Introducing Stripe

Fotomerchant E-commerce is about to get a whole lot more interesting with Stripe!


E-commerce with Fotomerchant is a fantastic way of selling photography products to clients online. Whether you are benefiting from the immediate customer satisfaction of delivering digital photography products online, adding that professional touch and service with brilliant high quality prints and other direct fulfillment products from our partner photo labs, or offering your own bespoke products with self fulfillment. With Fotomerchant E-commerce, the ability to sell your photography has never been easier!

At least that is what we thought before Stripe landed on the scene and things started to get very exciting!

What is Stripe?

Stripe is the best way to accept payments online and on mobile. Stripe handles billions of dollars every year for forward-thinking businesses around the world and we want Fotomerchant photographers to be part of this action. So now with Stripe, Fotomerchant users get access to amazing tools for accepting and managing credit card payments online.

What benefits does Stripe bring?

Firstly, Fotomerchant users can now accept secured credit card payments directly on their website so customers no longer need to leave your website to pay for their order. All parts of the checkout process stay on your website and it is extremely easy and straight forward. This checkout process is also fully protected by HTTPS/SSL with PCI-DSS compliance built-in for security and peace of mind. Stripe is also completely transparent to your customers so they don’t need a Stripe account to pay by credit card either.

In addition to this, Fotomerchant users get access to some of the most competitive market rates for credit card processing. For example in Australia this mean 30c + 1.75% for MasterCard, VISA and American Express or 30c + 2.9% for International credit cards.

Setting up a Stripe account is also free with no monthly fees and allows you to start accepting credit card payments instantly. Gone are the days of complicated registration processes with excessive fees and cumbersome paper processes to become verified. With Stripe, the process is as easy as filling out your personal details and bank account information. The great people at Stripe have made this very simple, safe and secure for anyone to do!

Lastly, Stripe make it super easy to get access to the funds in your account. Funds are automatically deposited into your bank account on a rolling basis that you schedule in your Stripe account.

The Fotomerchant team are very excited about this new integration with Stripe and we hope our Fotomerchant photographers love it as much as we do! For step by step instructions, check out our tutorial on how to setup Stripe payments.

Connect Stripe to your Fotomerchant account today!

When will Stripe be available?

It is available now for US and Australian Fotomerchant 3 users across all Fotomerchant 3 subscriptions. You can connect it to your account under Store Payment Methods and a tutorial on the setup process is also available. We are still working on bringing online additional countries in the very near future.

Do my customers need a Stripe account to pay by Credit Card?

No. There is no need for your customers to have a Stripe account. Just like any other online web shop, all your customer will need is a credit card to purchase from your Fotomerchant website.

Why should I use Stripe?

Making it easy for customers to pay online should be a high priority for anyone selling online. With Stripe payments your customers can now achieve this in the best possible way. By making it super easy to pay, we strongly believe that you will see more orders through your website while providing a superior experience to your customers.

Do I have to choose between PayPal or Stripe for payments?

No. You can continue to use PayPal as a payment option for your customers alongside Stripe. You can choose to have one or the other, or both! Enabling both will provide your customers with the freedom of choice to best suit their needs.

Which one is better? PayPal or Stripe?

This question depends on the scale of your online business and other factors. There are plenty of great resources online that have extensively compared the two here, here, here and here as well.

Where is the candy?

Unfortunately we were not able to procure candy in time for this announcement, however if you start using Stripe today you may earn a considerable saving from credit card processing fees, which means more funds in your candy budget!

Can I have more information about Stripe?

Absolutely! There is plenty of helpful information available via the Stripe Help and Documentation Area that should answer most questions. If there is anything further you need, you can either contact us or Stripe directly for assistance.

Is there a step-by-step tutorial for setting up Stripe?

There is an article available on the Fotomerchant Help Desk to walk you through the process: Setting up your Store: Configuring Stripe

Don’t have a Fotomerchant account yet? Create one now!

Written by

Gabriel is Head of Development at Fotomerchant and spends his days looking after the development team and working with Fotomerchant customers on how to improve the platform.

  • jw

    Does Stripe include charges for tax requirements? So for example in the USA state tax or overseas EU VAT?

    • Derek Clapham

      @disqus_MUzIwfRQNl:disqus: The Fotomerchant platform determines what state taxes or VAT to charge your customer. This is completely separate from Stripe. Stripe is simply a merchant facility that allows you to accept credit cards on your website and have the funds deposited in to your account. Have I understood your question correctly?

  • kevin clarke

    When will Stripe be available on your website in NZ?