Table of Contents
1. How to Create a New Stripe Account
2. Activation of Your Stripe Account
3. Configuration of Your Stripe Account
4. Linking Stripe to ConfTool Pro
5. Test Payment
6. Identity Verification
7. SEPA Direct Debit via Stripe
8. Receive Payments via Alipay
9. Further Hints for Using Stripe

Configure Stripe for ConfTool Pro

The payment service “Stripe” is available to organizers in many countries in the Western Hemisphere and allows them to receive credit card payments from any country. If you expect many participants from the People's Republic of China, it is usually advisable to enable Alipay via Stripe as well, as Alipay is the major payment platform in China.

Receiving payments via “Stripe” requires a Stripe merchant account. The account is free, there are no monthly or setup fees, but Stripe charges payment fees per successful charge as listed on the Stripe website (usually 1.5% to 3.4% of the payment amount plus ca. €0.25).

The following steps describe how to set up a Stripe account, link it to your ConfTool Pro installation and how to use Stripe for receiving payments from participants in China via Alipay.

1. How to Create a New Stripe Account

Creating a Stripe account is straightforward: Please go to https://dashboard.stripe.com/ to start the process. Click on “Sign up” (image 1), enter your account details (e-mail, full name and password), and click the button to create the new account (image 2). You will receive an automatic e-mail with a button on which you have to click to confirm your e-mail address and Stripe account (image 3).

2. Activation of Your Stripe Account

After logging in to your Stripe account, you see the “Stripe Dashboard”. The next step is the activation of your account. To do this, click on “Activate account” on the top of the dashboard (image 4) and enter your personal details (address, phone and tax numbers etc.) as well as your reference bank account information. This is required to allow Stripe to process payments on behalf of you and to transfer the funds to your account (image 5). Your account will be activated after having filled in this form.

Please note: Stripe has a “test mode” and a “live mode”. Only in live mode payments will be processed; in “test mode”, payments will not be processed! To switch between both modes, use the button in the top right of the main menu bar (see image 6).

You might need the test mode to activate the payment methods Alipay and SEPA direct debit (see below). If you only need credit card payments, you won’t need the test mode.

3. Configuration of Your Stripe Account

To link ConfTool Pro with your Stripe account you need a “Publishable Key” that identifies your account, and a “Restricted Key” that gives ConfTool Pro the required access rights to the interface of your Stripe account.

Starting in 2024, a “Restricted Key” has to be used instead of the “Secret Key” previously used until the end of 2023: While a “Secret Key” is an API key that provides full control over any resources linked with your Stripe account, the “Restricted Key” is designed for specific API calls, allowing for fine-grained control over what actions can be performed. It is intended to limit the potential damage if it falls into the wrong hands.

If you already have created a restricted key for ConfTool Pro, you can of course use it for your current event.

To create a new restricted API key for ConfTool Pro, please proceed as follows:
Select the link “Developers” at the top of the page and then the tab “API keys”. Scroll to the bottom of the page and select the button “Create restricted key” on the right (see image 7).

After selecting the button, please do the following settings. It is important that you set the following rights (see image 8):

Enter a “Key name” (for instance “ConfTool”).
Then set “All core resources” to “Write”.
Scroll further down and set “All checkout resources” to “Write”.
Scroll further down and finally set “All webhook resources” to “Write”.
Lastly, scroll to the bottom of the page and click on “Create key”.

Now a restricted key is created. You will need this key later on.

To select the supported payment methods, please click on cogwheel at the top right of the screen and then select the option “Settings” (see image 9). On the following screen, select the menu “Payment methods” to enable the required payment methods. Please note that ConfTool Pro currently only supports Credit Card payments, Alipay and SEPA Direct Debit. More details can be found in sections 5 and 6.

4. Linking Stripe to ConfTool Pro

Two “API keys” (“Publishable Key” and “Restricted Key”) are required to link ConfTool Pro to your Stripe account (see previous section). To access these keys, please select the menu item “Developers” at the top right of the dashboard. A submenu item “API Keys” appears that allows you to access the required parameters as well as other data, which you don’t need at the moment (see image 10).

Important: Stripe provides two different sets of keys: “test keys” and “live keys”. Use the test keys in ConfTool Pro for testing purposes and the live keys for live mode. You will find the test / live mode switch in Stripe on the top right of the dashboard (see image 6). The setting of this switch does not determine the payment mode for ConfTool Pro., The payment mode is only determined by the type of API keys (test or live) you use in ConfTool Pro.

Now please open another browser window and log in to your ConfTool Pro installation as administrative user and go to the page:
Overview => Settings => Manage Payment Options
Scroll down to “Payment via Stripe” (see image 11) and:

Set the option “Enable Credit Card via Stripe” to “Yes, enabled for all participants”.
Enter a short “Payment Description” (Usually your conference abbreviation and the ID of the user, to identify the payments). Example: “Event 2024, ID %1”. The parameter %1 will be replaced by the ID of the ConfTool user. Please note that this description has to be kept short.
Enter the “publishable key” and the “restricted key” from your Stripe account (see image 10). You can use the test key pair if you first want to test how the system works, but usually it is safe to use the live keys right away and do a test payment in live mode only.

Please remember: If you use the test keys, payments will not be processed, if you use the live keys, payments will be processed.

