By default, every Paystack payment your customers make through BusinessSensor settles into the platform's master Paystack account. BusinessSensor's operations team then transfers your share to your bank on a payout schedule.
When you wire up your own Paystack subaccount on this page, Paystack settles the agreed share directly to your bank at the moment the payment clears — no intermediate hop, no waiting for a manual payout.
You can switch it on or off at any time without losing your config.
Before you start
You need:
- A Paystack business account at https://dashboard.paystack.com. Free to open; KYC takes a day or two.
- Your bank account (the one you want settlements paid into) added inside the Paystack dashboard → Settings → Preferences.
- A subaccount code (starts with
ACCT_…) that you create inside the Paystack dashboard → Settings → Subaccounts → Add Subaccount.
Creating the subaccount is a one-time, ~3-minute job. You enter your business name, choose the bank + account number, and set the percentage charge — the share Paystack auto-routes to you on every payment (the platform retains the remainder).
Paystack will only let you save a subaccount once the underlying bank account is verified — so don't be alarmed if your first save returns "bank account not yet verified". Wait until the dashboard shows the account as verified, then try again.
Steps
- Open Setup → Payments → Paystack (Bank-note icon on the topbar's Setup menu).
- Click Add settlement routing. Paste:
- Subaccount code — the
ACCT_…string copied from the Paystack dashboard. - Business name / Bank / Account number / Account name — copy from the same row. These are display only; the SaaS shows them so you can glance at this page and recognise the destination.
- Percentage charge — what % of each charge Paystack will auto-route to your bank. Whatever you entered in the Paystack dashboard.
- Subaccount code — the
- Click Validate. BusinessSensor hits Paystack to confirm the code exists and is still active. On success, the cached fields refresh from Paystack and you'll see a green "Validated just now" stamp.
- Tick Active and Save. From this moment, every Paystack charge your tills or QR-ordering customers initiate will carry the subaccount — Paystack routes your share to your bank automatically.
Tips
- Verify after saving — punch through one real ₦100 test transaction at a till. You should see it land in your bank within minutes. If it doesn't, click Validate again — Paystack may have suspended the subaccount (e.g. KYC paperwork lapsed).
- Suspending without losing the config — flip Active off and Save. Charges revert to the platform pool (manual payout) until you re-enable. The cached subaccount details stay so you can flip it back on later without re-pasting anything.
- Changing the % share — change it inside the Paystack dashboard first, then come back here and click Validate so the displayed figure matches what Paystack will actually charge.
- You don't pay BusinessSensor's transaction fee twice — Paystack splits the customer's payment by % at settlement. The platform's share IS BusinessSensor's fee.
Common problems
- "Enter a Paystack subaccount code (ACCT_…) before activating" — you ticked Active but the code field is blank. Either paste a code or untick Active.
- "Paystack did not recognise that subaccount code" — either you pasted it wrong (the code is case-sensitive) or someone deleted it in the dashboard. Open Paystack → Settings → Subaccounts and copy a fresh code.
- "Couldn't reach Paystack right now" — Paystack's API is briefly unreachable from the BusinessSensor server (rare). Retry in a minute.
- Charges still settle to the platform after I activated routing — new charges only carry the subaccount. Charges that were started before you saved keep their original routing. Run one fresh transaction to confirm.
- I can't see this page — you don't have the Company Settings permission. Ask your account administrator (Setup → Users) to grant it to your user group.
What's NOT here
- Per-till routing — every cashier on this account routes to the same subaccount. Multi-business setups (one app, three bank accounts) need a separate tenant per bank.
- Stripe Connect — coming soon. The same UX, with Stripe-hosted onboarding instead of paste-the-code.
- Disputes / chargebacks — they hit Paystack's reserves on your subaccount the same way they would if you took the charge directly through Paystack's standalone checkout. Refer to your Paystack dashboard's Disputes tab for resolution.