Who are Stripe?
Stripe are Event Owls payment gateway. It is a technology company that allows both private individuals and businesses to accept payments over the Internet. Stripe focuses on providing the technical, fraud prevention, and banking infrastructure required to operate online payment systems.
Why does Event Owl use Stripe?
The Event Owl team would not be cost effective if they had to emply book keepers to manage the thoussands of transactions between exhibitors and event organisers. We scoured the earth and read hundreds of reviews to select a suitable, cost effective payment gateway partner. Stripe were chosen due to their own aim of trying to reduce the burden of payment processing for small businesses, and also their foresight and leading innovation in the banking arena.
Event Owl has integrated Stripes payment gateway processing into its website. Exhbitors do not leave our site and therefore we have less chance of losing them through third party complex, duplicative information gathering.
How long is the payment process?
After the organiser has clicked 'Approve', the Exhibitors card is validated before being charged. If the card is valid, payment is taken immediately from their payment card. The system accepts Visa and Mastercard.
Stripe then process the Exhibitors funds to the Event Organisers bank account. In the case of the Organisers purchasing extra services from Event Owl directly, a similar, though shorter protocol is followed.
Stripe process payments in bundles, the week after the approval, depending on how many exhibitors book on that day. The initial bundle takes between 10 - 14 days to reach an organsiers bank account. A 'deposit' is kept by Stripe in case you need to refund anyone in the meantime. Thereafter it takes 5 - 7 days, its the way the banking system works with card processors all over the world, even using direct debit - we know, we've investivgated!
How financially transparent are the two companies?
Event Owl is PCI compliant - hence several government organsiations are using us, and local councils. There is nothing to hide, you are paid only when you approve an exhibitor and all financial information is provided for you. This marries with Stripe our payment gateway who provide us with the API's for all our dashboards, spreadsheets and receipts.
Stripe are accountable to international financial authorities who have very stringent policies. If you encounter ANY issues, they MUST provide you with a solution happy to these authorities as well as yourself. Again commonsense prevails, it is NOT in their best interests to work against you and your exhibitors! We have worked with Stripe since 2014, their customer service has always been excelelnt.
Why are there fee's to pay?
Both Event Owl and Stripe are businesses. We need to make money to pay for our services, just as much as you like to make a profit from your event/event stall.
If you do not charge for your event trade stands as you are a bonafide charity - then neither do we!
Any fees that are owed to both Stripe (card variable) and Event Owl £3.50 and above depending on the total booking order) are taken during the exhibitor payments journey.
If, for any reason the exhibitor needs to withdraw from an event, and the organiser has agreed, in writing/terms and conditions, to pay a refund, the Stripe fee will be adjusted and the monies returned from the organisers bank account, usually within a ten working day period. No refund is given by Event Owl. Our service has been provided once the Event Organiser accepts the application and the card has been processed.
Stripe are VERY understanding of cash flow with all businesses, particularly Events.
Every account is reviewed on an individual basis. If there is a problem, or a potential fraudulent transaction, Stripe will ask the Organiser for more information either via email or in their dashboard. If the user is unable to provide it, Stripe are required BY LAW, to pause transfers until that information is gathered. If this arises, then feel free to speak to the Event Owl team who will speak with Stripe.
Stripe has many greatest features such as:
Transparent pricing: https://stripe.com/gb/pricing
Elegant API: Stripes API is known for the ease of integration, flexibility, and maintenance.
Ease of reporting: With Stripe, all reporting is consolidated in one place and can be easily accessed via the dashboard, the API or exported as a .csv file for reconciliation purposes.
Customer service: Stripe makes it easy to focus on giving your customers the best service by leveraging technology to understand your payment activity. For example, when a dispute occurs, you'll be able to email your customer, submit evidence to contest the dispute, and track the status of the dispute — all right from your Stripe dashboard.
Stripe also shoulders the burden of PCI compliance with Stripe.js, which accepts your customers' payment information for you. This gives you the ability to control the entire experience without having to work through the more complex PCI Compliance requirements.
Support is crucial to Stripe; it's just as important as their API. They care about fast, personal replies from highly skilled people. At Event Owl we have had only excellent customer service from Stripe so far.
More generally, Stripe are building the economic infrastructure for the Internet, and are removing hassles that have made the payments landscape so rough. We recommend taking a look at their blog at https://stripe.com/blog to learn more about what they are doing to make payments painless.
The Event Owl Team are here for any other questions you might have, so please don't be shy!
We've put a quick tour of Stripe for you here