Payment Setup Checklist for Stripe
Last updated: February 9, 2023
Stripe is a payment processing company that allows businesses to handle online transactions made through FareHarbor using a variety of payment methods.
Note: Whenever a new company onboards with FareHarbor and chooses Stripe as their payment processor, a new Stripe account (also known as ‘custom account’) is created for them.
It is not possible for a client to use an existing Stripe account, which in turn means, our client will never receive communication from Stripe directly as everything will be managed through FareHarbor’s Payments Team.
The Payment Setup Checklist is a required set of steps you must take before you can process credit cards with FareHarbor. This allows us to transfer funds from credit card payments directly to your bank. You won’t be able to accept payments until this checklist has been completed.
Depending on what country your bank is based in, the steps for completing the payment setup process may vary. Select an option below to get started.
- Payment Setup Checklist for US bank accounts
- Payment Setup Checklist for non-US bank accounts
- Updating the Payment Setup Checklist
Remember: When speaking to clients, we should minimize our references to third parties like Stripe. See: guidelines for talking about third parties
Payouts
Once an account is verified, we are able to send money to the client through their custom account, and (as long as bank debits are authorized) pull money from them through their customer account, if necessary. Learn more about tracking payouts in FareHarbor.
We don’t issue payouts to a client unless their bank account has been verified. For US clients, this is done using the micro-deposits sent to their customer account. This is a security requirement on our side.
Important terminology
Account
- Platform account: In Stripe, a platform account is a main account under which several custom accounts are housed. Our FareHarbor account in Stripe is a platform account.
- Custom account (previously called ‘Managed account’): Custom accounts represent our individual client accounts. As FareHarbor users in Stripe, we can drill into our individual custom accounts from our platform account. The way our payment processing is set up, we control our clients’ Stripe accounts and they never need to interact with Stripe directly.
- Merchant ID: Stripe operates a little differently from other payment processors in that merchants don’t have MIDs. If you require an ID for a seller’s license or similar, you can generally leave it blank.
- ACH company ID: Entering the ACH company ID allows ACH withdrawals when debits for our clients fail and the error code is “Debit not Authorized” or “Bank Account Restricted”.
- Stripe has multiple ACH company IDs. As of 2/07/2023, here are Stripe’s ACH company IDs:
WFMSTRIPE1,3270465600,1800948598, and2270465600,4270465600. - Action needed: Our clients need to email their bank and “whitelist” these IDs, allowing for ACH debits.
- Stripe has multiple ACH company IDs. As of 2/07/2023, here are Stripe’s ACH company IDs:
- Merchant Category Code (MCC): FareHarbor’s MCC is 7991
- Stripe Radar: A suite of modern tools for fraud detection and prevention. Read more here.
Payments
- Chargeback: A common word used to describe a disputed charge. You may see this in the Stripe Dashboard or in their help documentation. More about disputes.
- Transfer reversal: A refund issued in the Stripe Dashboard. Note: Never transact in Stripe! All refunds should be done through FareHarbor.
- Strong Customer Authentication: Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) is a regulatory requirement in effect as of September 14, 2019, that impacts many European online payments. It requires customers to use two-factor authentication like 3D Secure to verify their purchase.
- 3D Secure: 3D Secure provides an additional layer of authentication for credit card transactions that protects merchants from liability for fraudulent card payments.
- Card authentication: A bank may require the customer to authenticate a card payment before processing. Implementation varies by bank but commonly consists of a customer entering in a security code sent to their phone.
Decline codes (most common reasons payments may fail)
- Do_not_honor: The card has been declined for an unknown reason. The customer needs to contact their card issuer for more information.
- Fraudulent: The payment has been declined as Stripe suspects it is fraudulent. Do not report more detailed information to your customer. Instead, present as you would the generic_decline described below.
- Incorrect_cv: The CVC number is incorrect. The customer should try again using the correct CVC.
- Insufficient_funds: The card has insufficient funds to complete the purchase. The customer should use an alternative payment method.
- Restricted_card: The card cannot be used to make this payment (it is possible it has been reported lost or stolen). The customer needs to contact their card issuer for more information.
- Authentication_required: The card was declined as the transaction requires authentication. The customer should try again and authenticate their card when prompted during the transaction. If the card issuer returns this decline code on an authenticated transaction, the customer needs to contact their card issuer for more information.
Additional information on connected accounts
Every new company needs to complete their payment setup checklist before they can start receiving payouts. However, there are a few extra things to note on our end:
In Stripe, we attach a bank account to a FareHarbor client in two different places (a connected account and a saved customer record):
- The connected account (with ID acct_…) is found in FareHarbor via Settings > Bank & Payments.
- The saved customer record (with ID cu_… or cus_… is found in FareHarbor via Settings > Bank & Payments > Bank Accounts.
Note: Customer Record (cus_...) can be found by copying the ba_ ID after ‘c:’ (see above) then searching in Stripe.