Stripe Payment Processing

Posted by Jesse on Jun 25, 2013 in General, Payment Processing

A new online processor is called Stripe.  They are being presented as a new easy way to accept payments online.  All a merchant needs to do is add a few lines of code to their website and they can accept credit cards on their site.

Pricing is set at 2.9% of volume and $0.30 per transaction.

This company is very similar to PayPal (as it is owned by some of PayPal’s creators) and is set to grow quickly.

We have gotten quite a few questions about it so here is our take:

First, wow that is high pricing.  Yes it nice and simple, and as they say on their site there aren’t any hidden fees.  The problem is, that even when you add every processing fee possible you rarely get over 2.9% and $0.30.  It does say that it won’t charge international processing fees which would break the 2.9% barrier, but less than 1% of businesses are going to see international processing.

Second, the code is simple.  Many processors already offer this.  These other processors also offer rates starting almost a full % below what Stripe is offering.  While the code is simple you still need to understand code.  If you’re paying a web designer Stripe’s easy code shouldn’t matter.

Third, it’s an aggregate processor.  As we said before with Square; aggregate processing removes some monthly fees.  It’s nice when you start your business and are trying to get off the ground.  As your business grows you will find that the aggregate pitfalls of delayed funding, increased chargebacks, and lack of customer service become more frequent it’s not worth it.

Any business that is serious about being a business knows a merchant account is necessary.  It’s your business, make sure your name is on the statement.

So why pay more to receive less service?

If you’re interested in this type of processing Contact Us.  We would be happy to direct you to a forward thinking processor providing this at a lower cost.