When you sell your photos through PhotoShelter, you receive payment directly from your customer at the point of sale, making you the merchant of record. In order to receive funds, you need a payment processor. We support PayPal, Stripe, and merchant accounts.
- PayPal
- A redirected payment option that takes your customers to the PayPal site to complete a transaction. PayPal offers guest checkout, so buyers don’t need a PayPal account to purchase, and may simply use a credit card. Please note that PayPal charges a transaction fee to receive payment.
Stripe (SCA & Legacy)- An integrated solution that provides a great user experience wherein users can remit payment right on your website, no merchant account or gateway needed. You can read about Stripe’s transaction fees on this page.
Merchant accounts- An integrated solution that allows you to process credit card orders online. You collect the funds at the point of sale and they’re transferred directly into your bank account. Obtaining a merchant account allows you to set up a credit card terminal for in-person charges, making it a great solution for businesses or individuals with a high volume of sales. It should be noted that there are higher fees involved in setting up and maintaining a merchant account.
To configure your chosen payment processor, navigate to the appropriate section below:
Configuring your Sales Settings with PayPal
Configuring your Sales Settings with Stripe (SCA & Legacy)
Configuring your Sales Settings with a Merchant Account
Supported Currencies
Configuring your Sales Settings with PayPal
1. If you do not already have a PayPal account, the first step will be to sign up for one. You can review PayPal’s account options here.
2. From the Navigation bar, click “Sell” > “Sales Settings,” then click “Get Started.”
3. Select “PayPal” as your payment processor, then enter the email address you use to log in to PayPal.
4. If you’d like to display your physical address on invoices, check the appropriate box and fill in your preferred address.
5. Under “Your Sales Preferences,” select the currency in which you’d like to transact. You can review our supported currencies here.
6. You have the option to set a minimum order amount. This is an optional field, so leave it blank if you do not wish to set a minimum.
7. When your customers are checking out, they’ll agree to our default licensing agreement. If you’d like to add additional terms, you can upload a PDF with your personal licensing terms.
8. If you grant clients Invoiced Client permission (allowing them to check out without paying up front), you can include “Invoice Payment Instructions.”
9. Click the “Activate Now” button.
10. You can now move on to Step 3 to apply your pricing profiles.
Configuring your Sales Settings with Stripe
If you've decided to use Stripe as your payment processor, you might notice that there are two options available during the setup process: Stripe SCA and Stripe Legacy. As part of new PSD2 regulations in Europe, Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) requires changes to how your European customers authenticate online payments. Transactions that don’t follow the new authentication guidelines may be declined by your customers’ banks. We recommend that all members use the Stripe SCA option to avoid any order issues with customers located in Europe.
1. From the Navigation bar, click “Sell” > “Sales Settings,” then click “Get Started.”
2. Select "Stripe (SCA)" as your payment processor, then click “Connect with Stripe.”
3. If you already have a Stripe account, you can sign in at the top of the page. To create a new Stripe account, enter your information into the form provided. Keep in mind you will need to provide your banking details.
4. When you’ve finished filling out the information on the page, click “Authorize” to connect your Stripe account to your PhotoShelter account. Once the account is authorized, you’ll be sent back to PhotoShelter to complete your Sales Settings.
5. If you’d like to display your physical address on invoices, check the appropriate box and fill in your preferred address.
6. Under “Your Sales Preferences,” select the currency in which you’d like to transact. You can review our supported currencies here.
7. You have the option to set a minimum order amount. This is an optional field, so leave it blank if you do not wish to set a minimum.
8. When your customers are checking out, they’ll agree to our default licensing agreement. If you’d like to add additional terms, you can upload a PDF with your personal licensing terms.
9. If you grant clients Invoiced Client permission (allowing them to check out without paying up front), you can include “Invoice Payment Instructions.”
10. Click the “Activate Now” button.
11. You can now move on to Step 3 to apply your pricing profiles.
Check out Stripe's website for more information on how Stripe works.
Configuring your Sales Settings with a Merchant Account
A merchant account is the traditional method to process credit card orders online: You collect the funds at the point of sale, and they're transferred directly into your bank account. Obtaining a merchant account also allows you to set up a credit card terminal for in-person charges. It is the ideal solution for high-volume sellers.
There are several fees involved in setting up and maintaining a merchant account:
- One-time setup fee - $100, depending on the chosen provider
- Monthly fee - $20-$30/month, depending on the chosen provider
- Transaction fees - Varied
Because of these fees, we normally only recommend the merchant account option if you maintain a steady stream of sales. If you're a lower volume seller who still wishes to offer an integrated checkout solution, you may want to consider using Stripe.