5. Making a Stripe Payment for Testing Purposes

Finally, please test your configuration and your live Stripe account by processing/paying a small amount (e.g. €1.00) using your personal credit card. First, please register a test user as a participant in ConfTool Pro, and log in to this user’s account (e.g. using “login as”). Now you should see the stripe payment button on the user’s overview page. After clicking the button, a payment window appears where you can enter your card details.

If the payment was successful, the payment should appear within seconds in the “Stripe Dashboard”. It takes about 7 days until the amount (minus the payment fees) is credited to your bank account.

Notes:

Please also have a look at our general information about receiving credit card payments.

We always recommend offering bank transfer as payment method, too, as this is usually the cheapest payment method for local participants (or EU participants if you are within the Eurozone.)

Please note that ConfTool GmbH has no business connection to Stripe. Still, if you encounter any problems, please feel free to contact us at info@conftool.net.

If you want to try the system in test mode, please do not use real credit card details, but the following test cards:
- 4111 1111 1111 1111 (Payment will be successful)
- 4000 0000 0000 0002 (Card will be declined)
- 4000 0000 0000 0341 (Payment exception, card will also be declined)

6. Identity Verification Required for Stripe Account

After you have received one or more payments, or after some time, Stripe (like all other payment providers) will ask you for "identity verification". This is required by the anti-money laundering laws of most countries. To identify yourself, you have to upload scanned images of the front and back side of your ID, passport or driving license. We recommend that you already have this information / these images prepared when you open your Stripe account. With the ID card, the owner of the Stripe Account will be verified. You can go live even before your identity has been verified, but failure to prove identity might result in the termination of the contract with Stripe.

7. Using SEPA Direct Debit via Stripe

SEPA Direct Debit is a pan-European direct debit system that allows merchants to collect Euro payments from accounts in all 36 SEPA countries.

Due to banking regulations, SEPA Direct Debit is a delayed notification payment method, which means that funds are not immediately available (payments typically take 6-8 business days). The Stripe transaction fee for SEPA Direct Debit is only €0.35, but the transfer takes about a week.

You will need to enable SEPA Direct Debit for your Stripe account, which usually requires approval from Stripe. In your Stripe account, select the cogwheel at the top of the dashboard, go to “Settings” and continue to “Payment methods”. In the section “Bank debits” turn on “SEPA Direct Debit” (see image 18).

After receiving the confirmation from Stripe that SEPA Direct Debit has been enabled, please log in to your ConfTool Pro installation as administrative user and go to the page:
Overview => Settings => Manage Payment Options
Scroll down to “Payment via Stripe” and set "Enable SEPA Direct Debit via Stripe" to “Yes, enabled for all participants”.

Please create a test registration with that payment method and make a test payment.

Image 18: Activate Stripe SEPA Direct Debit

8. Using Stripe for Receiving Payments via Alipay From China

Alipay is a Chinese mobile and online payment platform which enables Chinese consumers to pay directly via online transfer from their bank account. It is currently the largest payment platform in the People's Republic of China. You can use Stripe with ConfTool Pro to receive payments via Alipay from China. The Stripe transaction fees for Alipay are about 2.9% of the payment amount.

Before you can use Alipay, you must activate it in the dashboard of your Stripe account.
Click on the cogwheel at the top right of the dashboard, select “Settings” and then select “Payment methods”. Here you can configure which payment methods should be accepted. For enabling Alipay as payment method, click on the corresponding button “Activate” (see image 19). Please note that the payment method “cards” must be activated before you can add Alipay as a further payment method.

Now Stripe requires you to do a test payment via Alipay in test mode. To switch between live mode and test mode of Stripe, use the switch at the top right of the screen (see image 20). To do the test payment, enter the Stripe test keys and enable Alipay in ConfTool Pro for Admins only by setting “Enable Alipay via Stripe” to “Only available to administrative users“ (see image 21). Now register a test user as participant in the backend of ConfTool Pro and choose Alipay as payment method. Then log in as that user and perform a test payment with Alipay (In test mode Alipay is always available). Finally, please remember to enter the Stripe live keys in the ConfTool system again.
After your successful test payment in test mode, Alipay will usually be activated for the live mode of Stripe. The activation process might take several hours, please be patient. You will receive an e-mail from Stripe support.

After receiving the confirmation from Stripe that Alipay has been enabled, please log in to your ConfTool Pro installation as administrative user and go to the page:
Overview => Settings => Manage Payment Options
Scroll down to "Payment via Stripe" and set "Enable Alipay via Stripe" to "Yes, enabled for all participants" (see image 21). As a final check, please create another test registration in the ConfTool system and choose Alipay as payment method again. Then click on the payment button in ConfTool Pro to see if the Alipay payment page is successfully called. If the call works, you are ready to receive payments via Alipay.

Finally, please remember to delete your test payments and registrations from the ConfTool system.

9. Further Hints for Using Stripe

Removing Old Webhooks

After your conference has ended and all payments have been processed, please log in to your Stripe account and remove the “Webhooks” that point to your old ConfTool installation. Webhooks are needed by Stripe to inform the ConfTool system about the results of the payment process.

It is required to remove old webhooks manually, as they can only be created automatically in ConfTool Pro when a new payment is started, but they cannot be removed automatically.

If you don’t remove your old webhooks and you continue using Stripe, sooner or later you will receive an email notifying you of webhook endpoint issues similar to the one in image 22.

To remove a webhook, please log in to your Stripe account and select the menu “Developers” at the top of the page. In the tab “Webhooks” proceed to select the Webhook you no longer need (see image 23).

After selecting the webhook, you can delete it easily using the menu on the top right (see image 24).