Stripe or Paypal in South Africa

Hi,

Squarespace offers Stripe and PayPal, but I'm not sure which one to choose, or whether to use both. I'm listing products in South African Rands (ZAR). Squarespace's documentation is contradictory about which payment option will work. Their documentation lists ZAR as being compatible only with Stripe, but Stripe's global website doesn't list South Africa as being supported. Their documentation specifically lists ZAR as not being compatible with PayPal, but PayPal's global website has South Africa listed as being supported. Does anyone have any experience with this? Thanks in advance. 

Stripe supports the ZAR currency, but does not allow businesses who are solely based in South Africa.

PayPal doesn't support ZAR.

Thanks for the reply, Paul. Could you maybe explain what you mean by PayPal doesn't support ZAR? It's a bit confusing since their website lists it as being supported: https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mpp/country-worldwide

Thanks so much for the explanation!

1 minute ago, FPMM said:

If I have a Stripe account (US) but am selling with ZAR currency, would that work?

Yes. If your Stripe account is US-based, you should be able to use ZAR as the checkout currency, as listed here: Does Squarespace support my currency?

In that case I recommend reaching out to Squarespace Customer Care for some Circle Member Priority Support! They should be able to explain what's happening on the site that's not offering this. 

Hello Paul

I am going to piggy-back comment off this post.  

I need your advise on setting up a payment method on Squarespace. Which option would be best for me etc.  My products will be sold in South Africa, my bank account is also in South Africa. 

Thanks in advance!

13 minutes ago, EverA said:

I need your advise on setting up a payment method on Squarespace. Which option would be best for me etc.  My products will be sold in South Africa, my bank account is also in South Africa. 

I would love to offer you a solution, but if your business, your bank account and your customers are in South Africa, Squarespace Commerce cannot be used. This is because, as you’ve probably read, Squarespace Commerce only supports two payment processors for online sales - PayPal and Stripe - and neither of them are South Africa friendly.

There are workarounds, like using an alternative commerce solution to manage inventory, payment and fulfilment (see my guide Using Squarespace in South Africa with PayFast, Netcash or Rave for examples) but such workarounds are far from ideal. We really need Squarespace to introduce a payment method that supports this beautiful part of the world. 

Hi

Thank you for your reply.  It is indeed very unfortunate.  I will look into ECWID and hopefully I will manage to integrate it onto my squarespace account.  Do you have any experience with this?   

On 8/30/2022 at 11:19 AM, EverA said:

I will look into ECWID and hopefully I will manage to integrate it onto my squarespace account.  Do you have any experience with this?   

Yes but only because there are very few solutions available. Ecwid buy buttons are a workaround for niche requirements, such as restricted products, but they aren't something I would recommend for a standard eCommerce store.

In all honesty, Shopify is probably a better solution given the payment gateways they support for South Africa -at least until  Squarespace launch a payments solution that is South Africa friendly (hopefully soon 🤞).

Is there any progress on this?  My site was working and you could submit booking for services without paying.  Then I tried to add a payment method. I then realised as I'm living in South Africa that Spotify and Paypal is not an option for me as they do not work with our local currency.  Paypal can work but then it become a dollar transaction. Now my booking system actually does not work as you have to push a pay now button suddenly.  I just want it to go back to previous set-up but seems not to be able to undo.  How can one remove the pay now button.  My site effectively do not work and Squarespace at no stage give a warning that you can not deal from some countries.    

25 minutes ago, Bill64 said:

My site was working and you could submit booking for services without paying.

Can you help me to understand the context of your question? Are your bookings using 'Service Products' in Squarespace Commerce, or are you using Acuity Scheduling for these bookings? A link to a page on your site may help us.