Stripe Processing fees: what they are and who pays them

Processing fees: what they are and who pays them

Does it cost anything to open or keep a Stripe account?

No. There's no setup cost and no monthly fee for your Stripe merchant account. Your organization has its own account, and payouts go to your own bank.

What does a card payment cost?

Stripe charges 2.9% plus 30 cents per card transaction. That's Stripe's standard rate. Groupable doesn't mark it up.

Groupable adds a $1.00 platform fee to each online payment. The payer pays it at checkout, and it's shown as its own line. It's the only money Groupable takes from a transaction.

Who pays the Stripe fee?

It depends on the card.

Credit card: the payer covers it. The checkout adds a surcharge equal to the processing cost, so your organization receives the full amount owed.

Debit card: card-network rules don't allow a surcharge on debit. The payer sees a Cover Debit Card Fees switch at checkout, on by default. If they leave it on, they cover the fee. If they turn it off, Stripe takes the fee out of the payment before it reaches your bank.

What does that look like on a $100 dues payment?

Paid by credit card:

Paid by debit card, fees not covered:

The surcharge is $3.33 rather than $3.20 because Stripe charges its percentage on the whole amount, including the fee itself. The surcharge is sized so your organization nets exactly what's owed.

In both cases the member has paid their dues in full. On the debit payment, your organization has paid the card fee out of that payment.

How does this show up in Groupable?

A credit card payment, or a debit payment where the member covered the fee, records as the full amount. There's no fee line, because nothing was deducted from your payout.

A debit payment where the member didn't cover the fee records the payment plus a FEES line for the amount Stripe deducted.

When does the money reach our bank?

Stripe holds the first payout for seven days for fraud and anti-money-laundering review. This is Stripe's rule, and it can't be waived. After that, payouts run daily. Each day's payments arrive as one Online Officer Funds Transfer, which you can see on the Stripe Payments screen.

Can we require members to cover the debit fee?

No. Card-network rules prohibit surcharging debit cards. You can ask members to pay by credit card, or to leave the cover-fees switch on. Many organizations put a line about this in their dues notice.

Our rules say every member must pay the same dues. Does a debit fee break that?

No. The member pays the full dues amount either way. The processing fee comes out afterward, from your organization's side, the same way a bank fee would.

Is it legal to surcharge a credit card?

Yes, in most of the United States. A 2013 settlement between merchants and the card networks permits surcharges on credit cards, provided they're disclosed and don't exceed the actual processing cost. Groupable's surcharge meets those conditions. A few states restrict credit surcharges. If you're unsure about yours, ask us.

Can our organization cover the credit card fee instead of the member?

Yes. Contact support and we'll change the setting for your organization. Once it's changed, credit card payers see a Cover Credit Card Fees switch at checkout, on by default, that works the same way as the debit switch.