Tipping overview

Loadout has two paths to tips. Both work, both make sense for different bands.

Free tier: external handles

You list your Venmo, Cash App, and/or PayPal handles. Loadout displays them as buttons + QR codes on your public band page and on each gig's audience-request page. Fans tip you through their own apps.

• Setup time: 60 seconds.
• Loadout fee: 0%.
• What Loadout sees: the handles you listed, nothing else. No per-tip tracking, no totals.

Best for: starting bands, occasional gigs, bands that already have a flow with one of those services.

See External handles.

Loadout Tips: connected Stripe

You go through Stripe Connect Express onboarding once. The form takes ~90 seconds to fill out; Stripe then verifies the info you submitted — usually instant for individuals with US-issued ID, occasionally up to 24 hours when Stripe's risk team needs a closer look. After verification clears, fans tip with any credit card directly through Loadout's tip widget — they don't need a Venmo or Cash App account.

• Setup time: ~90 seconds of typing, plus a verification step that's usually instant but can take up to 24 hours.
• Loadout fee: 2% per tip (plus Stripe's standard processing fee, which lands on the band, not the platform).
• Standard payouts: free, rolling daily; see Balance and payouts for the actual end-to-end timing.
• What Loadout sees: every tip, by song, by gig, with all of the post-show analytics that brings.

Best for: working bands playing regular gigs who want credit-card tipping and per-tip analytics.

See Loadout Tips setup.

How fans tip

Both tiers surface tip options:

• On your public band page (loadout.band/[bandSlug]).
• On each gig's audience request page (when public requests are enabled).
• Optionally with a song request — "tip $X to request 'Wagon Wheel'."

For the free tier, tapping a tip button opens the corresponding app (Venmo, Cash App, PayPal) — completes outside Loadout.

For Loadout Tips, the tip happens in-app via Stripe — no app-switching, no account required, just a card.

Switching between tiers

You can run external handles AND Loadout Tips simultaneously. Some fans will prefer cards (Loadout Tips); others have $50 in a Venmo balance they want to send (external handles). Both buttons can show on the same page.

You can also turn off either at any time — toggle the per-band settings.

What's next

• External handles — Venmo/Cash App/PayPal setup.
• Loadout Tips setup — Stripe Connect onboarding.
• Balance and payouts — once tips are coming in.