Managing Online Payments via Stripe

How do I set up Stripe?

Stripe is the integrated payment gateway used to collect payments. Even if your organization already uses Stripe, we suggest creating a new account to simplify your financial reconciliation. A representative from your organization will be guided through the set-up during the onboarding process.

Note: If the Platform is to be used by event organizers to sell entries then they too will require their own Stripe account to collect fees.

Connecting a Stripe Account

1. Login to your account and switch into your organization account (users are unable to connect Personal Accounts to Stripe)

2. Click on ‘Finance Admin’ in the left navigation menu

3. Click on 'Stripe'

1. Click 'Add Merchant'

2. Complete the form completing all mandatory fields

3. Click on the ‘Authorise access to this account’ button to finalise the setup

What happens to funds once payment has been processed in the Platform?

'Available Soon'

Once payment has been processed in the Platform, Stripe collects the money into a pot called ‘Available Soon’ where the funds remain for a period of days. This period is based on your account’s payout timing which is set by Stripe and cannot be adjusted.

'Available to Payout'

After the payout timing period, Stripe moves the funds to an ‘Available to Payout’ pot; this could display as ‘Estimated Future Payouts' in your account. Refunds will come out of this pot so it’s important to ensure there are enough funds to successfully process a refund.

'In Transit'

This means funds are in the process of being deposited to your bank account according to your payout schedule set within your Stripe account. The schedule can be adjusted to help accrue funds within the ‘Available to Payout’ pot so that refunds can be processed successfully. A payout deposit will be made up of bundled payments that have been processed over a given period. Typically, payout deposits are made up of payments from two business days prior to the payout date in the USA and seven calendar days in the UK.

When does Stripe make payouts?

Stripe automatically applies 'Standard payout timing' depending on your country of origin. The payout timing determines how long funds are held in the ‘Available Soon’ stage.

If you prefer payouts on a fixed schedule, you can choose to receive them weekly or monthly in your account’s payout settings.

When selecting a weekly schedule, you can specify the day of the week that payments should arrive in your bank account.

For a monthly schedule, you can specify the day of the month. Payouts scheduled between the 29th and 31st of the month are sent on the last day of shorter months.

What is my payout schedule?

Your payout schedule determines the frequency at which funds are placed ‘In transit' once they have cleared the standard payout timing period.

Why is my available payout balance always at zero?

It is likely that this is caused by having your payout schedule set to ‘daily’. This means that your funds enter the ‘In Transit’ stage directly after the payout timing period, bypassing the ‘Available to Payout’ stage.

Why should I adjust my payout schedule?

You may want to adjust your payout schedule to ensure that you have funds available to process refunds. For example, if you switch from a ‘daily’ to ‘weekly’ payout schedule this will allow you to accrue funds over a week prior to a payout. This is particularly useful when processing refunds as you must have a positive ‘available to payout’ balance.

I keep getting an error when trying to process a refund, why is this?

This is because your ‘Available to Payout’ balance is less than the amount that you are trying to refund. You will need to make sure that you process the refund when there are enough funds available.

How do I adjust my payout schedule?

We have created a short video that guides you through the process of adjusting your payout schedule. 

Adjusting payout schedule 

• Log in to Stripe
• Select 'Settings' from the menu
• Scroll down and select 'Bank accounts and scheduling' (typically under Business settings)
• Select the payout schedule you would like (e.g., Automatic every 'week' on 'Monday')
• Click 'Save'

What information can I pull out of the Platform for these payments?

The Financial Reports are programmed to show all relevant information relating to payments that have been made so that your organization can track, analyse and report on your income.

See Financial Reporting for more detailed information about the reports available.