Can I Get Paid by Check?

No. Every payout runs through Stripe and arrives as a deposit into a bank account. There is no mailed check, and there is no second payout method to choose between — see When and How You Get Paid.

That is the short answer, but it is usually not the whole question.

You do not need to be set up for electronic transfers

Firms often ask about checks because they are not set up for electronic payments themselves — no merchant account, no card processing, no arrangement with their bank for sending money out.

None of that applies here, because you are on the receiving end. Stripe pays money into the account you nominate, the same way a direct deposit arrives. There is nothing for your bank to switch on and nothing for your firm to sign up for, because the account is only receiving.

It does not have to be a business account either. Plenty of appraisers are paid into a personal account, and that is fine. If there is an account money can be paid into, you already have everything this needs.

What you actually provide

Connecting the account is a one-time setup, described step by step in Connecting Your Bank Account To Get Paid. In short, you give Stripe:

• the account and routing details for the account you want to be paid into, and
• the verification documents it asks for, which are about who you are, not about what your firm can process.

One thing to know before you start: a new Stripe account has to be created as part of this. An existing Stripe account cannot be connected.

Set it up the way you file your taxes

Which account you connect is your choice, but the details you enter alongside it are what your 1099 is built from, so it is worth a minute of care at setup.

Stripe takes the name, address and TIN from your connected account, files the qualifying 1099 with the IRS and sends you a copy. There is no separate W-9 to send Dwelling Blocks — see Get Your Dwelling Blocks 1099 Tax Forms from Stripe.

The setting that catches people out is business type:

• Register as a sole proprietor and Stripe reports under your SSN.
• Register as a company and it reports under your EIN/TIN.

Neither is more correct than the other — pick the one you actually file under, and enter the name exactly as the IRS has it. It can be changed afterwards, and Updating Stripe for Accurate 1099 Forms explains how, but a form issued against the wrong number has to be corrected after the fact.

Until it is connected, assignments stay paused

Payouts are one of the steps on your profile status page, and the profile has to be complete before work can reach you. Everything else can be in place, but while the payout step is outstanding your account stays paused — see Activating Your Profile to Receive Assignments.

This is the part worth acting on early. Setting it up at sign-up costs a few minutes; leaving it until an offer arrives means the offer cannot reach you.

If a bank deposit is genuinely not possible

If your firm cannot receive a deposit at all, tell us before you go any further with sign-up rather than working around it. Use Get Support and explain the situation, and we will take it from there — see Requesting Support.