Stripe is a popular payment platform used by businesses large and small around the world. However, of course this platform will not be suitable for every business and merchant.
You may be wondering if Stripe is worth your time and money? Do the advantages of Stripe outweigh their disadvantages?
Let's PlutusPay Find out in this article what makes Stripe stand out from other payment processors, and you can decide for yourself if they're right for your business.
Stripe is a very good choice – but it's not perfect.
Stripe has some great benefits. It's easy to use for consumers and merchants (you just need to sign up for an account and get started in a day). The platform is very user-friendly and its API is open source.
However, there are some downsides to using Stripe. One of the biggest problems with Stripe is that it doesn't offer customer service options in many countries outside of the US. But more importantly, Stripe may lock an account without notice. When business is doing well, why put yourself at risk with an unreliable payment system?
But this doesn't happen to every salesperson. If so, Stripe wouldn't be as popular. So how do businesses still prefer Stripe over other payment processors? Here are its advantages and disadvantages.
Pros: Accepts most payment methods
Stripe is a payment processor that allows you to accept payments online, in person, or through an app on your phone. This company was founded in 2010 and has become one of the leading payment processors in the market today.
Stripe accepts most payment methods, including credit and debit cards (Visa, Mastercard), Apple Pay, Android Pay, Bitcoin, and other cryptocurrencies like Litecoin and Ethereum. With this advantage of Stripe, you can easily accept bank transfers from customers who do not have a credit card or want to pay with another method.
The company also accepts multiple currencies for international payments, although there will be certain restrictions. However, if you run an e-commerce business and want to sell in the EU, Stripe offers those functionalities in their payment gateway.
Cons: Handling fee
One of the big downsides of Stripe is its rather high processing fees. Stripe does not charge an account creation or monthly fee, but at 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction, the total fees can be huge for businesses that process more than a few hundred transactions. translation every month.
Stripe also uses a flat-rate pricing model, which means that different businesses have the same fees regardless of how many transactions they process in a month. This can be troublesome if you process less than 1 million USD annually as the fees will be higher than if you process more than 1 million USD annually.
PlutusPay thinks it's better for you to use a payment processor that actually allows you to adjust the fee rates depending on the product or price which is better for you in the long run.
Pros: Easy to use
Stripe is a great option for businesses that have never accepted online payments before. The advantage of Stripe is that from setting up an account to integrating it with your website, Stripe has simplified everything in a pretty good way.
In addition, Stripe provides full instructions on their website and FAQ pages if you have any problems or need more information about their service. This can be very helpful if you are just starting an e-commerce business and are new to credit card handling in general.
Stripe's checkout experience is also very easy to use for consumers. They accept popular payment methods such as credit cards (including American Express), ACH and digital wallets (Google Pay, Apple Pay) and also provide a safe and convenient experience for guests. row.
Stripe Payments works on mPC, iOS, Android, and nearly any other platform, as long as the Internet is accessible.
Cons: Limited Merchant Acceptance (MCC)
Category code (or MCC) is issued by Mastercard and Visa and is used to classify businesses. Stripe only supports a handful of MCCs, which means that if you're not on their list there's a high chance you'll lose your business' payment processing capabilities.
The hardest problem is figuring out which MCCs Stripe will accept. This isn't entirely clear, and Stripe will allow merchants – no matter what type of MCC they are – to sign up for Stripe and start accepting payments. This is good for your online store/startups but not sustainable at all.
There have been many sellers who have encountered cases where they were suddenly unable to accept payments or access the funds in their Stripe account and were therefore unable to receive payments from customers. It is a risk when using Stripe when doing online business that you need to be aware of.
Advantages: Automatic recurring payment (Recurring Payment)
Another advantage of Stripe is that their API provides a solution to accept Recurring payment solutions easily. By adding a few lines of code, you can allow your customers to automatically pay for your products or services on a predetermined schedule.
This helps them avoid having to enter new bank account or credit card information every month, and makes it easy to manage your business. And, of course, you can schedule automatic invoice generation and even automatic processing of refunds if a customer cancels a subscription.
The subscription business model is extremely popular and very useful for business owners regardless of the type of business. Taking advantage of the built-in recurring billing options is a must for your business.
Cons: Frequently locking accounts
Stripe has a reputation for being an extremely strict party to their rules. They will lock your account if you violate their terms of service, which are frequently updated and can be easily misunderstood if not read carefully.
This also happens if Stripe thinks your business model isn't supported, like selling trademarks, food supplements, or dropshipping.
Plus, if Stripe finds that your business is making too much money, they can lock your account until further notice, which is completely absurd.
Usually, once they have signed up for a Stripe account, they will not verify their business information right away. But once you receive payments up to a certain threshold into your account, Stripe will immediately re-verify your account to check for any unusual activity.
Additionally, if Stripe believes your company's line of business is not in line with their values, they can hold all payments in and out of their platform as well as the amounts already paid. available in your account.
Pros: Good documentation
Stripe's website contains a large amount of helpful documentation for merchants, developers, and other users. Stripe's API documentation is detailed, easy to understand, and easy to find.
Taking advantage of this Stripe advantage, if you're looking for more information on how they can be used in conjunction with other services, Stripe Partner Guide will be a valuable resource including integrations with dozens of different platforms including Zapier, Shopify and Slack, etc. The developer tools provided are very complete, but it will be difficult for you if you don't know anything about coding (of course).
Cons: Poor customer support
There are a lot of downsides to Stripe, but the worst is their customer care team. Stripe proved to be very poor at responding to emails and resolving brother issues. Many users have said that they often have to wait a long time just to get the first response from a support agent.
Additionally, if you need help with an account issue, it can take several business days or even weeks before Stripe responds (if applicable). Therefore, if you have an account about your account and you want it resolved quickly, then Stripe is not the right choice for you.
Choose a payment processor that supports your business.
Many people think that Stripe is a payment processor, but they are not. More specifically, Stripe is an online payment platform that allows users to accept credit card payments using their own merchant accounts. In a nutshell, Stripe is a payment processing intermediary.
Stripe is a great choice for startups and low transaction volumes because they charge a flat fee for each transaction regardless of the number of products or services sold.
However, the fee type is not good at all when your business starts to expand its revenue and make big money; in those cases, it is preferable to use a merchant account provider rather than Stripe.
summary
After this article on the advantages and disadvantages of Stripe from PlutusPay, it can be said that Stripe is not completely useless at all. For low-risk product industry sellers and startups, they are a great choice. But for those looking to scale their business, have high sales volume, or work under a high-risk MCC, they won't be the best choice.
In this case, using a real merchant account will be the best choice for you. Merchant account providers can provide better processing and support tailored to your type of business.
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