Setting up and Connecting to Stripe
WHAT IS STRIPE?
Stripe is a company that allows businesses of any size to accept payments and manage their business online.
It is used by companies such as:
Airtasker
Uber
Booking.com
Shopify
Amazon
Zoom
They have two head offices – one in San Francisco and one in Dublin but they also have offices in London, Paris, Singapore, Tokyo and a dozen others.
They were launched in 2011, have 4000 plus employees and millions of users all over the world.
WHAT DO THEY DO?
At the most basic level, they allow any business with a bank account to be able to accept online credit or debit card payments over the internet.
For U3A this means members with a credit or debit card can pay safely and securely for their membership, classes or for ticketed events online and for the money to be transferred usually within 24 hours into the U3A bank account.
HOW MUCH DOES STRIPE COST?
Stripe charges 1.7% on domestic credit/debit cards plus a 30c flag fall for each amount. Member Wizard adds an admin charge of .5%.
On a typical $50 membership fee the member would be paying $51.42 in total.
Members can also pay by direct deposit if they do not wish to incur the fee.
Organisations can absorb the fee themselves but this will mean that the amount they receive will be less for those paying by card than those paying by any other method which is often not optimal. The calculation of fees is also slightly different in that circumstance also.
HOW DOES STRIPE WORK?
1. We connect Stripe to your Member Wizard database. This takes about 30 mins. The information required is contained in the Stripe Activation Checklist (see attached).
2. Once we have connected Stripe to your account all Membership Renewals. Class payments and Invitations to Events will contain a link in them that members simply click on then provide their payment details. Member Wizard will automatically generate a receipt for the member and will send an email to any email address you nominate for the advice that money has been paid (this is optional).
3. About 24 hours later Stripe will automatically transfer the money, less their fees, down into your organisations nominated bank account. There is a small delay before the first payment is transferred which is part of Stripe’s money laundering check process which they need to complete first.
BENEFITS OF USING STRIPE
We have found that Member Wizard organisations who use Stripe (Council for the Aging in Northern Territory and Tenants Union Queensland and a large proportion of U3A clients for example) report better member retention as it makes it much easier for people to pay their membership as and when they receive their renewal notice. We have had absolutely no reports of any problems or issues with clients using it. Many organisations report that up to 70% of their members will use this method if you make it available and it cuts down considerably on the work of the Treasurer as all reporting and bank reconciliation is automatic.
Further information
For more details on Stripe their website is stripe.com
The following details what information you will need to connect your organisation to Stripe in Member Wizard.
STRIPE ACTIVATION CHECKLIST
You will require the following:
1. Your business ABN
2. Your registered Business Address and phone number
3. The bank account number and BSB into which to receive Stripe payments
4. Your Website address
5. The names, home addresses, phone numbers/mobiles and date of birth for critical committee members – eg Treasurer, Secretary and President.
6. Scanned front and back images of identifying documents such as a drivers licence for the above people (because you are effectively opening a new bank account and this is a banking requirement). - They seem to ask for this randomly so its better to have it and not require it than the other way around.
7. The registered name of your business
8. Your Incorporation or Association number if you have one
HOW TO CONNECT YOUR MEMBER WIZARD DATABASE TO STRIPE
When you have this information go to Settings/Member Payment Details and click the tab which says Credit/Debit Card and check the box. You will need to select the bank account into which Stripe will deposit funds and if you wish to the organisation to pay the Stripe fees you should uncheck the Member pays Credit Card fees box. If you wish members to be able to send donations you should check the Allow Donations box.
Then click the blue button and follow the instructions. Once this is done and you are returned to this page, all your invoices will offer Stripe as a payment method. Your first payout will take around 3 to 4 days due to international banking regulations.
WE ALREADY HAVE A STRIPE ACCOUNT – HOW DO WE CONNECT THAT TO MEMBER WIZARD?
If you already have a Stripe account you have been using then the task of connecting it to Member Wizard is simple.
Just log into your Stripe account, then log into your Member Wizard account and click the Connect Stripe blue button on the Member Payment Details menu in Settings which will appear when you check the box which says Use Credit/Debit card. The system will automatically detect and link your connection.