“It works with financial institutions, payment networks, and banks of all kinds, so our customers don't have to.” With this phrase, Stripe summed up its mission to remove any financial complications businesses face while processing buyer payments online. If you are running a business that receives customer payments online, you definitely need to consider the Stripe payment gateway to process payments made on your site, Stripe has a good reputation and works well with any type of e-commerce.
How do you create an account on Stripe?
What is a stripe?
Stripe is an electronic payment gateway that enables you to add various payment methods on your website, such as credit cards, debit cards, Google Pay, Apple Pay, etc., and then transfer them to your bank account.
Prior to Stripe, paying by credit card was a complex process that required working with multiple parties, acquiring merchant services, and complex systems and integrations before it could be successfully completed. The Collison brothers, the founders of Stripe, saw how difficult this process was, and thought of how to devise a way to make adding payment methods simpler, and Stripe was born.
Stripe solved this problem by allowing payment methods to be added by adding a few lines of code to your website. Of course, that doesn't mean accepting online payments is really that simple and fast, but for the end user, it's just that easy, and Stripe does it all behind the scenes.
Stripe is one of the few startups that achieve great success and grow rapidly, and within the few years after its founding in 2009, it managed to raise its value beyond major companies such as SpaceX, and was able to succeed in competing with more established and established payment gateways such as PayPal and Amazon Pay. Now Stripe is the default choice for many businesses - whatever their transaction size - when thinking about how to add online payment methods.
What are the advantages of Stripe Payment Gateway?
Stripe's success as a reliable and secure payment gateway is due to the many competitive advantages it offers its customers when compared to other payment gateways. It offers a payment processing service mix, which combines the simplicity of use, diversity of payment methods, and developments, as evidenced by these advantages:
First: ease of use
Adding an electronic payment gateway to your store often involves some technical complications and routines. Technical complications need to resort to a specialist in order to be successfully linked to the store, and routine complications require the company to fulfill a set of requirements such as the presence of a company on the ground, the professionalism of the store design, or residing in a certain geographical area and owning a real bank account … etc.
In pursuit of simplicity, Stripe offers an easy solution that doesn't require complex programming knowledge or routine arrangements and difficult reviews, making it one of the easiest payment gateways in terms of requirements and procedures for linking with the store and transferring your profits to your bank account as a merchant.
Second: Strong technical support
Strong technical support is a vital feature that store owners need to solve problems and get answers quickly, ensuring that their store runs smoothly. Stripe provides 24/7 chat and email technical support, as well as a knowledge base, explainer resources, and videos that give you all the information you'll need to create your account and complete payment transactions successfully.
Third: Various payment methods
Stripe directly provides its services in 44 countries, and all countries of the world, including the Arab region, through the Strip Atlas service. Under this service, it provides the ability to deal with more than 135 currencies, and a payment method, including cryptocurrencies and direct debit cards, in a comprehensive way that is not available in most payment gateways.
Stripe not only offers various payment methods, but also constantly launches improvements to its services, and adds new features every year that make it at the forefront of payment gateways in terms of continuous improvement.
Fourth: harmony with the design of the site
A simple and straightforward payment interface is one of the reasons that enhance customer confidence in the store, and reduce the number of abandoned shopping carts, Stripe offers the customer a transparent and easy payment experience with less friction. If you compare Stripe to a PayPal payment gateway, for example, the former is superior to the latter.
In order to complete the purchase via PayPal, the customer needs to log into the PayPal account in a separate window, through which the payment steps are completed, which does not happen with Stripe, which is present behind the scenes but the buyer does not feel its presence.
Fifth: Integration with all kinds of stores
Stripe payment gateway is easy to link with any type of digital store, as Stripe integrates seamlessly with WooCommerce, Shopify, Big Commerce, and more. This is in favor of the ease of adding steps, and the simplicity of the linking procedures with your store.
Stripe also supports different business models for stores: e-commerce and retail sites, B2B sites, SaaS and B2C sites, as well as non-profit organizations and charities.
Sixth: Secure Transactions
The payment gateway stripe uses the world's largest companies, including Amazon, Shopify and Pinterest, along with emerging online stores that accept online payments. Stripe is PCI Level 1 certified, which means it complies with routine security checks and testing.
It also encrypts all customers' credit card numbers, stores decryption information separately so that credit card numbers cannot be seen, and requires all transactions to be done over the most secure HTTPS protocol. Stripe also detects fraudulent transactions and automatically blocks any that appear suspicious.
Seven: Enhancing trust in the brand image
Providing customers with different payment methods indicates that the store is serious and reliable, not just a small, unprofessional store. By offering various payment methods such as Stripe, you will instill confidence in your customers and attract new customers from all countries, whatever payment method is available in their countries or which they prefer.
Drawbacks of Stripe Payment Gateway?
First: Arab countries fall outside the scope of direct coverage
It is the most notable defect that makes many Arab online stores think twice before opening a Stripe account because Stripe surrounds itself with a strict security fence that requires the establishment of the company in certain countries only to accept the creation of the account. However, Stripe has provided an outlet for store owners outside the immediate geographic area through the Stripe Atlas service.
It helps them set up a company formally in the US along with getting a Stripe account, but it is a rather expensive service for start-up stores with limited capital, as its purchase requires a one-time payment of $ 500, plus an annual fee to cover taxes and US bank account expenses …etc.
Secondly, the registration process is relatively long
Although opening a Stripe account is easy and in simple steps, actual use of the payment gateway will only take place after verifying your identity and reviewing your website. It takes longer to get approval compared to a PayPal payment gateway for example, which only needs your name, email address, and a photo of your ID, to get the PayPal online payment gateway activated quickly.
How does the stripe payment gateway work?
The Stripe payment gateway handles the payment process from the moment the customer decides to buy until the payment reaches the store owner's bank account as follows:
- When you create a Stripe account, the stripe payment gateway will connect to your store's purchase page.
- Once the buyer is ready to buy, they will fill in their financial information on the purchase page for Stripe to encrypt.
- Stripe sends the encrypted data to the bank that issued the card to the customer.
- The issuing bank approves or rejects the transaction (eg due to insufficient balance).
- Stripe informs the customer that the transaction has been accepted, or rejected, requesting payment using another method.
- After the transaction is accepted, a purchase confirmation is sent to both the buyer and seller and the following details appear on the customer's card statement or email receipt sent by Stripe:
- The trade name and URL of the store.
- Business email address, phone number, and address.
- URL link for customer support page.
- Stripe transfers the purchase amount to your commercial bank account usually within two working days. You can also customize the transfer of funds to your bank account to take place automatically on the schedule you prefer (daily, weekly or monthly).
- Stripe charges a collection fee (about 2.9%) per transaction, or a flat fee if your monthly sales are high.