Choosing a payment provider? Think Stripe!

You may face difficulties if you don’t pick the right payment gateway so it’s best to get the lowdown on what’s out there before making your decision. Bookwhen currently offers Worldpay, PayPal and Stripe as payment providers but we’ve found two of these are sure favourite amongst our customers. A whopping 97% of you at Bookwhen have chosen PayPal or Stripe as your payment provider with many of you citing their great reputation and ease of use.

What PayPal and Stripe say about their own business

However, we feel there might even be a winner out of these two favourites and that’s…. Stripe! It’s thought that 90% of all adults have used Stripe through online shopping and this payment provider is now supporting millions of businesses globally including Reddit, Pinterest, Lyft and even Bookwhen! We've tested all the major gateways over a number of years, collated lots of feedback from 1000's customers but after trialling and testing Stripe we can safely say that we’re thoroughly impressed. We’ve also contacted their customer support a few times and are always blown away by their efficiency and professionalism - thanks Stripe 👍

We’ve written a list below which highlights all the points we feel really makes Stripe stand out above PayPal. Before starting this list it’s worth pointing out that whichever payment provider you go for, both offer unwavering compliance and adhere to the highest international security standards for payments so either one will still provide you with a safe payment option for you and your bookers.

Cost 💰

We know that as a small business starting out, every little helps so you’ll most likely be watching the pennies. Stripe’s predictable flat-rate pricing and low fees (1.4% + 20p per transaction) make it easier for you to anticipate your costs for the month and keep on top of your finances. PayPal’s fees are 2.9% + 30p so significantly more when you start adding it all up.

Simplicity 👏🏾

Stripe has just the one plan which you don’t need to pay a penny for! It's true that you can sign up for a PayPal account for free but we feel Stripe's features are a tad superior!

Supported Payment Methods 💳

Disappointingly, PayPal supported only a few major credit and debit cards such as Visa, Amex, Mastercard and JCB. Stripe in this case wins hands down by supporting pretty much every debit and credit card out there. You can read more about which payment methods Stripe supports just here. By providing a wide choice of payment methods, you are giving your bookers more flexibility and could attract more customers.

Reporting 📈

Overall, we found Stripe’s data reporting dashboard to be much slicker than Paypal’s. You can also upgrade to Stripe Sigma and query using SQL which brings a tailored report up for you. This will become super useful for those of you who want to get your hands dirty in data to help reduce costs and make smarter business decisions.

Customer Support 🤝

At Bookwhen, we know the importance of providing top-notch customer care which is why we’re so impressed with Stripe’s 24/7 customer support. The big plus for us is that Stripe offers support on email, phone and live chat which PayPal hasn’t introduced just yet. We also found PayPal's online help forums to be time-consuming and quite frustrating to use, especially if you're in a hurry and can't find the answer. Some customers have reported their accounts being randomly suspended resulting in frozen funds for months which isn't great when you're needing a constant stream of revenue!

Global Availability 🌎

With so many of us making payments online, businesses want to make sure they’re able to serve as many customers as possible. This is where we feel Stripe massively outperforms PayPal by accepting orders from customers all around the world with 135+ accepted currencies. PayPal on the other hand only supports 25 currencies. We would highly recommend checking with Paypal to make sure it banks in your country before making any commitment.

Innovative 🧠

Due to Stripe's product innovation efforts, they've seen a huge expansion in growth and revenue. Being lead by some of the top developers in the world, Stripe is incredibly developer-friendly, customisable and loved by code-savvy people. It's no lie that PayPal is also an incredibly innovative company but we feel Stripe is that one step ahead with its constant stream of new features which address its customers' needs.

Why do Bookwhen customers use Stripe?

After our own experience with Stripe and reviewing everything both PayPal and Stripe offer, we feel Stripe truly wears the crown here. This isn't to say that PayPal should be kicked to the curb just yet and if you do decide to stick with PayPal, at least you know you'll be guaranteed a recognised and trusted brand that is easy to use. However, Stripe's customer-focused approach and innovative mindset really put it above the rest of the competition (even Square and Tilly!). We also feel like the proof is in the pudding as 61% of Bookwhen customers have chosen Stripe as their preferred payment gateway. PayPal is currently following behind with 36% and then Worldpay with just 3%. Perhaps trying out PayPal and Stripe for a few months will help you decide what is most appropriate for your business. You can only try one payment provider at a time on your Bookwhen account so make sure you give yourself time on both to get a true feel for what they can offer. Just one thing to bear in mind if you do sign up to PayPal is that if you then want to leave, you can’t move all your customer data to another payment processor (another reason why Stripe trumps PayPal!).

Fancy trialing Stripe? You can sign up for free here.

If you want to see how an online booking system works for your business you can sign up for a free trial of Bookwhen here . We have an expert support team on hand ready to discuss your requirements. You can reach us via our website, chat or email 😄