Knowledgebase

Preliminary Research

Does this replace the payment gateway and merchant account I have now?
Yes.

What plan should I pick?
The best plan depends on how many transactions you run, and how much money is going through your account. Consider previous transactions and make a judgement based on the historical volume of transactions.

Can you give an example of how many transactions would be considered for Option 1, 2, or 3?
You really want to look at your historical volume and compare the rates to find the best fit for your chapter. In general Option 1 is a good fit if you are coming from a payment service like PayPal or Stripe as it is very comparable in regard to the pricing model. Options 2 or 3 are more comparable as far as pricing to the more traditional payment gateways like Authorize.net, WorldPay, FirstData, etc.

Is there a limit on the number of transactions?
No, there is not.

Are there fee differences for AMEX?
No

Will there be any interruption to my current payment processing?
No, there will not. You will continue to use your current payment gateway and merchant account until you choose to switch. This is not disrupted during the application and onboarding process. After your StarChapter Pay account is approved, we will send you a notification. At that point, you can switch from your previous payment gateway to StarChapter Pay in the admin area. The switch happens instantly. We do recommend running a small transaction right after switching to ensure that the payment comes through as expected.

How secure is the system? How do you protect PII within the system?
Of paramount importance to us at StarChapter is that our services are highly available, secure, and perform well. Through StarChapter, you store personal and organizational information and files, process eCommerce transactions, and collaborate with your fellow members and non-members. Here is a great overview of our process to ensure this.

What about PCI compliance?
The organization does have to post standard policies and other information for PCI compliance. Here is a great overview of our process to ensure this. With StarChapter Pay, you won’t have to request scans and send them on to a third party, like you do when using a third-party payment gateway or service.

What does it look like?
The checkout process looks the same as it does now with your current payment gateway. The StarChapter Pay merchant portal is similar to other payment gateways, where you can view reports, locate individual transactions, issue refunds, and more. The biggest difference that you can access the portal right from the StarChapter Admin Area.

Application

What is the StarChapter Pay application process like?
It is a simple application within your StarChapter Admin Area.  

Will it require a credit check on a board member?
As part of the approval process a soft credit check is completed on the responsible person. A soft credit inquiry occurs in cases where you check your own credit or when a bank or business checks your credit to approve you for an application or offer. Soft credit inquiries do not impact your credit scores.

The purpose of this check is to ensure compliance with legal regulations to satisfy the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FINCEN), US Patriot Act, Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) regulations, and our internal policies and procedures. This is a required practice with any merchant account, bank account, or payment service in the U.S.

Is there any discounted pricing available for non-profit organizations?
The pricing options are designed to fit the needs for non-profit organizations because that is most of our customer base. We think you'll find the pricing to be very competitive and easy to understand. There are no hidden fees! Hidden fees typically are network processing or interchange fees, but not with StarChapter Pay!

Can you upgrade to any of the options at any time?
Yes, if you realize at some point in the future that you want to move to another plan you can. Please enter a support ticket so, our team can help facilitate the change.

What’s the contract/agreement?
As part of the application process, you will be presented with the StarChapter Pay Sub-Merchant Payment Processing Agreement to review.

Do we have to cancel our current service ourselves?
Yes

Where do you change the payment gateway in admin?
Once your StarChapter Pay service has been approved and configured you will receive notification to connect your new account at your convenience.  

Member Experience

How will the experience be for the person making payments?
The checkout process looks the same as it does now with your current payment gateway.

Can members download their own financial history?

Yes, members can log in and go to View My Order History to get the details of their past orders and payments.

What cards can we process with StarChapter Pay?

Visa, American Express, Mastercard, and Discover.

How will transactions display on the purchaser’s credit card statement?

The purchaser will see "FSP - " followed by the merchant's name on their credit card statement. For example, "FSP - Demo City Chapter" FSP refers to Fullsteam. Fullsteam Operations LLC is the parent company and backend payment processor behind StarChapter Pay.

Board (Admin User) Experience

How easy is it to refund something?

An easy refund process was one of our first objectives with StarChapter Pay, you can seamlessly process refunds with the StarChapter Admin Area. 

Are there fees for refunds?

Refunds do not incur additional transaction fees.

Is there an option to get an email for each transaction?

Yes, StarChapter automatically sends a notification to the treasurer contact email address when a payment is made.

When are funds deposited into our bank account?

A day’s transactions are batched and deposited together. Cutoff times for the day for both credit and debit cards is 08:05 PM CT (09:05 PM ET). From time of purchase to depositing into your bank account (funding) takes 2-3 days, plus 1 day if there is a banking holiday.

To view the details of transactions within a deposit, use the StarChapter Pay reports that are available in the StarChapter Admin Area. 

Can funds collected be directed to an existing bank account?
Yes

When is the StarChapter Pay monthly fee charged each month?
Effective February 2021, StarChapter Pay’s monthly fee will be charged on the 15^th of each month. If the 15^th is a bank holiday or weekend, the charge will post on the following business day.

Can you send invoices through this option?
The invoicing options within StarChapter have not changed with the release of StarChapter Pay. You are still able to send invoices to those that have made a purchase on the website and bypassed payment.

Will anyone with access to StarChapter be able to see StarChapter Pay or can that be controlled by Admin?
Full Admin Users and Restricted Admin Users that are granted access would be the only users with the ability to see StarChapter Pay.

If I import a member list will this have any effect on the payment history?
All order/invoice and payment information is still there, visible and reportable, in Order Manager no matter what happens to the member record.

Will we see an order number on the report, so we know which order it goes with?
You can access this information in Order Manager, in the payment and adjustment tab, and then pull a report from here. This will show the order/invoice number and payment transaction ID for all the payments.

What does the merchant portal look like?
The StarChapter Pay merchant portal is like other payment gateways, where you can view reports, locate individual transactions, and more. The biggest difference that you can access the portal right from the StarChapter Admin Area.

What reporting is available?
There are comprehensive funding reports: summary and by transaction to help streamline your reconciliation process. Clear reporting to tie the payment transactions processed through StarChapter with deposits made to your organization’s bank account. 

How will deposits display on my organization’s bank account?

The organization (“Merchant”) will see deposits labeled as "Fullsteam SV9" on their bank account statements. Fullsteam Operations LLC is the parent company and backend payment processor behind StarChapter Pay. Deposits are net amounts. In other words, transaction fees are taken out before the deposit is made.

Single Source Support

In what country is the help desk located?
StarChapter Support Advisors also support StarChapter Pay and located in the USA.

Will support tickets need to be entered for help or will there be phone support?
You can create support tickets through your StarChapter Admin Area or call our Ticket Administrators to create a support ticket on your behalf. If you would like to speak to a StarChapter Support Advisor on the phone, please share your availability and urgency on your ticket.