Overview
Processing credit cards through Shelterluv allows your rescue or shelter to do away with a separate card reader and its related hardware, and instead, process payments on the adopter's own phone (via a text message). For a walkthrough of how this works take a look at How do I process Stripe credit card transactions in Shelterluv?
To start processing credit cards through Shelterluv, there are a few steps you need to take. Shelterluv uses a service called Stripe to process credit cards on your behalf; it handles all matters of PCI compliance and transfers money directly to your bank. Shelterluv is a Stripe Verified Partner.
A Stripe account needs to be set up for your organization in order to receive the proceeds from your credit card transactions into your bank account.
*Please note: you should not purchase a physical Stripe terminal if you would like to utilize the integrated payment system. Please reach out to help@shelterluv.com if you have more questions about this.
To set up or link an existing Stripe account
Navigate to the onboarding page by clicking the link below (you must be logged in to your Shelterluv account before opening this page):
https://www.shelterluv.com/shelter-onboard
From this page, click the "Begin Setup" button, and enter the email address of the person who is responsible for this part of your organization (someone with access to your organization's bank account information, for example).
After you submit the appropriate email address, that address will receive an email from Stripe that lays out instructions of how to set up an account.
- New to Stripe? In order to complete this process you'll need information like EIN, business address, and bank account numbers so please have that handy before starting. If your organization is a 501c3, be sure to ask for the non-profit rate when setting up your account.
- Have an existing Stripe account? The email will give you instructions on how to link your Stripe account to Shelterluv.
Shortly after your Stripe account is all set up and ready to go, credit card processing will be enabled in your shelter. You'll receive an email notifying you of when it is ready to start using.
Related: When will payments processed through Shelterluv appear in our account?
Special Offers
Organizations who enable credit card processing also have access to special offers for your adopters. With our large customer base, Shelterluv was uniquely positioned to negotiate better discounts than individual organizations would be able to get, so we decided to use that power to offer your adopters the products and services they already want - and that will help decrease your adoption return rates! The special offers currently include:
Chewy
A coupon for $15 off for New Chewy.com customers. This is an optional coupon in the Stripe checkout flow (we do not automatically share the adopter's info with Chewy.com).
This special offer will be sent out automatically to adopters after checkout in a separate email. Keep in mind that there may be 1-5 minute delay.
MetLife (PetFirst) Insurance
An offer to receive an instant quote and sign up for MetLife (PetFirst) Insurance is included during checkout. This is optional - your adopters can either receive a quote within the texted checkout flow and select "Purchase" OR select "No thanks, I do not want to purchase pet insurance" (these buttons to purchase or not purchase insurance are included at the very bottom of the offer screen).
Please take a look at this article here for more details and a list of states that this is currently available in: MetLife (PetFirst) Pet Insurance FAQ.
Not seeing these offers in your credit card checkout process? Please contact us here.
Additional Notes
- We can update the donation page for you to display dog-only, cat-only, or generic animal donation descriptions. The default version will display a combination of both cat and dog donation descriptions. Let us know if you'd like your donation page to be made dog or cat only by emailing help@shelterluv.com.
- Stripe charges a separate fee of 2.9% + $0.30 transaction fee (a lower rate may be able to be negotiated with Stripe depending on volume, please inquire with them directly).
- You should not set up two accounts with Stripe as they may suggest. Shelterluv can only integrate with one account at the moment.
- A nominal 0.5% fee is assessed by Shelterluv to cover the costs of setting up and maintaining the connection to Stripe; this is automatically deducted from each transaction.
- There will always be an option at checkout called "use credit card reader" to use a separate credit card reader if you do not want to use one of the two integrated Stripe payment methods - texting the checkout or selecting "customer has no phone" to complete on screen.