Why The Member Jungle System Uses Stripe's Payment Gateway

Date: Monday 20th November 2023

Category: Getting Started and Onboarding

Taking online payments is a crucial part of any membership management system. It enables you to take online member signups and renewals, sell tickets via your site, sell merchandise, and much more.

All of that is only possible with a payment gateway in place. The Member Jungle system uses the Stripe Payment Gateway, and it's not uncommon for people to ask why we use Stripe and if they have to do so, too.

In this article, we will discuss why Member Jungle uses Stripe, why your club or association needs to use Stripe if you use our system and the various benefits of Stripe. This article will not cover setting up your Stripe Payment Gateway or taking payments through your gateway. To find out about either topic, please read the below articles.

Why Member Jungle Uses Stripe Payment Gateway

Member Jungle uses Stripe for all of its system-related payments. Not only do your members pay you through your Stripe Gateway, but you pay us through our Stripe Gateway. Direct bank transfers that don't go through Stripe are possible. Still, the vast majority of payments go through Stripe.

Member Jungle didn't initially use Stripe as a payment gateway; however, a few years ago, the decision was made to switch over to using Stripe for several reasons.

Stripe Is More Customisable

Firstly, Stripe was explicitly designed with web developers in mind, meaning it is highly customisable and flexible. Stripe offers a more user-friendly interface for us to develop and integrate different payment gateway features.

This allows us to continually enhance and modify the performance and functionality of our and your payment gateways. For instance, you can pay through the mobile application or configure your Stripe account to enable your members to use AfterPay. With a different payment gateway, this level of customisation and increased ways your members can purchase things through your club would not be possible.

Stripe Has A Lot Of Integrations

Speaking of AfterPay, another critical reason the Member Jungle system uses Stripe is that it allows you to configure it to use many different payment methods. Stripe obviously allows you or your members to pay for things via credit card, but it also allows you to pay through all of the following:

Apple Pay
Google Pay
AfterPay
Zip Pay
BECS Direct Debit

This isn't even the full list.

Stripe allows you to pay and receive payments via cards, bank transfers, bank deposits, and buy now pay later services. Pretty much any way you want to send or receive payments Stripe allows. Basically, the only popular digital payment service that you won't be able to use with your Stripe gateway is PayPal, and that's because it is a direct competitor. Not to mention, PayPal’s fees are higher and include a monthly fee as well.

Stripe Is Still Developing

As you may already know, Member Jungle continuously enhances its services; the same goes for Stripe. The best thing about Stripe is that it is advancing along with Member Jungle, which allows us to provide additional features like Google Pay and Apple Pay.

Clubs can easily link their Stripe account with various other services such as Afterpay, Zip, and more, enabling us to introduce new functionalities quickly without starting from scratch. Stripe did not offer Apple Pay, Google Pay or several other integrations when we first began using it; we can now offer them as they grow with us.

Stripe Is Secure

Member Jungle takes the data security of everyone who uses our system extremely seriously. Stripe has an excellent security record and takes its data and payment security responsibilities seriously. This is very important to us and played a significant role in us using their payment gateway. Stripe has been audited by a PCI-certified auditor and is certified to PCI Service Provider Level 1. This is the most stringent level of certification available in the payments industry. This audit includes both Stripe’s Card Data Vault (CDV) and the secure software development of their integration code.

The Benefits Of Stripe For Your Club

While all of these are extensively the reasons why Member Jungle chooses to use Stripe, they are clear benefits for you and every other club that uses the Member Jungle system. Having a secure, flexible and ever-evolving payment gateway will only ever assist your club and what it can achieve.

Now, let's talk about the benefits Stripe directly offers your club.

Secure Storing Of Payment Methods

Stripe allows for the saving of card information in a secure manner in the Card Data Vault. This means that whenever you or one of your members purchases something through your site, their preferred payment information will be securely stored and ready to go. Buying merchandise or event tickets with just a few button clicks will encourage more sales, as your members can buy in the moment. They won't need to put down their phones, get up off the lounge and try to find where they could have put their card. The credit card details are never stored on any of Member Jungle’s servers, just in this highly secure Stripe card vault.

The Benefits Of Stripe For Your Club

Stripe Works All Over The World

Another significant benefit of Stripe is its global reach. Stripe is available in 195 countries over 135 currencies. In practice, this has two benefits for your club.

Firstly, as long as you're in one of those 195 countries, and chances are you are, you can sign up for and use Member Jungle with your local currency. There is no need to configure how payments work for your club or what payment gateway you use. If we used a different payment gateway with less support, you'd run the risk of your onboarding process taking much longer as we'd have to extensively reconfigure your system to work in your country.

The way it currently works with Stripe, it doesn't matter if you are in Latvia, Brazil, or a literal stone's throw away from our office; setting up your Member Jungle system to take payments is just as easy and quick.

Secondly, this same principle applies to your members. Most clubs and associations are likely going to have all of their members in the same country as them. However, that is not always the case. Many clubs and associations do have memberships that span across borders. If you are one such association, using Stripe means that your international members can still renew their memberships and purchase merch and tickets through your site, just as easily as if they were standing next to you.

Setting Up Your Stripe Account Is Easy

Even with all its benefits, Stripe wouldn't be anywhere near as great an option if it wasn't super easy to use and set up.

You can easily set up your Stripe account and link it to your Member Jungle system in a matter of minutes. You can turn on the ability to use any of the payment integrations like Apple Pay and AfterPay for your club in a few short minutes. You won't need to faff around all afternoon trying to set up your Stripe account; this is great for so many reasons, not least that the only Faf we actually like is the one with magnificent hair.

Setting Up Your Stripe Account Is Easy

Stripe is also extremely easy to use and commonplace, meaning the vast majority of your members will already know how to use it, and the ones who don't will pick it up quickly.

Stripe Can Export Straight Into Xero

One of Stripe's strengths is that you can easily reconcile all payments made through Member Jungle with the Stripe payment gateway. You can receive information about the payment to ensure all payments are accounted for.

Another advantage of using Stripe is that it allows for a direct feed into Xero. This makes it easy for clubs and associations to receive all transaction details in real-time, making it more straightforward to reconcile their income. Anything that makes tax time easier has to be good.

Where To Next for My Club And Member Jungle?

Hopefully, you better understand why the Member Jungle system uses Stripe and why it will benefit your club.

If you want to get a clearer understanding of what signing up for Member Jungle will look like in practice, please read Everything You Need To Know About Onboarding At Member Jungle.

I already put the links above, but if you want to know more details about setting up your Stripe account and taking payments through it, see any of the articles below.