Is Stripe available in South Africa? Let me give you an answer to that by showing you how to open a stripe account in South Africa for your online business.
The truth is, you can use stripe for non-supported countries if it’s not allowed by default in your country and this of course is in a legal way.
Stripe is the number one payment gateway you can use to receive or process payment online from your customer from any part of the world.
Irrespective of the kind of business you’re running or trying to create, be it, an eCommerce website, Booking Service or Subscription Service.
You can easily use stripe to process your payment without going through any stress, unlike other Payment gateway services.
Stripe itself is free to use, however, they charge 2.9% + 0.30 cents for every successful payment made by your customers.
So technically, you can still add the charges to your product price and use the whole service for free.
The bad news however remains that stripe is not or it’s partially supported in South Africa, which is the focal point of this article.
So if you need an unlimited stripe account in South Africa to process payment online I want you to keep on reading.
You’ll learn how to use stripe in South Africa and as well as how to set up a stripe account in South Africa without stress.
Why You Should Use Stripe in South Africa as Your Payment Gateway
I’ve tried quite a few payment gateways to receive and process payment online and I find most of them to be complex and time-consuming.
However, Stripe on the other hand is very easy to set up, integrate with other tools and easy to maintain, due to its sophisticated API.
This should be your number go to if you’re planning on receiving payment online without any stress.
Let’s check out some of the benefits of using Stripe as your payment gateway.
- Recurring Payments – You can easily use stripe to set up recurring automatic payments on your website. That is, you can bill your customer automatically on a monthly or yearly basis.
- Delayed Payment – It allows you to set up a delayed payment by giving your customers few days to enjoy your service before they actually billed them. This is good for those offering free trials.
- Discounts & Coupon Codes – With stripe you can easily set up coupons and discount codes that can be used by your customers. This is good for those running promos.
Subscription Payments – Just like a subscription it gives you the ability to receive subscription payments from your customers. - Pro-rata Charges – These are charges your customer pays for using have half of your service. So instead of billing them full, you can charge them for the days they’ve used.
- Rebill without Storing Credit Card Details – Stripe is of the payment gateways that allow you to rebill your customers even without storing credit card details.
- Cheap Pricing – Stripe also offers a flexible pricing fee. They charge 2.9% + 0.30 cents for every successful payment made by your customers.
- Excellent reminder system
- No refund fees
- The informative interface of graphs and charts makes data comprehensible and clear
- Seamless checkout experience means increased conversions
Requirements to Open a Stripe Account In South Africa
For you to set up a Stripe account legally without any future issue in South Africa, you’ll need the following:
- A Business Formation in the US (LLC)
- EIN or Tax ID (Employer Identification Number)
- Personal US Physical Address
- A US Phone Number
- Lastly, a US Bank Account
Now, before you get confused, everything can actually be set up within a few days and equally at a very low price compared to others charging $1000
The most important of all is creating a Limited Liability Company (LLC) in the US in other for you to get your Tax ID (EIN).
Once you’ve gotten your EIN or Tax ID, you can then proceed to create your Stripe account.
But luckily for you, you don’t have to pay for the business formation, however, you do need to pay for state filing and tax ID.
Setting Up an LLC for Your Business in the US
One of the great advantages of having your business set up in the united states isn’t just for using Stripe. You can have multiple businesses under your registered business name in the US.
And also important, is the fact that you don’t have to have a Social Security Number (SNN) to have your business set up in the US.
You just need to choose a business name and decide on the state you want it to be registered.
However, you do need to be careful as to which state you decide to set up your business entity. This is because some states charge high state filling (Business Registration) and as well as annual business tax.
But I do find;
- Colorado
- Kentucky
to be quite affordable.
Colorado charges a $10 annual Tax fee and $50 state filling while Kentucky charges a $40 state filling and $15 annual Tax fee.
At least at the time of writing this article. You could as well do further research on that if you want.
