over that client, ending the seller's share on it.