F.A.Q - Online Payment Methods

 

Overview:

Why are they called "Online" Payment Methods?

Why offer online payment methods like credit card/ApplePay and others at all?

Do online payment methods like credit card/ApplePay work for regular donations?

But don't the cards expire?

Do enough people even have a card that can be used for this?

What is PCI DSS?

What do fundraisers need to do to be PCI DSS compliant?

What do organizations need to do to be PCI DSS compliant?

With SEPA, a pre-notification must be sent, does this also exist for online payment methods?

What do I need to use online payment methods?

How long does it take until I can start?

Where are the credit card details stored?

What are the costs?

What is the advantage of online payment methods over mPOS devices?

How can I refund or cancel payments?

How do I get the data into my CRM?

How can we manage our active members?

What options does the RaiseNow Hub admin  environment offer me?

How do the collected amounts from Stripe get transferred to our account?

Can subscription data be migrated from Stripe?

How does the process work if we decide to use online payment methods?

On which day are the abonnements deductions made?

Can the payments be disputed and what are the costs? 

 

Why are they called "Online" Payment Methods?

Online payment methods require an internet connection to initiate a payment. Credit card data is never stored offline! This applies to the end devices of the fundraisers as well as to the end devices of the donors (ApplePay, GooglePay, PaymentLink). If donors are not online, a link (and reminder messages) can be sent to allow the dataset to be completed afterwards. In the UK, all of our Marketplace campaigns run exclusively through online payment methods and there are no relevant issues due to lack of internet connection.

 

Why offer online payment methods like credit card/ApplePay and others at all? 

1. Donors have more opportunities to provide their support. This increases not only the chances of winning a person, but also the satisfaction of each supporter. 
2. The first payment is done immediately (although it is an authorisation payment). This means that monthly bookings are often 1, or sometimes even 2, bookings more than with SEPA direct debit. Concrete example: If I win a person on the 30th of a month as a donor, the first contribution is booked only in the next month. With online payment methods, this happens directly on the 30th of the current month and the second donation will already be made in the following month.
3. No-shows decrease to a few percent. In our experience, it is only around 2% of the first payment which either fails or has to be charged back.
4. The confirmation of the donation is done on the donors' devices, another quality assurance measure. On the Checkout Page you are also able to show different additional fields.
5. For campaigns conducted in Switzerland, this payment method eliminates the need for a printer.
6. We see a trend in our campaigns in the UK that the retention is also better than with SEPA collections.

 

Do online payment methods like credit card/ApplePay work for regular donations?

Yes, we can use all the usual payment intervals: one-time, monthly, quarterly, semi-annually and annually with these payment methods.

 

But don't the cards expire?

Yes, credit cards continue to expire. However, the new card information is now often passed on. According to Payment Service Providers this means that charges can continue to be made seamlessly. At least 70% of the following card types should be updated in Europe, and the trend is rising: Visa, Mastercard, Discovery and AmeX. Our experience from the UK shows that in practice it is over 90%. Other banks like Diners, JCB and others are currently not covered by this. However, these only account for less than 10% of the cards issued.

In addition, with ApplePay and GooglePay, the cards are continuously updated by the donor.

 

IMPORTANT: We can not give any guarantee regarding the update of the cards, because this is done by the payment service providers and DACH area has not yet been tested in practice!

 

Do enough people even have a card that can be used for this?

Meanwhile, most EC/bank cards, are also debit cards, so almost all people have the opportunity to donate in this way. Furthermore, wallets such as ApplePay/GooglePay, etc. are becoming more and more widespread.

 

What is PCI DSS?

PCI DSS stands for Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard. PCI DSS defines the requirements for all parties involved in the credit card transaction process. The goal is to securely process cardholder data in credit card transactions to prevent fraud and data breaches. The good news is that Formunauts, as well as RaiseNow and STRIPE, are PCI DSS certified, minimizing the burden on fundraisers, agencies and organizations.

 

What do fundraisers need to do to be PCI DSS compliant?

Fundraisers who work on a campaign that processes credit card data must complete a PCI Awareness Training. This training is provided free of charge and is mandatory in the system.

 

What do organizations need to do to be PCI DSS compliant? 

