If your school requires an application fee for submitting applications, there is a way to let applicants pay from within the application forms, which, incidentally, is also the best technology to receive payments from anyone, anywhere, anytime: online payment platforms. ⚡️ Online payment platforms simplify and strengthen commercial dealings to both your's and the applicants' advantage, so continue reading to learn more! 😃
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What is an online payment platform?
An online payment platform is a merchant service that processes online payments between two parties, providing a secure way to transfer funds from one party to another (usually, but not exclusively, from a credit or debit card to a bank account). 💸 It encrypts the cardholder data during the transaction to prevent breaches and theft, verifies the billing information (for instance, credit card number, expiration date, availability of funds, etc.), and authorizes the payment request to safely execute it – all of this in just a few seconds. Put simply, it's the digital equivalent of a physical credit and debit card reader, but one that is accessible 24/7. A good online payment platform will also convert foreign currencies automatically, thus facilitating international transactions. 🌎
What online payment platforms integrate with FULL FABRIC and what for?
FULL FABRIC supports direct integration with PayPal, Stripe and Flywire for the purpose of charging application fees, and you can set them on a per application template basis. 💳 Whichever you choose, all three act as middlemen between you, the merchant, and your candidates, the acquirers.
PayPal, founded in 1998, is the leader of the online payments industry, while Stripe, founded in 2009, comes second place in market leadership, and Flywire, also founded in 2009, is quickly becoming a favourite in the higher education sector. The three offer comparable features and benefits, guaranteeing a high level of security and stability and a comfortable user experience. 👩🏻💻
By integrating with PayPal, you have two options:
a) Only let candidates pay through a PayPal account (as they would do on Amazon or any other e-commerce website).
b) Let candidates pay via PayPal or credit card (so long as your PayPal plan contemplates both methods).
Please refer to this link from PayPal's App Centre for more information.
As for Stripe, there are two types of integration:
a) FULL FABRIC manages all payments on behalf of your school through a Stripe account of ours and handles refunds and queries in exchange for a commission (a processing fee per transaction). For its part, the school is periodically sent a statement listing all payments along with a transfer of the amount we received during the respective time period.
b) Your school uses a Stripe account of yours to autonomously manage all refunds and payment reconciliations, and we merely share the configuration instructions to enable the integration with your Stripe account.
In broad strokes, the payment process is as follows:
The candidate clicks to pay and is redirected from the application form to PayPal's or Stripe's checkout page;
The candidate fills in the necessary payment details;
The online payment platform contacts the issuer bank to authenticate the transaction, which includes checking for enough balance in the sender account and being screened for fraud;
If all is good, the application fee is debited from the applicant’s account and deposited in yours, or, initially, FULL FABRIC's (if you opted to integrate with Stripe and have us be responsible for running the account);
Accordingly, the candidate is notified whether the payment was successful or unsuccessful and the payment state is updated in FULL FABRIC.
Altogether, this operation shouldn't take more than a couple of minutes. ⌛️
Regarding Flywire, please visit this article.
How can I integrate with one of the available payment gateways?
To set up PayPal, Stripe or Flywire, this is what we need from you:
Your API credentials (for PayPal, that means the API Username, the API Password and the Signature; for Stripe, it's the Publishable key and the Secret key; and for Flywire, it's your school's Recipient code);
Who will manage the account? (only applicable to Stripe)
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PUBLISHED: July 22, 2020
LAST UPDATED: June 8, 2021 at 8:37 a.m.