Payment Gateway - Stripe?

OptiRick

Free Member
Jun 4, 2010
321
48
East Lancs
Our site currently processes payments through Paypal, no problem except that a handful of people get in touch with us to tell us that they are averse to using Paypal for whatever reason.

So i'm looking at an alternative, Stripe looks good as it appears easy to integrate into our Opencart store and they don't appear to have monthly fees but just charge as you use.

I'd be interested in any feedback/opinions. As well as recommendations for other providers.
 
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Nothing but positive stuff to say about Stripe - been using it for clients for iOS/Android apps, as well as web projects. The backend is slick, everything is just slick and works.

In terms of UI and how things just work, Stripe makes PayPal look lethargic.
 
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As an individual, I'm happy to use PayPal

As a business, I'd be happy to see PayPal go out of business.

Nothing but good things to say about Stripe!
 
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The downside to Stripe is that refunds take 5-10 days - some customers do not like to wait this long. Obviously this is more of an issue for clothing retailers who get a vast amount of returns.

I have not used them enough to work out what their fraud prevention is like but have not had any chargebacks to date.
 
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Use both. Give people a choice.

That was always the plan, whenever we've had options our customers have always mainly used Paypal.

I've set stripe up and taken a few payments through it already. Like it very much so far and unless i'm missing a gotcha it appears very cost effective.
 
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Stripe is very good, we use it for a lot of clients. There is a delay in the money appearing in your account (7 days) so depending on your cashflow this can be tricky.

You can set up different rules for validating transactions eg. that the billing address is correct for the card.
 
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I use stripe for both businesses. Customers like it, integrates into the accounting software, saves time and customer service is good when I have had a couple of issues
 
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Yes there are no monthly fees but you generally pay higher % rates than you would through traditional merchant services - especially on Debit cards as payment bureau services such as PayPal and Stripe charge the same rate for Credit and Debit, whereas traditional merchant services charge much less for Debit than Credit in most cases.
 
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Stripe is great. It's also worth looking at Braintree, they are pretty new, but owned by PayPal. They have plenty of good features and decent rates. Unlike PayPal it's quite easy to get hold of people there from what I've experienced so far too. You also don't need a merchant bank account with Braintree.
 
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I had the same quandary about 9 months ago. Some customers stalled at the checkout when asked to use PayPal for what ever reason. I looked around and after speaking to several payment processors I started to use Stripe. Yes charges are higher, but there is no long term contract, and I would have still had to keep PayPal some love it to death and wont use anything else. Now sales are sort of split 50-50 between the two. I say sort of because it changes each month, but there is not a lot between them. Stripe is slightly cheaper than PayPal. Never had a problem with them, but also never had a problem with PayPal so cant vouch for customer service.
 
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We've used Stripe and still do, also used GoCardless when recurring payments, and have also used Izettle for when out and about at Expos etc, or strangely enough we have one client who comes in to see us and wants to use his card this way!
 
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To the Stripe users here: do you also have 3D Secure in your checkout?

As far as I can tell, 3DS isn't supported by Stripe. Yet most banks these days require merchants to have it activated for liability cover.

Are you using a third party solution to integrate 3DS with Stripe? Or are you ignoring it altogether?
 
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I was enjoying Stripe but they've disabled my account as apparently selling spectacles violates their terms.

Shame.

So before anyone wastes their time and money implementing it on their site, it would be worth having a read of this,
https://stripe.com/gb/prohibited-businesses

Not that I can see anything within that would have given me cause for concern.

Spectacles, i read it and couldn't find them on the list, doesn't seem a high risk item unless counterfeit of course.
 
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To the Stripe users here: do you also have 3D Secure in your checkout?

As far as I can tell, 3DS isn't supported by Stripe. Yet most banks these days require merchants to have it activated for liability cover.

Are you using a third party solution to integrate 3DS with Stripe? Or are you ignoring it altogether?
No, there is no 3DS so no fraud protection for the merchant. But it's a complete solution like Paypal so no merchant acquiring bank to require you to use it.
 
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I know, i'm very unhappy about this and their response to my complaint that it isn't clear that my industry would go against their terms.

If they are going to be this fussy it needs to be clearer before people spend time and money implementing their checkout.

Now to have a look at Klarna to see if similar issues may present themselves.
 
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Maybe this is a part of the spectacle debate! I had no idea! So this one global company pretty much runs a mafia on spectacles...makes sense if they own some share of these payment gateways.
 
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No, there is no 3DS so no fraud protection for the merchant. But it's a complete solution like Paypal so no merchant acquiring bank to require you to use it.
Ah right, I understand. Still, that seems like it could be quite a risk for the merchant, unless Stripe cover any fraudulent transactions?
 
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Stripe does support 3D secure these days:

https://stripe.com/docs/sources/three-d-secure

Ah right, I understand. Still, that seems like it could be quite a risk for the merchant, unless Stripe cover any fraudulent transactions?

Stripe will not cover fraudulent transactions but they do try to detect them.

Firstly they offer your standard CVC and address verification. Secondly they use machine learning to look at data for each transaction, comparing this with data across their network, to detect if the payment may be fraudulent.

Ultimately it's down to you as a business owner to understand your customers and be able to spot what a fraudulent transaction looks like on your side. If you're operating in a high-risk area, enable 3D secure to shift liability to the card issuer where possible.
 
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Stripe does support 3D secure these days:

Stripe will not cover fraudulent transactions but they do try to detect them.

Firstly they offer your standard CVC and address verification. Secondly they use machine learning to look at data for each transaction, comparing this with data across their network, to detect if the payment may be fraudulent.

Ultimately it's down to you as a business owner to understand your customers and be able to spot what a fraudulent transaction looks like on your side. If you're operating in a high-risk area, enable 3D secure to shift liability to the card issuer where possible.
Very useful information, good to know. Thanks.
 
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I Just had to pay a supplier invoice, they send me a link via stripe to pay by CC.

It was the easiest transaction, everything CC Number, Expiration, Security, Postcode all on 1 line, it was super simple, and looked easy from a customers (me) point.
Big thumbs up to stripe
 
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