How to Accept Payments with Stripe
Choosing a payment processing platform, accepting payments, reducing fees, and maintaining a streamlined process are important to the success of any business.
One solution that has proven to be a game-changer for processing payments and accessing funds quickly is Stripe.
In this blog post, we'll explore why Stripe stands out as a preferred payment processor and go into the details of setting up your account, managing payout schedules, utilizing instant payouts, and setting up automated receipts.
Why Stripe?
Stripe has been my go to payment processor since starting my business.
They’re an industry expert and I’ve never had an issue working with them vs. other platforms that have horror stories around disputes and lengthy payment schedules.
I, like many others, had gone down the rabbit hole of trying to minimize payment processing fees and currency exchange fees (I’m in Canada) earlier in my business. I eventually decided that it’s not worth the hassle and shifted my focus to signing more clients.
Stripe takes care of payment processing and allows my clients to pay via credit card so they can sign up and pay on the spot.
Benefits of using Stripe
Using Stripe allows clients to pay via credit card or ACH (Automated Clearing House). ACH is an electronic bank-to-bank payment only available to users of certain US banks.
Let’s be honest, most people have credit cards and prefer using them to pay for online purchases since they can accumulate points and perks. Using credit cards also reduces friction, meaning less people dropping off and not signing up for your services vs. using other methods like e-transfer or checks.
Another advantage Stripe has is that it connects to many platforms. I connect Stripe to my Dubsado CRM account to collect payments directly from invoices. A helpful “Pay Now” button appears once Stripe is connected and once clicked, clients can pay with their credit card directly. If you have a site on a platform like Kajabi or Squarespace, Stripe works as a payment processor so customers can pay via credit card on your site.
An additional benefit of Stripe is that it enables the autopay function in Dubsado. This allows for automatic payment with a credit card on payment plans, which is a way to get paid faster and not worry about chasing after clients for payment.
Keep in mind that while Stripe does not charge a monthly subscription fee, it charges a fee for processing payments. In Canada, for instance, the current fee stands at 2.9% + 30¢ per successful card charge. While minimizing costs is a valid concern for any business owner, the convenience and benefits offered by Stripe often outweigh the perceived drawbacks.
To review the details of Stripe’s processing fees visit their site.
Setting Up Your Stripe Account
Getting started with Stripe is a straightforward process, even for those that aren’t too comfortable with tech. Follow these steps to sign up for a Stripe account:
Visit the Stripe Website: Head to the official Stripe website and click ‘Start Now’ to begin the registration process.
Create Your Account: Fill in the required information, including your email address, full name, country and password and click ‘Create Account’.
Verify Your Email: After submitting your details, verify your email address by clicking on the link sent to your inbox.
Provide Additional Information: Complete the necessary steps to verify your identity and provide any additional business information requested by Stripe.
Connect Bank Account: To start receiving payments, connect your bank account to your Stripe account. This ensures a seamless transfer of funds from your Stripe account to your bank.
Two-Step Authentication: Enable two-step authentication in order to keep your Stripe account secure. You can choose SMS or an authenticator app.
Sign up for a Stripe account at www.stripe.com
How to Set Up a Payout Schedule in Stripe
Once your Stripe account is set up, you'll want to establish a payout schedule that aligns with your business needs. A payout schedule determines how often funds from your sales are transferred to your bank account.
In supported countries, the default payout schedule is daily, but you can change this to another type of schedule (weekly or monthly) or even setup a manual payout.
Follow these steps to edit or setup a payout schedule, but keep in mind that depending on what country you live in - some of these options may not be available to you:
Access Payout Settings: Log in to your Stripe dashboard and navigate to the ‘Settings’ section.
Choose Payouts: Scroll down to ‘Business Settings’ and under ‘Your Business’ click ‘External payout accounts and scheduling’.
