My shop says 'opening soon' — why can't people buy yet?
Your products are on the page, priced and photographed — but there's no buy button, and the shop says "opening soon". Nothing is broken. It's the one piece only you can add: your shop and your courses can't take money until your own Stripe account is connected.
Why it works this way
When someone buys from your site, the money goes straight to you — into your own Stripe account, then out to your bank. bernard never holds your takings and takes no cut (Where the money goes when someone enrols has the full arrangement). That's the honest version of selling online, and it has one consequence: until there's an account of yours for the money to land in, there's nothing to sell with. So checkout waits, politely, and your shop presents itself as opening soon.
Everything else carries on as normal in the meantime — product pages, course lessons (Sell a course from my own website), prices, photos, previews. Build the whole thing first if you like; drafting never needs Stripe.
Switch it on
Ask Bernard — or the AI you've connected — to set up payouts. You'll get a secure link to Stripe's own page, where you connect an existing Stripe account or create one in a few minutes (What will Stripe ask me when I set up payouts? tells you what to have ready). You open that link yourself; your bank details go to Stripe, never to bernard.
The moment Stripe confirms your account can take payments, the shop opens by itself: buy buttons appear, course enrolment switches on, and "opening soon" disappears — no re-publishing, nothing else to do.
The prompt
“Set up payouts for my shop and courses — give me the secure Stripe link so I can connect my account.”
The [bracketed] parts are yours to fill in. First time? Connect bernard to your AI over MCP — a one-time setup in bernard → your site → Use your own AI — then paste the prompt above.
Questions people ask
- Why is there no buy button on my products?
- Buying needs somewhere for the money to go. Until your own Stripe account is connected, your shop shows its products as a preview — 'opening soon' — and checkout stays closed. Connect Stripe once and the buy buttons appear on their own.
- Can I keep building my shop and course before payments are set up?
- Yes — building never needs Stripe. Add products, write lessons, set prices, preview everything; each change lands as a draft you approve before it goes live. Only the moment of payment waits for the connection.
- Do my shop and my courses need separate payment setups?
- No. One connection covers everything you sell — products and course enrolments both settle into the same Stripe account of yours, and bernard takes no cut of either.