The state annual tax is a tax you pay on your business at the end of every year. So they vary based on the state you choose to set up your business.
States like California and Hawaii should definitely be out of your pick because they are freaking high on tax.
But not to worry, the sole purpose of this post is to show you how to get it done as easy as possible and at the cheapest fee.
I’m equally not based in the US and I have my business set up there, so you can also use Stripe in South Africa irrespective of you not being based in the US.
Trust me, you’ll be able to do this using Inc Authority and Kentucky as your business state because they’re relatively cheap.
The good news is I’ve been able to partner with them because I know many people will be needing this service and I want them to have it at the best place.
Plus, there are various services out there charging as high as 500 – $1000 for this same purpose. A good example is Stripe Atlas. But at the end of this post, I’ll show you how you can get it done for less than $200.
Coming from someone that Stripes is not enabled in his country, I know how beneficial this can be for your online business. Most especially my blog readers in South Africa!
How to Form Your Business LLC in the US Using Inc Authority
In other to be able to use Stripe in South Africa to process payments as a non-US resident you do have to form a business entity in the US using Inc Authority.
Inc Authority offers online business incorporation services, as well as additional business services such as record books, operating agreements, federal tax identification numbers etc.
At Inc Authority, forming your business entity is free of charge except for state fees. And this is why it’s relatively cheap compared to others charging as high as $1000 for the same business formation.
I did intensive research before I finally picked Inc Authority for my business LLC formation in the US. Their service was on point and I was moved to partner with them so I can share with you guys.
Going through their reviews on TRUST PILOT should show you exactly what I’m talking about, they are simply the best out there.
Now let’s proceed to form your LLC at Inc Authority:
Setting up your LLC with Inc Authority is really straightforward, I’ve broken it down into the step-by-step guide below. All you need do is just follow the steps and your LCC and Tax ID will be set up.
Step 1. Head Over to Inc Authority
First thing first, you need to head over to IncAuthority.com to get started. Upon getting to the web page click on the “START NOW FOR FREE” button…
The next page is your business entity type and the state you want to form the LLC.
Step 2. Choose Your Business Entity and State
Simply choose LLC (Limited Liability Company) from the drop-down menu and choose your state. You can go with Kentucky because of the low cost and the cheap annual tax fee.
After that, click on “Save and Continue”
Step 3. Business Owner Details
The next step is about the business owner. At this stage, you’ll need to enter your First and Last name, your email address and as well as your US phone number.
Also, you need to click the “Terms and Conditions” box to continue to the next step.
To get yourself a free US number that works fine, you can download the TextPlus App on the Google play store.
Or use a more reliable paid app like DingTone.
Step 4. Enter Your Business Information
As I said earlier, you’ll need to pick a name for your business and a search will be carried out on it to check if it’s still available.
If it’s available, your business name will be created immediately upon state approval. However, in the case whereby your proposed business name is not available, you’ll need to adjust the name or find another one.
But it’s not going to cost you any additional fee!
What you need to do here is simply enter your proposed business name, a good example is Torchbankz Technology and also write a short description of the business.
Finally, “tick the Minimize business and taxes” and proceed to save and continue.
Step 5: Your Business Address
At this stage, you need a physical US address where your document can be sent to. In my case, I gave them a call and I told them to send it directly to my email address.
But that doesn’t mean you don’t need the US address, you do! In other to set this up there are various services you can use like:
- physicaladdress.com
- virtualpostmail.com
- shipito.com
You can get started for free using shipito.com, you just need to create an account and you’ll be giving an address automatically. A physical address!
Next, enter your business address and click on Save and Continue.
Step 6: Getting Your Tax ID (EIN)
Inc Authority will be getting your EIN or Tax ID for you at just $49. Which is relatively cheap compared to other services out there.
Step 7. Custom Operating Agreement
At this step, you need to include the custom operating agreement because it’s very important. It actually proof your ownership of the business.