The organization (merchant) must ensure that all fundraisers have done a PCI Awareness Training. This training is provided by us and must be made mandatory in order to access the form. In addition, the acquirer (STRIPE) may be required to complete a short questionnaire. Formunauts, RaiseNow and STRIPE are PCI DSS certified, so this questionnaire (SAQ-A) only includes around 10 questions instead of over 300 questions when using our payment link. If you use online payment methods on your website, you have already solved this issue anyway.

 

With SEPA, a pre-notification must be sent, does this also exist for online payment methods?

As with your Netflix or Spotify subscription, such a notification is not required for Credit Cards, Apple Pay and Goole Pay. Of course, all donors will continue to receive an email with confirmation of the donation amount, payment interval and start date of payment processing.

 

SEPA via Stripe

Prenotifications must be sent before the first debit - this can happen by email, SMS or post. All people with a correct email address will receive an email from RaiseNow with the relevant information. People without a correct email address must be informed by the charity by post.

Here are a few external links on the subject of prenotifications:

https://www.bundesbank.de/action/de/613964/bbksearch?pageNumString=1

https://www.micropayment.de/glossar/prenotification/

https://gocardless.com/de/handbuch/artikel/sepa-pre-notification/

 

What do I need to use online payment methods?

• STRIPE Account - STRIPE offers the best Cardupdating service compared to other providers, which is especially important for regular donors. https://stripe.com/en-at
  
  
• RaiseNow contract - RaiseNow is Europe's largest payment specialist for donation organizations and a strategic partner of Formunauts as well as STRIPE https://stripe.com/partners/directory/raisenow. Through this integration we can seamlessly integrate not only STRIPE but also PayPal and other payment methods (eg: Twint) in the future.
  
  
• Trainingcenter Subscription - In order to be PCI DSS compliant, we, as well as all other parties, must ensure that each fundraiser has taken PCI Awareness Training. This training is built into our training software and must be passed, before access to the form is granted.
  
  
• Payment-Link Subscription - In order to be able to complete the payments PCI DSS compliant on the end device of the donor, you need a Payment-Link Subscription. This is also necessary for payment methods such as ApplePay, GooglePay or PayPal in the future.

 

How long does it take until I can start? 

Assuming the contracts are signed promptly, a start can be made within 2-4 weeks.

 

Where are the credit card details stored?

The credit card data is tokenized and stored in STRIPE, no one has access to the credit card numbers etc.. This prevents fraud and avoids large regulatory efforts.

 

What are the costs?

You will need the following services to set up online payment methods:

Formunauts

• Payment link (€ 169.- per month)
• Training center (€ 219.- per month)
• Training and consulting (approx. 6 hours)
• Setting up and testing of the payment method (approx. 4 hours)

RaiseNow - Formunauts Connect

• 2,5% per transaction

STRIPE

• Approx. 1.5% + 0.20 per transaction (no guarantee. actual values must be agreed between merchant (organization) and STRIPE)

TWINT

• 1.3% per transaction
  
  

What is the advantage of online payment methods over mPOS devices?

Online payment methods can be used without additional hardware. This eliminates the cost and effort of acquiring and maintaining the devices. In addition, regular donations via ApplePay/GooglePay cannot be initiated via mPOS devices. Therefore, we have decided to stop supporting mPOS devices in order to fully focus on the integration of online payment methods.

 

How can I refund or cancel payments?

Subscriptions can be viewed and handled by you via the RaiseNow Hub. This includes refunds, changes to the contribution amount and stopping the regular donation. In addition, it is possible to use RaiseNow's Salesforce integration to make changes directly in Salesforce.

 

How do I get the data into my CRM?

The donor data as well as information on the chosen payment method can still be retrieved through our system. The only difference is that in the payment data section, no IBAN will be provided. Instead, you can find RaiseNow-related data such as "raisenow_status" or "stripe_customer_id". Payment information is always available to you via the RaiseNow Hub for download or through webhooks. Our Customer Care Team is happy to help you find the best solution.

 

How can we manage our active members?

Certainly, the question arises as to how active members will be managed when payments are no longer handled through internal organizational departments, but rather through a payment provider like RaiseNow.

RaiseNow provides an admin area in the Hub where transactions and subscriptions can be viewed and edited.

