Setting Up Express Banking
When starting a Full Auction (formerly Ultimate Risk-Free), the default payment setup is using Express Banking through Stripe Connect.
Open Bid Beacon and navigate to the Manage Auction screen
- Navigate to Payment Settings in left side menu
- Under Connect Express Banking select or enter an email address.
- Click Connect Express Account
Fill out a few details so you can start getting paid:
- Mobile Phone number
- Verification Code that is texted to your phone
- Country
- Type of Business:
- Individual or Sole Proprietorship
- Company
- Nonprofit Organization
The process changes slightly depending on what type of business you choose and what country you are in, so the examples that follow may not exactly match your scenario but will give an idea of the types of things you will need to have ready.
- Your Legal Name
- Date of Birth
- Home Address
- Phone Number
- ID Verification
- Upload an image of government issued ID
- Select your Industry
- Provide Website *If you have no website, you can share your auction or a social media link instead.
Select a Bank Account for Payouts
- Enter your bank account information (must be a checking account)
Finally, review your details and Submit.
Please keep in mind that required fields may vary depending on your country. As well, Bid Beacon does not collect any of this information. Everything provided above is stored securely with Stripe.
Please keep in mind that required fields may vary depending on your country.
- Legal Business Name
- Employer Identification Number (only applicable to organization in the USA)
- Optional – Doing Business As
- Registered Business Address
- Business Phone Number
- Select your Industry
- Provide your Business Website Link. If no website, you can share a business social media profile or link your Bid Beacon auction
- Click Continue
Verify you represent the business: This form must be filled out by someone with significant control and management of your business. If that’s not you, make sure to ask the right person to continue.
- Legal Name of Person
- Email Address
- Job Title
- Date of Birth
- Home Address
- Phone Number
- Last 4 digits of Social Security Number/Social Insurance Number: The last 4 digits of your SSN/SIN are only used to verify your identity—Stripe does not conduct a credit check.
- Optional – Upload an ID document instead of SSN/SIN
- Check if you own 25% or more of the company
- If yes – check if you are the only person who owns 25% or more of the company (Yes or No)
- Check if you are a member of the governing board of the company.
- If yes – check if your are the only person on the governing board.
- Click Continue
- If another owner also owns 25% or more of the company, please add them as an additional owner.
- Click Continue
- If there are other board of directors, list them.
- Click Continue
Select a Bank Account for Payouts
- Enter your bank account information (must be a checking account)
Finally, review your details and Submit when ready.
Notice for corporations in Canada
You are required to verify business and directors’ information in order to accept payments and receive payouts.
Provided your business is in scope based on your Type of business selection, Stripe will check the business name, business address, and director information you have submitted on your account against the information available with the provincial and/or federal registries. This means that Stripe will check your:
- Company Name, as it appears on the registry
- Company Address, as it appears on the registry
- The Number of Directors listed on the registry
- The Name for each director on the registry
Due to these additional requirements, please ensure you have submitted all the necessary documents required by Stripe before your auction goes live.
For more information, please read Stripe’s article on Company Beneficial Ownership and Director Requirement.
As well, Bid Beacon does not collect any of this information. Everything provided above is stored securely with Stripe.
Please keep in mind that required fields may vary depending on your country.
- Legal Business Name
- Employer Identification Number (only applicable to organization in the USA)
- Optional – Doing Business As
- Registered Business Address
- Business Phone Number
- Select your Industry
- Provide your Business Website Link. If no website, you can share a business social media profile or link your Bid Beacon auction
- Click Continue
Verify you represent the business: This form must be filled out by someone with significant control and management of your business. If that’s not you, make sure to ask the right person to continue.
- Legal Name of Person
- Email Address
- Job Title
- Date of Birth
- Home Address
- Phone Number
Last 4 digits of Social Security Number/Social Insurance Number: The last 4 digits of your SSN/SIN are only used to verify your identity—Stripe does not conduct a credit check.
Optional – Upload an ID document instead of SSN/SIN
Click Continue
Select a Bank Account for Payouts
- Enter your bank account information (must be a checking account)
Finally, review your details and Submit when ready.
Notice for registered charities and non profits in Canada
You are required to verify business and directors’ information in order to accept payments and receive payouts.
Provided your business is in scope based on your Type of business selection, Stripe will check the business name, business address, and director information you have submitted on your account against the information available with the provincial and/or federal registries. This means that Stripe will check your:
- Company Name, as it appears on the registry
- Company Address, as it appears on the registry
- The Number of Directors listed on the registry
- The Name for each director on the registry
Due to these additional requirements, please ensure you have submitted all the necessary documents required by Stripe your auction goes live.
For more information, please read Stripe’s article on Company Beneficial Ownership and Director Requirement.
As well, Bid Beacon does not collect any of this information. Everything provided above is stored securely with Stripe.
Payouts and Reconciliation
As guests join your auction, they will be prompted to enter their Credit Card. This is mandatory in order to bid on items. If you don’t want to require your guests to enter a credit card to bid, this setting can be turned off if you have an active CommuniBee subscription. Visit our Pricing page to learn more about how CommuniBee works with Bid Beacon, and the many silent auction perks that are included.
If credit cards are still required, then all winning guests, will be automatically charged for their winnings.
Bid Beacon’s platform fee and Stripe’s payment processing fee are taken off each transaction immediately.
Payments are held in your Stripe Account for 7 days and then paid out directly to your connected bank account. After the 7-day holding period, payouts will then be processed daily. You can view the transactions and history of payouts in two places.
Note: Bid Beacon does not collect or store any credit card information. All payment details are handled through Stripe which is a PCI-compliant payment provider.
- From the Auction Overview screen
- Navigate to Payouts in left side menu
- View the Available Soon, Next Payout and Total Paid to Date info for a summary
- From the Auction Overview screen
- Navigate to Payment Settings in left side menu
- Click View Account
- Enter the Verification Code sent to your mobile device.
- This will bring you to your Stripe dashboard which shares more details about each transaction and expected timelines for your payouts.
- From this dashboard, click on the Balances tab to view details on payments Incoming to Stripe, and payouts Outgoing from Stripe
Outgoing from Stripe: these are processed payments from Stripe that are on the way to your bank account.
If you have any questions regarding payments to or payouts from Stripe, please contact Stripe Support.
Statement Descriptor
When setting up your Stripe Connect account, you will have the ability to enter a Statement Descriptor. For guests who win items at your auction, this description will appear on their credit card statement.
To reduce the chance of your guests disputing charges, make sure your Statement Descriptor explains where the charge came from (for example, use the name of your auction as the Statement Descriptor).
Failed Payments
If a guest’s credit card fails, they will be notified and have an opportunity to update their credit card information to try again. If the guest’s payment still fails, admins have the option to mark them as paid offline in this instance.
In the off chance the guest does not return and pay, an admin can delete their winning bid(s). This will automatically trigger a new winner based on the next highest bid. The new winner will be notified and have the opportunity to go in and pay for the item(s) on their Results screen.
Additional Information
Onboarding your express banking account requires collecting certain information for each account (which Stripe verifies). As part of the Know Your Customer (KYC) obligations, Stripe is required to verify the information provided during onboarding. If Stripe is unable to verify the account information, they will request additional information from you.
Closely monitor your email and Stripe dashboard for any additional verification required by Stripe. For more information on what documents Stripe can accept for verification of identity, address, and legal entity, please visit Stripe’s Acceptable Verification Documents.
If you are a corporation, registered charity, or non profit in Canada, you will be required to verify business and directors’ information in order to accept payments and receive payouts.