And at the same time represent the state law backing your business.
Step 8. Inc Protection Advisor
The Inc protection advisor and the remaining steps are Upsells. They are not necessarily what you need to have to have your stripe set up.
The remaining steps include:
Lawsuit Protection – $99 (this is a form of protection that excludes you from your business when your business gets sued.
I paid for this, but you don’t have to if you don’t have the funds now. Plus, you can always pay for it later with Inc Authority).
Express Delivery – $49 (if you want the entire process done within two days you can pay for express delivery.
But normally, your business should be ready within five days using Inc Authority).
Domain Name – $29.95 (this allows Inc Authority to secure your proposed business domain name for you.
This is totally not necessary since you can get it for less than $10 with NameCheap).
Business License Package – $99 (This also works in form of lawsuit protection. But as I said, you don’t need all this for now, and you can always get them in the nearest future if you want).
Finally, you’ll need to make payment to secure your LLC business registration. The cost of what you’re paying for should be:
- EIN/Tax ID – $49
- Operating Agreement – $89
- Kentucky State Filling fee – $40
== $179
With this, you should have your business LLC set up with your valid Tax ID that can be used to set up your Stripe account.
Frequently Ask Questions
Below are some of the most frequently ask questions about business formation with Inc Authority
Enter foreign in the box. While filling the form for your EIN, entering foreign means you’re a non-US citizen and you have no SSN or EIN yet.
Simply enter your full name and enter your US address there. If your business is having more than one individual, enter your team members’ names and their US addresses.
Absolutely yes, while creating your Stripe account, you’ll see the option to select your home country and upload your government-issued identity card.
Opening a US Bank Account with Payoneer
This is very much easy since we have Payoneer for that. All you need to do is register with Payoneer.com, connect with Global payment service and you’ll be able to get your virtual US bank account.
Once this is done, you can now have your funds move from Stripe to Payoneer and cash it in your local currencies. It’s as easy as that.
However, to do this, you do need to access your Stripe account. From your account, you can proceed to the payout sections and add your Payoneer account number and that’s it, you’re all set up.
You are now a proud owner of a business in the US plus you also have a bank account. Isn’t that cool?
How To Open Your Stripe Account In South Africa to Process Payments Online
You can watch the above video and see how you can set up your Stripe account.
Once your business LLC is registered, your business will equally receive a tax ID or EIN. Which is part of what we need to create your Stripe account.
To create your Stripe account, simply head over to https://dashboard.stripe.com/register and create your account.
Enter your email address and full name and choose your country of business formation, which in our case is the United States.
After that, Stripe is going to send you an email prompting you to confirm your email address.
Once you receive the email, confirm it and proceed to activate your account.
At this stage, you’ll need to give an account of your business detail by stating the full address and state where you formed the business in the US.
Also, you’ll need to specify the structure of the business. Specify if it’s:
- Individual
- Company
- Or Non-Profit Organization
After that, click the “Continue” button to proceed.
This is where you enter your personal details like email address, date of birth and house address.
At this point, you’ll be asked to enter the “Last 4 digits of Social Security number” since you don’t have, what you need to do here is enter “9999” or leave it blank.
If that still don’t work simple contact support and choose online chat https://support.stripe.com/?contact=true
Tell them you’ve just formed your business in the US and what you have is EIN and you don’t have the SSN.
They’ll work on it within a few minutes and give you’re the right code to use.
This stage is simply about your business, tell them about the nature of your business. If it’s going to be digital products or retails.
Once you’ve chosen the right one, enter your website URL and give a short description of what the product is all about.
After that, click continue and proceed to the next stage.
Here, you’ll need to specify if your product is going to be a digital product or a physical one. If it’s a digital product, you’ll need to choose how long it’s going to take you to deliver the product.
