Payment Processing moving to Stripe

  • Posted:
  • / By: Andy Vander Meulen
  • / In: Announcements

As announced back in September, one of the upcoming changes is to move payment processing to Stripe. This process is currently underway and is expected to be completed in early January 2021. The next steps in the process are as follows:

STEP 1 – Create Merchant Accounts in Stripe

  • Currently the process of creating new merchant account in Stripe has begun. The new Stripe processor will be created based off of your existing information from your TogetherPay merchant accounts. No action on your part is needed.

STEP 2 – Verification

  • Once the merchant accounts are created, you will get an email with instructions on how to verify your account and agree to the Stripe terms of use. Be expecting the email by the end of this week (Friday, December 11th). Verification will need to be completed before the Go Live date in early January 2021.
How do I verify my Stripe Account?

STEP 3 – Transfer Tokens

  • Each time a credit card or eCheck is added to CircuiTree, the payment information is converted into a token. These tokens are used when payments are made to communicate securely with the processor. Tokens will be moved  from TogetherPay into Stripe in early January 2021. Once this process is complete, payment processing will be switched to Stripe.
  • Moving tokens to Stripe will occur in two batches. The first batch will include all tokens up until the date that they are transferred. The transfer process will take a few weeks to complete. A second batch will be run to include any tokens that will be created between when the first batch was run and the   
    Go Live date for Stripe.
  • Between the first batch and the go live date, payments will still be processed using TogetherPay.

STEP 4 – Go Live on Stripe

  • In early January 2021, processing will be switched to Stripe. Once the token transfer process is complete, your Stripe payment processor will be activated. An email letting you know before when this is occurring will be sent.

FAQ’s

Here are some questions that you may have about the process.

Will there be any downtime during the process?

  • No, there is no downtime currently planned to complete this process.

How will refunds be handled?

  • Any payment made before the Stripe Go Live date will be refunded via TogetherPay.
  • Any payments made after Go Live will be refunded via Stripe.

Will Scheduled Payments and Pledges continue to process?

  • Yes, Scheduled Payments and Pledges will continue to process in TogetherPay before Go Live and Stripe afterwards.

What happens if I currently have multiple credit card processors?

  • The same TogetherPay credit card processors that you currently have will be created for Stripe.

How does eCheck processing work?

  • In TogetherPay, eCheck and credit card processing are configured as two separate processors. With Stripe, eCheck and credit card processing are combined into one processor. 
  • If you have credit card and eCheck processors in TogetherPay where all the information matches, these will be merged into one Stripe account.
  • If the information is different between two credit card and eCheck processors in TogetherPay, separate processors will be created in Stripe.

How does billing work in Stripe?

  • Merchant fees will be deducted from each merchant batch instead of billing at the end of the month. Here are some new features to assist in the transition.
  • Change GL Batch to include Merchant Fees as a line item – This will reduce CASH so that GL Batch will still balance to what is in your bank account. 
  • New Merchant Batch Search – This will allow you to quickly see deposits by month.  Shows Total Payments, Fees and Net deposit.
  • Update Payment Audit by Merchant Batch Report – Will show gross payments minus fees to show your net deposit.

Do we still have access to TogetherPay?

  • The Merchant Batch and Payment Search will replace the functionality in TogetherPay.

Does my pricing change?

  • Credit card and eCheck processing rates aren’t changing.

Questions?

Do you have any questions about the transition to Stripe? Select the link below to ask a question and we can help you out!

Ask a Question

Upcoming Changes

Need to get up to speed on what is changing in the coming months? Review all the upcoming changes to CircuiTree below.

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