If you own a computer or smartphone, chances are you’ve entered either side of a digital transaction. And the possibility of you using an e-wallet like PayPal is also likely.
PayPal boasts a user base of 295 million people worldwide. In the first half of 2019 alone, it processed nearly six billion transactions. It is widely known as it is a consumer-friendly platform.
Now, what if you want to be a small business owner – should you stick with PayPal because it’s a leader? Or should you take a risk with its opponent Stripes instead of?
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Stripe vs. PayPal: The Best Option for Your Business
Before you decide to sign up for PayPal – or switch to Stripe – consider some of the differences between the two methods.
Transaction fee
While the transaction fees (2.9% + 0.30 cents per transaction) are the same for the two platforms, PayPal goes deeper with its cost breakdown.
For example, you can view charges for:
- US and international transactions
- Micropayments and large payouts
- Profit or Non-Profit Payment
- Transactions are processed through a virtual terminal
You can also assess fees for:
- Recurring payments
- Currency conversion
- Refunds
- Refunds
- Payment via Amex
- Mobile card reader transactions
- and such
Based on this, some would say PayPal wins for transparency. However, others will agree that Stripe keeps its fee structure simplified, which means no unexpected costs.
Types of Payment Accepted
If you are running an online business, you need a platform that accepts as many forms of payment as possible. For PayPal, this includes:
- PayPal (of course)
- Credit
- Debit card
- PayPal Credit
- Payment by phone
However, not all forms of payment are available to everyone. For example, Pay Phone transactions are only available if you have a Payments Pro plan.
On the other hand, Stripe accepts forms of payment like credit and debit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, etc.
Accepted countries and currencies
Now, if you are a business that is planning to go global, then you need the right support. Let’s see which offers the best.
The first is Paypal, which accepts payments from more than 200 countries. On the other hand, Stripe only accepts 25 countries. However, PayPal only processes transactions in 25 currencies, compared to Stripe’s 135+.
We might call this a tie, depending on how you see it (and what’s more important to your business).
Advanced Payment Options
How do you plan to process payments from your customers? You will find that both come with special advanced payment options such as:
- Invoice
- Market Solutions (Stripe Connect)
- Register
Since Stripe is more focused on e-commerce, there are no options for mobile chip readers or integration with POS systems.
Integration with other tools
Both Stripe and PayPal have integrations with various financial and e-commerce tools. However, Stripe still prevails because it has more options.
Here are a few things you can integrate the platform with:
- Customer relationship management (CRM)
- Customer support
- Promotional email
- Fundraising
- Inventory management
- Recurring payments
- Form building
- Referral Marketing
- And more
So how do you set up Stripe?
The great thing about online payment tools is that you can try them for free. So, if you’re excited to let Stripe run a test, you can get it up and running in no time.
- Register with email address, full name, and strong password (at least one cap, number and non-alphanumeric characters).
- Confirm your account email address (check your inbox).
- Since you may not be a developer, choose Built-in solution right to buy.
- On this page, you can integrate your existing platforms, such as Squarespace or Xero. If not, click Leap for now.
- You are now in your dashboard where you can see all your transactions by day, week, month, quarter or year.
- To start accepting Stripe payments, you need to set up your bank account. The money is not in your account like it is with PayPal. However, you will have to wait seven days or so, depending on your business type. The riskier your business, the longer the wait time.
- At the top of the dashboard, you’ll see Activate your Stripe account. Click this to drop down menu and select Begin.
- Next, you will need to insert all your business details. At the end, insert your bank details and set up two-step authentication (recommended for security).
Use your Stripe account
Once set up, you can see all the great features Stripe has to offer. For example, you can look at Pay and categorize your views based on those that were successful, refunded, or unselected.
You can also review disputes you have open that need your response. In addition, you can filter them based on who you have won or lost.
Under BALANCE , you can see how much money is being transferred to your bank and how much is being held. The amount on hold will require settlement with your bank account.
Under BALANCE section, you will find Payments and Transaction. Your payments are the amount sent to your bank account. Transactions show all – those that have been submitted and are pending.
In yours Client you can add customers so you can easily bill them when the time comes.
The Report is another useful tool that allows you to see an overview of your transactions over the course of months or over the past year.
Radar is another analytics feature you can use to get an overview of your account. This will tell you how many disputes you have received (lose and win).
Then under Pay , you’ll be able to see more analytics about your business. For example, you can see a snapshot of:
- Revenue and Subscriber Growth
- Retention and churn rate
- Average revenue per subscriber
- Unpaid invoice
Below Pay On the menu you can view your products, tax rates, coupons, subscriptions and invoices.
If you want to see your orders placed, you can click Order in the menu. Alternatively, you can review your products.
When you’re ready to move on to the technical side of things, you can try End that is where you will integrate a terminal for the POS.
The Developers will give you access to the API, where you can further integrate.
In yours Settingyou can change your business details, add the Stripe app, and review reporting and compliance documents.
Strive Vs Paypal: Stripe is a Simple and Secure Betting!
Stripe is a growing rival to Paypal, and for good reason – it offers so much more. It has something for programmers, as well as business owners who want more integration for their payments setup.
It’s simple and quick to get started with Stripe, so why not set up your account and see how it compares to PayPal?
