How Does Shopify-Stripe Integration Work?

It is hard to consider that anyone who is looking forward to launching their own E-commerce business in Dubai, or are currently operating on a traditional platform in the Middle East and wish to move to a virtual platform have not heard of Shopify, an E-commerce platform operating in UAE. In fact, now it has almost become synonymous with E-commerce business since it is the leading multichannel platform. It demands little investment to almost no investment in comparison to its counterparts. It has powered the digital presence of Tesla Motors, GitHub, Encyclopedia and many more, making it the top choice of every business owner wishing to go online. In short, with Shopify, you can establish your E-commerce entity in a few hours without any hassle.

After setting up the store, the next big decision is to choose the right payment gateway and integrate it with the Shopify store. One such payment gateway which is highly preferred for integrating with Shopify in UAE is Stripe.

Stripe is the most popular payment service providers business owners use to accept payments. It supports a dozen payment methods, from credit cards to buy now and pay later services. It charges a certain fee on each transaction. Though it works best for accepting online payments, it can also be used for in-person payments with some added hardware. It further supports many currencies through its integral software, Stripe Payments. In furtherance of this, Stripe also offers features like billing, invoicing, sales and tax automation and more. Launched in 2011, it has served millions of users, backing up the payment processes of many brands, including Amazon, Uber, Spotify, Microsoft, Google and Shopify.

In this blog, we will delve specifically into Stripe-Shopify integration and why it must be done.

A General Overview Of Shopify And Stripe Integration

What is a payment gateway?

A particular payment gateway is designed to pass and store a customer’s credit card information on the primary processor to aid in processing a divested transaction. Then the funds get transferred from the customer’s bank to the merchant’s account while a credit card fee is deducted; subsequently, the payment gets diverted into the customer’s account. Sounds complicated, right?

Stripe is integrated with Shopify to simplify this mechanism since it curtails the payment-related challenges.

Now if you are wondering why not use the built-in payment system of Shopify? The answer is simple; availability. In the status quo, Shopify Payments is explicitly available in a few listed countries and regions only like Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, Singapore, Spain, United Kingdom and a few others, not inclusive of UAE. Moreover, Shopify gets billed USD15 per chargeback, but the business owner pays for it. Thus it is frowned upon a lot by stakeholders.

A fun fact: Shopify’s payment gateway, Shopify Payments, is also powered by Stripe.

How does Stripe work?

Stripe streamlines the payment processing since it has all; payment processing, gateway functions and more to streamline E-commerce functions. It is known for its reliable system for E-commerce payment processing, ensuring efficient money transfer from the customer’s account to the business account through a debit or credit card. In addition, it offers third-party payment gateways and can also serve as a payment processor.

What does a transaction on Stripe look like? 

• First, a customer provides their card information, either through online mode or in-person.
• Those card details then enter Stripe’s payment gateway, which codifies the data in encryption.
• That encrypted data is sent to an acquirer, in this case, a bank that will process the exchange on the merchant’s behalf. Stripe works as a merchant, and the business owner becomes a sub-merchant. Therefore Stripe partners don’t have to deal with the cumbersome nuances of creating an account dedicated to a merchant.
• The payment then passes through a network of credit cards like Visa or Mastercard to the card holder’s bank issuing.
• The bank issuing either accepts or rejects the transaction.
• This is communicated from the issuing bank through the card network to the acquirer in the first place, then through the said payment gateway to the customer, who can see whether the payment got accepted or declined.
• After the cardholder’s issuing bank validates its approval, one can transfer funds from Stripe into their business bank account. Stripe partners then can receive the payment once the transaction is complete, which usually takes two business days. The partners can schedule the payouts as per their convenience, daily, weekly or monthly, as one seeks to adjust.

