What is Stripe?

Overview

Stripe is the payment processor that securely bridges the Customer's credit card with your bank account. During your onboarding, you will set up a Stripe Express account connected to the PodPlay system. This Stripe Express account is linked specifically to PodPlay's Stripe platform, which allows PodPlay to secure a reduced fee structure with Stripe, a rate lower than what you would receive going to Stripe directly, and lower than most competitors.

How Payment Processing Works

When a Customer sets up their Profile, one of the steps they take is adding their credit card to their account. This credit card is not stored in PodPlay, it is stored inside Stripe. When a Customer makes a purchase, all funds are captured by Stripe and moved into your Club's Stripe account through the following process:

1. Hold: Stripe places a hold on the Customer's card to ensure they have the necessary funds. Note that in some cases there is no hold, such as with Membership subscriptions.
2. Capture: Stripe captures the Customer's funds.
3. Transfer: Funds, minus the Stripe fee, are moved through PodPlay's Stripe account into your Club's Stripe Express account.
4. Payout: Stripe initiates a payout to your Club's bank account. There is a rolling, minimum 2-day delay between when funds are captured and when the payout occurs.

Once the payout is complete, you will see the money in your bank account. The steps outlined in the revenue reconciliation process provide you with the most granular review of all Customer charges.

Transaction Bundling

To reduce the number of Stripe fees incured, we bundle Customer purchases wherever possible. When a Customer makes a Reservation or secures a spot at an Event, the system places a hold on their credit card to ensure they have the necessary funds. As the Customer makes additional purchases during that session, the system will attempt to add those charges to the original booking. Near the end of the Reservation or Event, the charges for the Customer's aggregated amount I charged, rather than processing each transaction separately. This means fewer Stripe fees overall.

For example, if a Customer books a Reservation, pays for a friend's spot, and rents a paddle through the App, those three charges are bundled into one transaction billed at the end of the Reservation.

Stripe Fees

Processing fees are a standard practice amongst all payment processors; it is the cost of using their software. Stripe is used because they're the most secure payment processing platform in the world. All of your Customer's credit card or bank information is stored directly in Stripe, not in PodPlay's database. This is a very important cyber-security practice that reduces interested parties (hackers) from trying to steal your Customer's data.

The processing fee with PodPlay is lower than other platforms by a significant margin, saving you lots of money over time. For Clubs in the United States, the processing fee is standardized with a % + $ fee per transaction. For Clubs outside the United States, your Stripe fee depends on your country. The details of the Stripe fee are included in your Statement of Work (SOW), the signed agreement between your Club and PodPlay.

Stripe fees are applied to the total amount charged to the Customer, including taxes. For example, if a Customer books a court for $10 with 10% tax, the system charges the Customer $11, and Stripe takes its fee from that full $11 total.

Log in to your Stripe Express Account

To access your Stripe account, click on the link here (https://connect.stripe.com/express_login) and sign in with the email and password used when your Stripe account was first created. If you forget your password, you can reset it on Stripe.com. If you've forgotten which email was used to set up your account, contact the Customer Success team for assistance ([e-mail]).

Your account is classified as a Stripe Express Connected Account, which is different from a standard Stripe account. This distinction is what enables PodPlay to secure the reduced fee rate on your behalf.

Because PodPlay captures Customer funds and immediately transfers the revenue into your Stripe account, you will not see individual Customer transactions when you log in. Instead, you will see the recent revenues your Club has received from PodPlay. The exact flow is:

• A hold is placed on Customer's credit card
• The revenue is captured

  • Captured immediately: Memberships, Admin Dashboard/back-end purchases
  • Captured at end of session: Reservation bookings, Event attendance
• Customer funds, minus the Stripe fee, are transferred into your Club's Stripe account
• Stripe initiates a payout to your Club's bank account (minimum 2-day rolling delay)

If you need to perform revenue reconciliation, follow the process outlined in this link.

