Stripe Set-Up

How do I set up Stripe as my Payment Gateway?
What is Stripe?
What currency can I use with PayPal Express?

What is Stripe
Stripe is a new player in the online CreditCard processing market and they were designed exactly for users like "EventCORE." You can read more about Stripe from their Website.

Why Use Stripe
The great thing about using Stripe is that it is a pay as you go arrangement. You only pay for what you use. There is no monthly service fee They use a flat rate of 2.9% and a $.30 per transaction fee. You do all the set up on your own and the money goes instantly into your checking account. They also allow you to set your site up to use a currency other than US Dollars. There are many other advantages as well. And rather than using the EventCORE shared merchant account^, you'll have control over how the event reads on your customer's credit card statement.

Set-Up Instructions
Most of the setup for Stripe will be done by you on their site. You will need some legal things like business name, tax ID numbers, and so forth*. Once you're done, there are only two things we will need from you. 

To obtain those two things, login to your Stripe Dashboard and do the following.

  • In the upper right, click on the name of your account next to the "profile" icon.
  • A dropdown will appear, select the "Account Info" link.
  • You will be asked to authenticate with your password again (you're going o a secret place...)
  • You then should be at your "Account Info" window and you should be on the "General Tab."
  • Switch the view over to "Public Info" and get the value that is in the "Statement Descriptor" field. This is the first thing we need.
  • Then click the sub-tab called "API Keys" which will bring up a window with four values.
  • The only value that is needed is the 3rd one called "Live Secret Key." This is the second needed value.

Contact Tier 3 Support
Once you have these two items, you can submit a Tier 3 ticket. Use the subject line of "Stripe Setup" and in the discription of the ticket provide the "Statement Descriptor" and the "Live Secret Key." 

Tier 3 will then do the set-up on the back end database. Tier 3 will reply to your ticket when setup is completed. When you now return to Admin: Set-up > Payments, you will see your Stripe information appears (edit-locked) and there are the four boxes which can be selected for payment types. Tier 3 will have selected Master Card, Visa, American Express and Discover. This is per the main default stripe option. 

One Time Set-Up Fee
The Tier 3 cost to set up your Strip event will be billed at the standard Tier-3 support rate. We do minimal Stripe setup accounts so we are unable to set a standard rate. We estimate a minimum set-up charge of $100 but it could go as high as $250 if major issues arise in light of the infrequency of how often we do Strip set-ups and what may change. It also is possible that we may find it necessary to discontinue Stripe support because of PCI regulations or other changes out of our control.

Setup Your Payment Options
When Tier 3 is finished your payment options are set for all four (Visa, Master Card, American Express and Discover). If you want to limit the types of cards that can be used, you can change this in Admin: Set-up > Payments. Scroll down to the "Accepted Card" section. Non US stripe accounts have different default stripe options which may require that this be changed. Please note that within Stripe, under accepted card types, it lists a "general" type of cards but that is not an exhaustive list. Refer to the Stripe documentation regarding what is officially accepted.

Run a Test Transaction
Once you have your settings entered and your site is set to "LIVE MODE", you should run a test transaction to insure all is working correctly. 

Non-US Dollar Currencies
Stripe allows the option of funds to be collected in non-US Dollar currencies. So you also need to make sure that you have your payment settings within EventCORE set to match the currency option you selected in Stripe. The full stripe currency collection process is explained here. For US based banks, the only option is collection in US Dollars. Contact Tier 3 Support for additional assistance regarding foreign based currency collection.


*Some of the Legal Type Things Needed for Stripe

You will set up your own Stripe account which is a very simple process. I set up an account in about ten minutes. The things you'll need are:

1) A Employee ID Number (EIN) or a Social Security Number (for tax purposes)

2) A bank account in which to deposit the funds.

3) A legally responsible person.

Once those items are known, simply go to this page:

https://stripe.com/us/pricing

Read over the details to make sure you know what you're getting into and then fill out the application. Once you've been approved, I'll give you instructions for what I need from you in order to input your data.

^Why is the cost less than the 4% EventCORE Charges?
The fee for Stripe is listed on their Website. It seems like a really good deal at 2.9% and $.30/transaction. Compared with our merchant account at 4% it is a good deal at the levels we are most often charging. Most Stripe customers are going to have average sales of around $10. So the 2.9% plus the $.30 comes out to $.59 transaction which is 5.9%... much higher. But with a conference of $100 your fee is $2.90+$.30 or 3.4% which is less than our range. What you need to realize is you are managing your own bank account which shouldn't be hard, but it does require you to have your own local account that money goes into.  You can learn more about our 4% option in "Shared Merchant Account."

Tier 3 instructions:
* Do copy/paste of standard stripe line in event DB. Change settings.
* Check payments and activate top 4. 

How Does it Work
You will set up your own Stripe account which is a very simple process. I set up an account in about ten minutes. The things you'll need are:
1) A Employee ID Number (EIN) or a Social Security Number (for tax purposes)
2) A bank account in which to deposit the funds.
3) A legally responsible person.
Once those items are known, simply go to this page:
https://stripe.com/us/pricing
Read over the details to make sure you know what you're getting into and then fill out the application. Once you've been approved, I'll give you instructions for what I need from you in order to input your data.
What About the Cost
The fee for Stripe is listed on their Website. It seems like a really good deal at 2.9% and $.30/transaction. Compared with our merchant account at 4%. And yes it at the levels we are charging. Most Stripe customers are going to have average sales of around $10. So the 2.9% plus the $.30 comes out to $.59 transaction which is 5.9%... much higher. But with a conference of $100 your fee is $2.90+$.30 or 3.4% which is less than our range. What you need to realize is you are managing your own bank account which shouldn't be hard, but it does require you to have your own local account that money goes into.