Complete Guide: Setting Up Personal Stripe with Hong Kong Bank Card

Original post by hezhiyan7 | View original on X

Last month I successfully got my Hong Kong bank card, and today I'm sharing the complete process of registering a Hong Kong personal Stripe account using my HK card.

Step 1: Register a Stripe Account

First, register a Stripe account at: https://dashboard.stripe.com/register

I chose to register with Google and selected Hong Kong as the country. For the full name, I entered a nickname. For the business name, I used my recent website's name and address. The prompt says this can be modified later, and I believe this information can also be skipped initially and completed later. Since I needed both one-time purchases and subscriptions, I selected both options.

Continue clicking "Next" until you enter Sandbox mode. In Sandbox mode, there's an option to "Switch to Live Mode." Clicking this will start the verification process.

Step 2: Business Verification

1. Business Details

• Merchant Type: Select Hong Kong, choose "Individual" as business type, continue

2. Personal Details

• Name, Email, Date of Birth: Fill in truthfully
• Home Address: I saw other bloggers mention this can be filled in randomly, but I was concerned about potential requirements for bills and mail later. I purchased a confirmed address from Xianyu (Chinese second-hand marketplace)
• Phone Number: Switch to +86 and use mainland China number
• Hong Kong ID: Use passport instead

3. Company Details

• Industry: Select "Software"
• Company Website: Recommend writing an accessible website

4. Public Details

• Statement Descriptor: The text users see on their bank card statements to identify your business. I directly used my website name
• Display Phone Number on Receipts and Statements: I unchecked this option

Step 3: Add Bank Account

1. Enter Your Pinyin Name

Enter your name in pinyin format

2. Bank Selection

I use ZA Bank, so I selected "ZA BANK"

3. Branch Address

Use the default address provided above

4. Account Number

In your ZA Bank app, select "My Deposits" where you'll find an account number. Note: This is NOT your card number

5. Withdrawal Settings

I chose manual withdrawal

Step 4: Secure Your Account

I chose to add a passkey. Google Password Manager popped up, asking to enter a 6-digit PIN, then click confirm. Follow the process prompts - there will be a backup code. I'm not sure what it's for yet, but it seems important, so I recorded it in a safe place. After this, the passkey is successfully added.

Step 5: Additional Settings

I temporarily skipped these for now

Step 6: Review and Submit

Double-check all the information you filled in, then submit for review. After submission, you'll be prompted that you're in real account mode. You'll also receive relevant review emails. During the review period, it appears you can still receive payments.

Important: Identity Verification

You may need to provide identity documents. Go to Settings → Business → Account Status to see if identity verification is required. Click the "Start" button for identity verification, then "Verify with photo ID document", click "Agree and Continue" I chose to continue on the current device. Important: You need to use a Hong Kong node, otherwise it will show unsupported country. Since I filled in passport earlier, here I uploaded my passport photo.

Summary

The entire process is quite straightforward, especially if you already have a Hong Kong bank card. The key points are:

1. Use Hong Kong node during registration and verification
2. Have your passport ready for identity verification
3. Use your actual bank account number (not card number) from your banking app
4. Keep your backup codes and passkey information safe

Once approved, you'll have a fully functional Hong Kong Stripe account ready to accept payments!

Have questions about this process? Feel free to reach out to hezhiyan7 for more insights.