Introduction
Not all users have a crypto wallet (see Unlock Account for how we handle this). Similarly, even users with a crypto wallet may not have the cryptocurrency required to purchase a membership. Unlock Inc. has built a convenience layer which allows these users to easily purchase a membership to your lock with their credit cards.
For this, we rely on Stripe Connect, which means that you will receive payments “off-chain” directly on the bank account that you have set-up with Stripe. The funds do not transit through Unlock and they go directly from your member’s card payments to your Stripe account.
How to enable credit cards on your lock
Connecting a Stripe Account
The first step, if your lock is eligible, is to connect your lock to a Stripe account. For this, connect to the Unlock Dashboard and click into the details page for the lock for which you want to enable credit card payments. Then, go to Tools > Update Lock Settings.
Then, click on Payments and click Accept to enable credit card payments.
Once the Credit Card pane is displayed, click on the “Connect Stripe” button. When clicking you will first be prompted to sign a message confirming that you own that lock (any lock manager can do that) and that you want to enable credit card payments for it. Once confirmed, you will be redirected to the Stripe Website, where you need to follow multiple steps, including connecting a bank account and providing information about your identity.
Allow key granting
With credit card payments, Unlock Inc. will grant keys to users whose credit card payment has been successfully processed (see roles). Once Unlock Inc. has charged your member’s card, we will then send them the NFT so that they can use it to prove their membership. In order to do this, we need a lock manager to grant us the role of “key granting”. This role can be revoked at any point (but this will disable credit card payments) and we do not receive any permission or capability on your lock.
Once your application is completed, Stripe will redirect you back to the Unlock Dashboard. It may take a few days for Stripe to approve your application. Until then your lock won’t be able to receive card payments.
Credit card Purchase flow
If you use Unlock’s paywall application, the credit card flow is directly integrated in the checkout experience.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the fees?
The fees are a combination of Stripe’s fees (2.9% + $0.30) as well as Unlock’s fees used to pay for the blockchain transaction costs (gas).
If you enable credit card payments for your lock, your members will usually be charged a higher amount than the amount for your lock. We convert the token amount using Coinbase’s API or a similar oracle, and will use the resulting price to charge cards. We recommend using stable coins for credit card enabled locks.
We use Stripe Connect and we add 10% of the price in order to cover the costs of Stripe, gas and our own developments costs.
How is fraud prevented?
When a key/NFT is purchased via credit card, Unlock Inc., as the granter, retains the key manager title (see roles on a lock contract). This role means that the NFT owner cannot sell or cancel their membership themselves directly. This mechanism prevents malevolent users from using stolen cards, as they would not be able to monetize the NFT by selling or canceling it.
How to handle chargebacks?
When a credit card transaction has been reversed, it is recommended that the lock owners cancel the existing user’s membership as this user should not be able to benefit from their canceled membership anymore.