And if it’s a physical product, you’ll need to specify how you’re going to ship the product. Usually, what you should choose is “Product are delivered by a third party (Fulfilment House)”
Then choose “One Month” as to how long it’s going to take for your product to be delivered. After that, click the continue button to proceed to the next stage.
The next stage is the “Customer Support Detail”. This is simply where you’re going to write your statement descriptor.
That’s the name that will appear on your customer receipt after a successful payment to you.
After that, enter your customer support phone number and your customer support address. This can actually be your phone number and the same initial address you’ve used earlier.
This is the stage where you’re going to enter your bank details. That is, where Stripe is going to send your money too.
As you can see from the image, scroll down and click on “Enter bank details manually instead”
After that, it going to pop up a small page as you can see from the image below. So, on this page, enter your routing number and account number.
The next thing you want to do is click save and continue.
At the next stage, you’re going to be prompt to set up your 2-step authentication. Once done click on continue to proceed to the next level.
The next stage is where Stripe is asking you to contribute to climate change. If you want to you can just set a certain per cent that’ll be deducted from your money.
But if not, just click on “Not Now” to proceed to where you’re going to submit the whole of the application.
Now go to your dashboard, you’ll see that your verification status is currently at reviewing. So at this stage, your account should be approved in no time so far what you’ve provided are all the correct details.
Conclusion
With the above formation, you can now receive payment twice as you used to. If you have a PayPal business account this will also be an addition to it.
Your business is also fully legalized in the US in a real place and real state. I hope you find this very helpful.
That’s it on how to open a stripe account in South Africa. What are your thoughts on this? Let me know them using the comment box!
Stripe In South Africa – FAQ
Yes, Stripe is available in to use in South Africa if you register or incorporate your business in the US. Having your business in the US gives you a unique Tax ID for US business.
To successfully use Stripe in South Africa, you’ll need an LLC, a US phone number, a US bank account and a US tax identity number.
Yes, you can use Stripe in South Africa so far your business is incorporated in the US with a unique tax identification number and a US bank to receive payment.
Yes, Stripe works in South Africa and your customers from South Africa can pay you via stripe or in any currency depending on your audience’s location
Algeria, Nigeria, Armenia, Trinidad, Brunei, Iceland, Honduras, Morocco, Halti, Guyana, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Guernsey, Guatemala, Guam, Guadeloupe, Grenada, Greenland, Ethiopia, Uganda, Thailand, Bangladesh, Liechtenstein, Indonesia, Gibraltar, Croatia, India, Philippines, Kenya, Vietnam, Pakistan, Ghana,
Hi Olusola, thanks for writing such a helpful and insightful article. Do you pay taxes in the US on the revenue generated through your Stripe Acc?
No you dont, but you need to fill for TAX at the end of each year.
Hi I lost track. In your example what is the total annual recurring fixed cost to have the above?
Not the transaction cost.
Thanks for sharing.
To keep your Business name, It’s a $100 a year
Hi Olusola, great article!
I’ve just opened up a stripe account and was informed by support to input “9999” for the SSN if you are not a citizen – thought you might want to update your article 🙂
And then right at the end it will ask you for your full SSN – this is where you choose “ZA” and then input your full ID number
Thanks, Gabriel… I’ll that right away
Hello Gabriel my bank ABSA and they have a swift alphabetical code, will that code work in stripe for the routing?
Thanks for this Olusola, this is an epic hack that I will definitely be using!
Thanks, Glad you like
Amazing and thank you. This is going to most useful,
Hi Olusola, can you please help me.
When checking out on Inc Authority they ask for billing address and your card details. The only option for billing address is in United States; so do you use your Shipito address here?
When I try to make payment with my card (South African account) it keeps saying transaction has been declined by my card. Where you able to make the payment?
Thanks, I would appreciate any advice!
How about PayPal? You Try PayPal, that’s what I use for mine…
When opening my Stripe account where they ask for routing number and account number do I add my Payoneer details? Also, is this process same for India?
Yes you Payoneer account number