Surprise Deposits: The Best Kind

Fancy Free Hair & Skin soft launched in March 2015. We were operating on fancyfreellc.com but purchased the domain fancyfreehairandskin.com in 2016 to link to an Etsy store. By 2017, I was playing around with different e-commerce platforms, trying to find the best fit for Fancy Free Hair & Skin. In the process, I haphazardly set up a Stripe account while testing out BigCommerce as my website. Eventually, I decided to go with Shopify, completely forgetting about those half-set-up accounts I had started along the way.

Fast forward to 2018—I introduced recurring shipping for our customers, making it easier for them to keep their favorite Fancy Free products stocked. To handle those recurring payments, I used an app that integrated with Shopify but processed transactions through Stripe. When it came time to set it up, I connected the same Stripe account from 2017—not giving it a second thought.

At this point, we had a solid accounting system in place, but I wasn’t reconciling every single deposit. I was focused on running the business, fulfilling orders, and keeping up with demand. Two years went by, and our recurring orders were thriving. People loved Fancy Free Hair & Skin, and I was just happy to see the growth.

Then 2020 Happened… and So Did the Deposit of a Lifetime

By 2020, things had picked up in our product development division, and I decided to streamline client requests by setting up a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system. To make payments easy for clients, I linked the same Stripe account to the CRM. I didn't realize that all this time, the Stripe account was linked to that non-existent BigCommerce store. So, when verified the correct website....BOOM!

The next day, I got a Stripe deposit notification. No big deal, right? Payments come in all the time.

But when I checked the amount, my jaw dropped.

💰 It was a deposit for TWO YEARS’ worth of recurring payments. 💰

Apparently, those transactions had been processing in Stripe all along—but the funds had never been deposited into my bank account because the payment processor wasn't linked to a valid website. As soon as I updated the linked website, all those payments hit at once.

So What Did I Do?

Well, after laughing hysterically for about 10 minutes… 🤣😂🤣

• I paid off some business expenses
• I handled a few personal financial goals
• And, oh yeah… I bought a car. 🚗💨

Because why not?

The Moral of the Story?

• Check your accounts regularly. Sometimes money is literally waiting for you.
• Set up proper reconciliation processes. If I had been tracking Stripe deposits more closely, I would’ve caught this sooner.
• Sometimes, the universe (or Stripe) surprises you. Now, every time I log into Stripe, I whisper a little prayer that maybe, just maybe, another miracle deposit is waiting for me. 🤞🏾💰

Have you ever had an unexpected financial blessing like this? Let me know in the comments!