Go to ‘Business Settings’ → ‘Your Business’ → Click ‘External payout accounts and scheduling’
Set Payout Schedule: Scroll down to ‘Payout Schedule’, and configure your payout schedule based on your preferences. You can choose daily, weekly, or monthly payouts, or switch to manual payouts, depending on your business model and cash flow requirements.
Review and Confirm: Review your selected payout schedule and click 'Save’ to confirm the changes.
Set Payout Speed: Depending your industry, country and how long you’ve had your Stripe account, you may be eligible for free accelerated payouts. Select from:
Standard payout speed: Funds are available 7 calendar days after payment.
Accelerated payout speed: Funds are available 3 business days after payment.
Once you’ve selected and made a change, click ‘Save’ to confirm the changes.
Set your payout schedule and payout speed in Stripe
How to Use Instant Payouts in Stripe
For businesses that require immediate access to funds, Stripe offers an Instant Payout feature. This allows you to transfer funds to your bank account instantly. Stripe has an additional 1% fee to access Instant Payouts.
Currently Instant Payouts are available for Stripe users in Australia, Canada, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States. Keep in mind that not all users are eligible for this feature.
Follow these steps to enable Instant Payouts:
Enable Instant Payouts: In your Stripe dashboard, navigate to the ‘Balances’ section (left hand menu), then go to ‘Payouts’ and click ‘Pay out funds instantly’. This will appear if you have funds available in Stripe.
Enter the Amount: enter the amount you’d like to pay out instantly.
Link a Debit Card: To use Instant Payouts, you need to link the debit card or bank account to which you want to transfer the amount over to.
Confirm and Verify: Click ‘Pay Out’ to finish the Instant Payout setup and verify the linked debit card. The funds will appear in your bank account within 30 minutes.
Using Stripe Instant Payout
How to Send Receipts via Stripe:
Every time I make an online purchase, I feel a sense of relief when I get an email with a receipt, letting me know that my payment has been processed.
I get especially stressed when there is a little churning gear on the checkout page that doesn't seem to stop... so I'm left wondering if it worked. Until I get that helpful email that lets me know it's all A-OK 🥳
So letting clients know that their payment has been processed is an important step in your client process. Stripe lets you do this very easily, and sends a payment receipt for every transaction that's processed on the platform.
To set up receipts that go out automatically with every Stripe processed payment, do the following:
In Stripe, go to Settings (gear icon at top right).
Go to ‘Business’ and in the dropdown menu go from ‘Account details’ to ‘Customer emails’
Toggle on ‘Successful payments’ and you can also toggle on ‘Refunds’.
IMPORTANT: Dubsado payments powered by Stripe now automatically sends receipts for each payment/transaction. So if you are using this payment processor in Dubsado, there is no longer a need to enable receipts inside of Stripe. You should keep this option toggled off so clients don’t receive 2 receipts.
Enable emails receipts in Stripe
How to Customize Stripe Receipts:
Stripe gives you the option to add your logo and some branding colors to personalize your receipts a bit more. To do this:
In Stripe, go to Settings (gear icon at top right).
Scroll down to ‘Business Settings’ and under ‘Your Business’ click ‘Branding’.
Add your icon, your logo and your brand colors.
Look at the preview of the email receipt on the right hand side to make sure you’re happy with the end result. You can also send yourself a test receipt to see how it looks.
Customize Stripe receipts
How to Process Refunds in Stripe
When processing a refund for a client that paid using Stripe, these are the steps you need to follow:
In Stripe, go to Payments page (left hand side menu).
Find the payment you want to refund in the list.
Click the three dots ‘···’ on the right hand side of that payment, select ‘Refund Payment’ from the actions list.
The default is to issue a full refund for that transaction. To issue a partial refund, enter a different amount.
Select a reason for the refund. If you select ‘Other’ you need to enter a note to provide a reason for the refund.
Important: Refunds use your available Stripe balance. If your balance is not sufficient to cover the amount of the refund, Stripe will debit the amount needed from your bank account. Make sure you have a sufficient balance in your account.
Process refunds in Stripe
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