PhotoShelter supports the following merchant accounts:
- NETbilling
- Authorize.net
How do gateways and merchant accounts work?
Credit card charges are processed in several steps. When a user enters his or her credit card information, we use a “gateway” to send the transactions to a “clearinghouse.” Think of a gateway as the electronic version of card swiping machines. The clearinghouse is a company that checks to see that the credit card is valid and has enough credit for the purchase.
When a card has been approved and the charge is made, that money is sent into a merchant account (a special type of bank account), which then forwards that money to your personal or business bank account. In order to make this all work, you need a gateway account and a merchant account. Both the gateway vendor and the merchant vendor take a small percentage of your sale as their fee. These fees total about 3-5% of the total sale (the rate can fluctuate, and is usually more for American Express). Every company in the world that accepts credit cards pays these fees.
Getting an account
We have selected two vendors that we believe give competitive pricing and good service: NETbilling and Authorize.net. Both offer merchant accounts and a payment gateway -- you will need both to complete this setup. Signing up for accounts with either of these vendors is easy and takes no more than a few minutes if you have good credit.
Already have a merchant account?
One of the reasons we chose to work with NETbilling and Authorize.net is the fact that both of their systems can handle the processing for a wide variety of merchant accounts. However, not all merchant accounts will work with the NETbilling or Authorize.net gateway software. You will want to contact whichever vendor you choose as your gateway provider and ask if their system is compatible with your existing merchant account (tell them you are a PhotoShelter member).
Configuring your Authorize.net account
1. If you don’t already have an Authorize.net account, you can sign up online.
2. After you create your Authorize.net gateway account, you will be provided an API Login ID and Transaction Key. Copy the ID and Key.
3. In your PhotoShelter account, navigate to “Sell” > “Sales Settings,” then click “Get Started.”
4. Select “Authorize.Net” as your payment processor. Enter the ID and Key copied previously into the appropriate fields. You can find your ID (and generate a new key, if necessary) in the Account — API Login ID and Transaction Key area within your Authorize.net account.
5. If you’d like to display your physical address on invoices, check the appropriate box and fill in your preferred address.
6. Under “Your Sales Preferences,” select the currency in which you’d like to transact. You can review our supported currencies here.
7. You have the option to set a minimum order amount. This is an optional field, so leave it blank if you do not wish to set a minimum.
8. When your customers are checking out, they’ll agree to our default licensing agreement. If you’d like to add additional terms, you can upload a PDF with your personal licensing terms.
9. If you grant clients Invoiced Client permission (allowing them to check out without paying up front), you can include “Invoice Payment Instructions.”
10. Click the “Activate Now” button.
11. You can now move on to Step 3 to apply your pricing profiles.
Configuring your NETbilling account
1. If you don’t already have a NETbilling account, you can sign up online.
2. Log in to NETbilling’s merchant account website and navigate to “menu options setup” > “access security.”
3. Scroll down to “Direct Mode Interfaces.” "Native Direct Mode Interface - Enable Native Direct Mode v.3 9 (SAS) Channel" must be selected.
4. Copy the value from the "Dynamic IP Security Code" field. If there is no value there, you will need to generate one using the "Generate" button.
5. In your PhotoShelter account, navigate to “Sell” > “Sales Settings,” then click “Get Started.”
6. Select "NETbilling" as your payment processor. Paste the "Dynamic IP Security Code" into the "Secure code/Cert ID" field.
7. If you’d like to display your physical address on invoices, check the appropriate box and fill in your preferred address.
8. Under “Your Sales Preferences,” select the currency in which you’d like to transact. You can review our supported currencies here.
9. You have the option to set a minimum order amount. This is an optional field, so leave it blank if you do not wish to set a minimum.
10. When your customers are checking out, they’ll agree to our default licensing agreement. If you’d like to add additional terms, you can upload a PDF with your personal licensing terms.
11. If you grant clients Invoiced Client permission (allowing them to check out without paying up front), you can include “Invoice Payment Instructions.”
Supported Currencies
PhotoShelter supports the following currencies:
- Canadian Dollar
- Euro
- British Pound
- U.S. Dollar
- Japanese Yen
- Australian Dollar
- New Zealand Dollar
- Swiss Franc
- Hong Kong Dollar
- Singapore Dollar
- Swedish Krona
- Danish Krone
- Polish Zloty
- Norwegian Krone
- Hungarian Forint
- Czech Koruna
- Thai Baht
- Israeli New Shekel
- Mexican Peso
- Brazilian Real (only for Brazilian members)
- Malaysian Ringgit (only for Malaysian members)
- Philippine Peso
- New Taiwan Dollar
- Turkish Lira