Overview

Stripe is one of the leading payments providers. Use Feathery’s Stripe integration to: 

• Accept online payments
• Store payment method information (e.g. a credit card)
• Provide product selection functionality with an auto-calculated total

What you need

• An active Feathery account and form
• An active Stripe account

Background

Stripe is a technology company that provides economic infrastructure for the internet. Founded in 2010 by brothers Patrick and John Collison, Stripe has grown to become one of the leading online payment processing platforms. It is designed to facilitate businesses of all sizes to accept payments, manage transactions, and build economic operations online, ranging from small startups to large enterprises.

Key features and offerings of Stripe include:

• Payment Processing: Stripe allows businesses to accept various payment methods including credit cards, debit cards, and other international payment methods, making it easier for merchants to reach a global customer base.
• Subscription and Billing Management: It provides tools for managing recurring payments and subscriptions, including invoicing, billing, and automatic retries for failed payments.
• Connect: A solution designed for platforms and marketplaces, enabling them to easily onboard users, set up payment distribution, and manage compliance and tax reporting.
• Atlas: A toolkit for starting an internet business anywhere in the world, offering services like company incorporation, banking, and tax guidance.
• Radar: An advanced fraud detection and prevention tool that uses machine learning and Stripe’s vast network of data to help protect against fraudulent transactions.
• Financial Reporting: Stripe offers comprehensive financial reporting and analytics tools that help businesses track payments, understand revenue patterns, and manage cash flow.
• Developer Tools: Known for its developer-friendly APIs and extensive documentation, Stripe allows for seamless integration into websites and apps, providing businesses the flexibility to create custom payment experiences.

Stripe’s ecosystem is designed to support a wide array of business models, including e-commerce, SaaS, marketplaces, and platforms, by providing a secure, scalable, and user-friendly payment infrastructure.

Benefits

Stripe offers a comprehensive suite of tools and services designed to facilitate online and in-app payments, making it a popular choice for businesses of all sizes. Here are some key benefits of using Stripe:

Ease of Integration

• Developer-Friendly: Stripe provides well-documented APIs and SDKs that allow for easy integration into websites and mobile applications, offering developers the flexibility to create custom payment solutions.
• Plug-and-Play Options: For those without extensive development resources, Stripe offers pre-built integrations and plugins for popular e-commerce platforms and website builders, enabling quick setup without coding.

Global Payments and Currency Support

• Wide Range of Payment Methods: Stripe supports a variety of payment methods, including major credit cards, debit cards, and international payment systems, helping businesses cater to a global customer base.
• Multi-Currency Transactions: It allows businesses to accept payments in multiple currencies, providing a seamless payment experience for international customers and automatic currency conversion.

Security and Compliance

• Advanced Security Features: Stripe employs robust security measures, including PCI DSS compliance, encryption, and tokenization, to secure payment data and reduce the risk of fraud.
• Fraud Prevention: With Stripe Radar and machine learning algorithms, Stripe offers advanced fraud detection and prevention capabilities, helping businesses minimize chargebacks and unauthorized transactions.

Flexible Payment Options

• Subscription and Billing Management: Stripe's subscription management tools facilitate the creation and management of recurring billing models, complete with automatic invoicing and smart retry logic to reduce churn.
• One-time and On-the-go Payments: Businesses can process one-time payments and implement mobile payment solutions, catering to a wide array of transaction types and customer preferences.

Financial Reporting and Management

• Comprehensive Dashboard: Stripe provides a detailed dashboard for real-time monitoring of transactions, financial reporting, and management of customer data.
• Automated Reconciliation: It simplifies the reconciliation process with automatic updates and integrations with accounting software, saving time and reducing manual errors.

Scalability and Reliability

• Highly Scalable: Stripe's infrastructure is designed to scale with your business, from handling small volumes of transactions to supporting the needs of large enterprises.
• Uptime and Reliability: With a focus on high availability, Stripe ensures reliable payment processing, maintaining uptime even during high traffic periods.

Ecosystem and Extensions

• Extensive Ecosystem: Stripe's ecosystem includes additional tools and services such as Stripe Connect for marketplaces, Stripe Atlas for starting an internet business, and extensions for finance, analytics, and more.
• Community and Support: A large community of developers and extensive documentation, as well as responsive customer support, ensure that users can get the most out of Stripe's features.

By leveraging Stripe, businesses can streamline their payment processes, enhance security, expand globally, and improve the overall payment experience for their customers, contributing to higher satisfaction and increased sales.

Considerations

When evaluating Stripe as a potential payment processing and financial infrastructure solution for your business, it's important to consider various factors to ensure it aligns with your specific needs, workflows, and strategic goals. Here’s a checklist to guide your evaluation:

Payment Processing Needs

• Supported Payment Methods: Assess whether Stripe supports all the payment methods your target customers prefer, including credit cards, digital wallets, bank transfers, and international payment options.
• Currency and Global Reach: Consider if Stripe supports the currencies and countries where you plan to do business, ensuring you can accept payments from customers worldwide.

Integration and Compatibility

• Ease of Integration: Evaluate the ease with which Stripe can be integrated into your existing tech stack, including websites, mobile apps, and e-commerce platforms.
• Developer Resources: Consider the quality of Stripe’s APIs, documentation, and developer tools to ensure they meet your technical team's standards and capabilities.
• Plugin and Extension Ecosystem: If you're using pre-built platforms (like Shopify or WordPress), check for the availability and quality of Stripe integrations or plugins.

Fees and Pricing Structure

• Transaction Fees: Understand the transaction fees associated with Stripe and how they compare to other payment processors, considering both standard charges and any additional fees for things like currency conversion or international cards.
• Subscription and Additional Services: Evaluate the costs of any additional Stripe services you may need, such as billing for subscriptions, advanced fraud protection, or marketplace payments.

Security and Compliance

• Security Measures: Review Stripe's security protocols, including encryption and tokenization practices, to ensure they meet your security requirements.
• Compliance: Ensure Stripe’s platform complies with relevant financial regulations and data protection laws, including PCI DSS standards, GDPR, and any industry-specific regulations that may apply to your business.

Customization and Flexibility

• Customization Capabilities: Assess how customizable Stripe's payment forms and checkout experiences are, ensuring you can deliver a seamless and branded payment process to your customers.
• Flexibility and Scalability: Consider whether Stripe’s solutions can scale with your business growth and adapt to your evolving business model and payment needs.

Financial Management and Reporting

• Financial Reporting: Evaluate the comprehensiveness and clarity of Stripe’s financial reporting and analytics tools, ensuring they provide the insights you need to manage your business effectively.
• Reconciliation and Accounting Integration: Check how well Stripe integrates with your accounting software and the ease of reconciliation processes, particularly if you handle a high volume of transactions.

Support and Reliability

• Customer Support: Assess the quality and availability of Stripe’s customer support, including response times, support channels (e.g., live chat, phone support, email), and access to dedicated account managers.
• Platform Reliability: Research Stripe’s historical uptime and performance to gauge the reliability of their payment processing service, especially during peak times or high-traffic events.

Ecosystem and Additional Services

• Additional Tools and Services: Explore the range of additional tools and services Stripe offers, such as Stripe Atlas for business formation, Stripe Radar for fraud detection, and whether these could benefit your business.
• Community and Resources: Consider the strength of Stripe’s developer and user community, as a robust community can provide valuable support, plugins, and integrations.

By carefully considering these factors, you can make an informed decision about whether Stripe is the right platform to support your payment processing and financial infrastructure needs, ensuring it aligns with your business model, technical capabilities, and growth plans.