Update: This article was published back in 2015 and some of the pricing details may be out of date by the time you read it. For complete pricing details for Stripe, we refer you to their own pricing page!
We're excited to announce that Populi now works with online payments service Stripe. Stripe provides us with a superb, secure payments infrastructure. It gives you an inexpensive, nonsense-free payment gateway and merchant account. Their pricing is simple:
- 2.9% + 30 cents per successful credit card transaction
- 0.8% with a $5 cap per electronic check/ACH transaction*
That's it! It has none of the hidden fine-print fees the other processors butter their bread with. And signup is a breeze: you can set up a new account in five minutes and start accepting payments right away.
That's right—your school can get going with online payments in five minutes.
Here's how it works:
- Go to Financial > Settings > Online Payments.
- Click Add a payment gateway.
- Select Stripe as the provider and click Connect to Stripe.
- Take a few minutes to fill in the Stripe signup form.
- Once you create your account, it's connected to Populi.
- Start taking payments.
Convenience fees and gateway management
Stripe integration is part of our new release that improves how online payments are managed in Populi.
You can now charge a convenience fee for credit/debit transactions. Payment processors (and other middlemen) take a bite out of each transaction—sometimes as much as 5% when all is said and done. To help you recoup these costs, you can set up a percentage-based convenience fee. The fee is automatically applied at checkout when the payer enters the amount she wishes to pay.
The Payment Gateways tab in Financial > Settings lets you manage your gateways—including adding and updating your own Stripe and Authorize.net credentials. You can also specify how you use each gateway. For example, you could route all tuition, fees, and donations through your Stripe account while sending your bookstore transactions through Authorize.net. If you have multiple campuses, you can even specify which gateway to use at which campus.
The new features give you a great new gateway option with Stripe together with more control over how your school uses Populi for online payments. To learn more, have a look at the Populi Knowledge Base.
* E-check/ACH through Stripe is currently only available to accredited institutions. Please contact Populi Support if you have any questions.