Integrating Shopify and Stripe

You may follow the following step-by-step guide to complete the Shopify-Stripe integration:-

Step 1. Check the eligibility 

First, open the Shopify store and check your eligibility for the payment conditions. You need to check the terms since we already know Shopify Payments is not available in every country. It is not just about the location but also about the territory. For example, there is no virtual currency operative in Australia. Germany does not support selling services that fall under government, etc. So it is best suited to check the terms and conditions before setting up the payment processing.

Step 2. Log into your account 

Once you have completed checking the terms and conditions and your eligibility,

• Log into your Shopify account and tap on the settings.
• In the settings, tap on the ‘payment provider’ option and check out the list of third-party providers.
• Click on Stripe when you see it.
• Press the ‘save’ button

Step 3. Set up Stripe 

• Open the ‘payment provider’ tab again, and you will receive a third-party pop-up box.
• Now, you can choose a credit card service provider from the list.
• From the menu, choose Stripe and tap on the Stripe button, and the process continues.
• Once your Stripe setup is complete, log into your Shopify account and type in the login details.
• Take time and input the details cautiously so that there are no mistakes.

Step 4. Activate Stripe 

• Tap on the ‘activate’ button, and you are all set!

Now you will be able to support credit card transactions. Though you will not see Shopify Payments on your dashboard, do not get anxious. The transactions will work perfectly fine.

Note: Generally, the banks take around 24 to 72 hours to process the transactions into the bank account. Also, the payment length depends on the base country.

Benefits of integrating Shopify with Stripe

Shopify-Stripe integration provides benefits like:

• Post this integration; one can accept debit and credit card payments with low transaction charges. It also supports manual transfer through automation.
• Stripe also possesses a highly reliable customer support system. If one faces any issues, they can take it up directly to the customer support, optimizing business communications.
• Setting up Stripe is effortless, and the encryption is strong. Connecting Shopify with Stripe, you can support payment solutions from different E-commerce stores.

What is the best Shopify Stripe template for integration? 

If you wish to choose one Stripe Shopify template for integration, you may opt for Celigo.

The following features of Celigo make it the top choice as Shopify Stripe template:-

(1) Comprehensive flow – The integration provides a wide range of use cases and applications to ensure all your needs are met.

(2) The intuitive setup offers an intuitive design that streamlines the integration setup without the coding and API. Furthermore, the dashboard is highly user friendly, so one can check out the error information and manage different elements.

(3) Low maintenance is designed to cater to both end-users and IT users, so one can take control over the integration and hardly demand maintenance.

(4) Customisable design – The data integration is expandable and customisable. It has an iPaaS system, and you will not need technical tools either.

(5) Developer tools – There are advanced developer tools available for customizing the integration. For example, you can develop the stacks, build the wrapper and generate the tokens.

(6) Orchestration – The users can easily set up the exports and the imports as part of one flow. Orchestration supports complicated processes too.

(7) JavaScript Hooks – Several extension points are available for complicated flow, which promise sophisticated and reliable integration.

Where will one find the Stripe payment gateway option in Shopify?

You will find Stripe as a payment gateway option on Shopify by following the below-mentioned steps:-

• Log into the Shopify store
• Open ‘Settings’
• Tap on ‘Payments’
• From this tab, choose Shopify Payments from the ‘accept credit cards’ menu
• Click on the ‘Activate’ button
• Choose the ‘complete account setup’
• Enter your details and you are all set to sail.

What is the fee for integrating Shopify and Stripe?

Different web developers and service providers offer different plans to the clients, depending on the scale of the business and other features for their integration and Shopify migration services. Therefore, you must connect with Shopify website development service providers directly to get an accurate and comprehensive quote.

One can also connect an existing Stripe account with Shopify. Suppose you use the basic version of Shopify. In that case, you will incur the exact transaction charges for the online payment as with Stripe.

With Shopify Payments quickly processed with Stripe, one can now set up different accounts to support cart transactions. The integration is also convenient in comparison to other payment options. Furthermore, Stripe also offers promising chargebacks with its robust and secured interface. Hence, the Shopify-Stripe integration brings several boons for your E-commerce business.