In addition to the admin area, member records can be exported to your CRM via API integration or a CRM Connector (paid). Please contact our support team (support@formunauts.com) for more detailed information on these integration options.

 

What options does the RaiseNow Hub admin environment offer me?

In the Hub, datasets can be viewed and edited in two separate areas. Transactions and abonnements.

Transactions:

In this area, as the name suggests, all transactions made through online payment methods can be managed. The following actions are possible:

• View transactions in detail, process refunds, and access the associated subscription, if available, under technical details.
• Filter transactions by payment method, date, currency, or status.
• Export a list of all or only the filtered transactions as .xlsx or .csv files.

Subscriptions:

In this area, with a similar view to the transaction section, subscriptions can be viewed and edited. The following actions are possible:

• View subscriptions in detail, edit the amount, or cancel the subscription.
• Access transaction history in the subscription detail view.
• Filter subscriptions by payment method, date, status, or Stripe customer ID.
• Export a list of all or only the filtered subscriptions as .xlsx or .csv files.

 

 

More detailed information about the RaiseNow Hub and the opportunities it offers can be accessed here.

 

How do the collected amounts from Stripe get transferred to our account?

After deducting the applicable fees, the amounts are initially in your Stripe account. With the Stripe account, a payout schedule can be set up in the corresponding admin area. According to Stripe documentation, the standard payout schedule is "automatically daily". This means that the collected amounts are transferred to the bank account specified in the Stripe account once a day, after deducting the Stripe fees. Alternatively, the following payout schedules can also be chosen:

• Automatically weekly (payout day of the week can be specified)
• Automatically monthly (payout day of the month can be specified)
• Manual

Typically, the payout speed in Europe is 3 business days, but it can take longer in some cases.

Further information on payouts from the Stripe account can be found here.

 

Can subscription data be migrated from Stripe?

Yes, payment data can be imported into and exported from Stripe. You can find a detailed help center article from Stripe on this topic here.

 

How does the process work if we decide to use online payment methods?

Once you have decided to use online payment methods, we will set them up together with you.

First, we will send you a RaiseNow contract. Once the contract is signed, the RaiseNow support team will send you an initial Welcome & Onboarding guide via email. In this guide, you will be instructed to log in to the newly created account and link your Stripe account. Any questions regarding payment service providers will be answered by the RaiseNow support team directly.

Once Stripe is linked, please inform us. Then, we will receive the integration keys from RaiseNow so that we can activate the online payment methods for you and your service providers.

To test the payment methods, the following options are available:

• We set up online payments for you in training campaigns (if available).
• We set up online payments for you in a campaign on our staging server (test server).
• We test directly in the production system, on an actively used campaign.

Whatever option we choose, it is possible to configure the payment method in a test mode. This means that while the test donations will be loaded into your RaiseNow Hub, payments will not be deducted from the specified card, Apple or Google Pay.

 

On which day are the abonnements deductions made?

The first payment is an authorization for the regular payment. However, the actual payment still happens immediately—except at the end of the month. Because February only has 28 days, deductions are made on the "last day of the month" starting from the 28th. This means that on January 29th, the first payment is made on January 31st, and the subsequent payment is made on February 28th. Conversely, on January 1st, the subsequent payment is made on February 1st. The deduction day always corresponds to the day of the subscription (depending on the contract start day) and cannot be changed afterwards.

 

Can the payments be disputed and what are the costs? 

Payments can be disputed with card providers or directly via Google / Apple Pay. To avoid disputes and the associated fees, it is advisable to provide donors with contact information so that they have the option to request a refund directly through you instead.

Generally, depending on the card network, the donor has up to 120 days after the original payment to initiate a payment dispute. This process should be the same for both credit cards and Google/Apple Pay.

In this case, Stripe will charge the disputed amount plus a dispute fee (€ 20 / dispute: https://stripe.com/gb/pricing) from the Stripe balance.
After the chargeback is created, there is a limited amount of time (usually 7 to 21 days, depending on the card network) to respond to the card issuer.
If the issuer upholds the payment dispute, the dispute fee will be due, otherwise, it will be refunded to you.

You can find further information and details on the process of a dispute here: 
Disputes and fraud

 

For more information please contact our Customer Care Team: support@formunauts.com

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