Payments & Stripe

    Everything you need to know about accepting payments, receiving payouts, and managing transactions on Giveawayz.

    Overview

    Giveawayz uses Stripe Connect as the payment backbone. When a customer buys a ticket, Stripe processes the payment, deducts the platform fee and Stripe's own processing fee, and deposits the remainder directly into your connected Stripe account.

    You never handle card details — Stripe manages all PCI compliance on your behalf.

    Setting Up Stripe Connect

    Create or connect a Stripe account

    During onboarding, you'll be prompted to connect your Stripe account. If you don't have one, Stripe will walk you through creating a new account during the same flow.

    Complete Stripe verification

    Stripe requires identity verification, bank account details, and business information before payouts can be enabled. This usually takes a few minutes.

    Start accepting payments

    Once your Stripe account is verified and connected, your competitions can accept ticket purchases immediately. Payments appear in your Stripe dashboard in real time.

    Ticket Pricing

    Single Tickets

    Set the price per ticket when creating a competition. Prices are in GBP and can be any amount from £0.50 upward.

    Ticket Bundles

    Create discounted multi-ticket packages to increase average order value.

    growth+ plan

    | Bundle Example | Price | Discount | |---|---|---| | 1 ticket | £2.99 | — | | 5 tickets | £12.99 | 13% off | | 10 tickets | £22.99 | 23% off | | 25 tickets | £49.99 | 33% off |

    You can create up to 3 bundle tiers per competition. Bundles are configured in the Tickets & Pricing step of the competition wizard.

    Platform Fees

    Giveawayz charges a percentage-based platform fee on each ticket sale. The fee depends on your plan:

    | Plan | Platform Fee | Stripe Fee (approx.) | Total Fee on a £5 ticket | |---|---|---|---| | Starter | 4% | 1.5% + 20p | £0.48 | | Growth | 3% | 1.5% + 20p | £0.43 | | Pro | 2% | 1.5% + 20p | £0.38 | | Enterprise | 1% | 1.5% + 20p | £0.33 |

    Money Flow

    Here's how money moves from customer to you:

    1. Customer pays — Stripe processes the card payment
    2. Stripe deducts — Stripe takes its processing fee (approx. 1.5% + 20p)
    3. Giveawayz deducts — The platform fee is taken from the remaining amount
    4. You receive — The rest is deposited to your connected Stripe account

    Example: £5 Ticket on Growth Plan

    | | Amount | |---|---| | Customer pays | £5.00 | | Stripe fee (1.5% + 20p) | -£0.28 | | Platform fee (3%) | -£0.15 | | You receive | £4.57 |

    Payout Schedule

    Payouts follow your Stripe account's payout schedule. By default, Stripe pays out on a rolling basis (typically 2 business days after the charge is made). You can configure this in your Stripe dashboard:

    • Daily — Receive payouts every business day
    • Weekly — Receive one payout per week
    • Monthly — Receive one payout per month

    Refund Handling

    You can refund orders from the Orders page in your dashboard. When you refund an order:

    1. The full ticket price is returned to the customer
    2. Stripe's processing fee is not refunded by Stripe
    3. The Giveawayz platform fee is refunded
    4. The order status changes to refunded
    5. The customer's tickets are invalidated and removed from the draw pool

    Payment Security

    • PCI DSS Level 1 — Stripe handles all card data. Giveawayz never sees, stores, or processes card numbers
    • 3D Secure — Stripe automatically challenges high-risk payments with 3DS authentication
    • Fraud detection — Stripe Radar analyses every transaction for fraud patterns
    • Zero card data stored — No card details are stored on Giveawayz servers. All payment data lives in Stripe's PCI-compliant infrastructure
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