International Clubs

For Clubs outside the United States, PodPlay uses a Stripe charging strategy that directly connects your Stripe Express account with the Customer's credit card. There are no cross-border fees or currency exchange fees. All charges settle in your country and local currency.

FAQs

What happens to the Stripe fee during refunds?

When providing a refund for a Customer, the first transaction includes a Stripe fee. When the refund happens, the Customer is refunded what they paid, which is the Club’s revenue + Stripe fee. This means the Stripe fee is lost during a refund. The Stripe fee is not charged twice.

For example, if a Customer is charged $10, the Stripe fee in the U.S. is = $0.59. The total amount of revenue to the Club is $9.41, so when a Customer is refunded, they are refunded $10. Therefore, the Club will pay up the necessary $0.59 to reach $10 in total for the refund.

To reduce the need for this, we suggest providing a customer Refund with Credits. By providing your Customer Credits for their Refund instead of refunding money, you avoid losing the Stripe Fee when providing a Refund.

If a refund is processed and the option selected is Fraud, Stripe will automatically flag the Customer's credit card and block it from further fraudulent charges.

What happens if I mark a refund as "Fraud"?

If a refund is processed and the option selected is Fraud, Stripe will automatically flag the Customer's credit card and block it from further fraudulent charges.

Specifically:

• The Customer's credit card and email address are both blocked
• This is intentional, if a Customer is committing fraud, the Club would not want to continue doing business with them

To avoid accidentally blocking a Customer's card, use the reason "Request by Customer" or "Duplicate" for any non-fraud-related refunds. To learn more, read the How to Issue a Refund article.

Where is the Customer’s credit card information stored?

The Customer's credit card information is stored in Stripe, not in PodPlay. On the Admin Dashboard, you can navigate to a Customer's profile and see only the last four digits of their credit card number. By not storing credit card information in our system, we reduce the likelihood of an attack/hack because there's little information to steal.

What happens if a Customer's credit card expires?

If a Customer's credit card expires, one of two things typically happens:

1. Stripe updates the card automatically: In some cases, Stripe resolves the expired card on its own, resulting in no disruption for the Customer. This is handled entirely by Stripe.
2. The Customer is prompted to re-add their card: The system may stop the Customer from completing a Reservation booking or Event registration and require them to update their payment method.

If a Customer registered for an event more than 6 days in advance and their card has since expired, there will be no hold on the card at the time of sign-up. When the hold is eventually attempted and fails, the Admin will see an error and the Customer will be removed from the event and notified that their registration was canceled.

How does the Stripe fee work with taxes?

The Stripe fee is applied to the total amount charged to the Customer, including any taxes.

If the fee is 2.85% + $0.30 per transaction for U.S. Clubs, and the rate in your SOW for Clubs outside the U.S.

For example, if a court costs $10 with 10% tax, the Customer is charged $11. Stripe applies its fee to the full $11, regardless of how much of that amount is tax versus the base price. With a processing fee of 2.85% + $0.30, Stripe's processing fee is $0.61 from an $11 charge. This means the Club's revenue is $10.39 after the processing fee, and $9.39 after the tax of $1 is paid to the state or local government.

Does a Coach payout include a Stripe fee?

It depends on how the Coach is receiving payment.

Coach paid by the Customer (e.g., Customer books a Reservation and adds a Coach): The money from the Reservation flows Customer → through PodPlay → split between Club and Coach. In this case, the Stripe fee is paid by the Club.

Coach paid by the Club (e.g., Coach added to an Event from the Admin Dashboard): The money from the Event flows Customer → Club. There is then a Coach payment, with the money flow from Club → through PodPlay → Coach. Transfers between Stripe accounts do not incur a Stripe fee.

In the second scenario, the Coach's payout rate is independent of the Event's revenue (unless the % split rate is chosen when adding the Coach to the Event). Whether the Event costs $25 per person with 10 attendees or $0 per person, the Club receives the Event revenue and the Coach receives their set rate regardless. For Clinic Series, Coaches are paid per individual Event, when each Event ends. To learn more, read about Coach payments during Events.