Stripe

Overview

Stripe is the payments infrastructure used by a large share of Irish technology companies, e-commerce sellers, and modern professional services firms to accept card payments online, in-app, and in-person. The company runs its EU operations from Hanover Quay in Dublin's Docklands and processes EU transactions through Stripe Payments Europe, Limited - an Irish-incorporated entity regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland under the European Union (Payment Services) Regulations 2018. That Dublin base is more than a flag of convenience for Irish SMEs. It means EU data residency, contracts written under Irish law, EUR settlement to an Irish IBAN, and an EU regulatory perimeter that puts Stripe in the same supervisory space as AIB or Bank of Ireland for payments services. Stripe accepts cards (Visa, Mastercard, American Express), digital wallets (Apple Pay, Google Pay, Link), local European methods (SEPA Direct Debit, Bancontact, iDEAL, Sofort, Giropay), and BNPL options (Klarna, Afterpay, Affirm) through a single API and dashboard. The product surface stretches well beyond a payment gateway. Stripe Checkout offers a hosted no-code page suitable for sole traders and small retailers. Stripe Payments and Elements provide low-level building blocks for tech-forward Irish startups that want to embed checkout into their own product. Stripe Billing handles recurring subscriptions, dunning, and proration - relevant for Irish SaaS, agency retainers, and membership businesses. Stripe Connect powers marketplaces and platforms that need to onboard sub-merchants and split payments, used by Irish food-delivery, beauty-booking, and gig-marketplace operators. Stripe Tax calculates and files VAT obligations including Irish 23% standard, 13.5% reduced, 9% second reduced, and 0% zero-rated treatments, and handles distance-selling thresholds for SMEs selling cross-border into the rest of the EU under One Stop Shop. Stripe Atlas is the company's incorporation product - a popular path for Irish founders setting up a Delaware C-Corp to raise from US investors, although it has no equivalent for incorporating an Irish limited company through the Companies Registration Office. Pricing is the headline trade-off. Stripe charges approximately 1.4% plus EUR 0.25 per successful transaction on European Economic Area cards, and approximately 2.9% plus EUR 0.25 on cards issued outside the EEA. A 2% currency conversion fee applies on top when the cardholder pays in a currency other than your settlement currency, which compounds quickly for Irish exporters selling primarily into the UK or US. Stripe is not a bank account, an accounting system, or a payroll provider, and it does not file VAT3 returns to Revenue or submit RPN updates to ROS - those obligations remain with the business and its accounting platform. It does, however, integrate cleanly with Xero, QuickBooks Online, Sage, and BrightBooks for transaction-level reconciliation, and with most modern Irish e-commerce stacks including Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, and Squarespace Commerce. Stripe is best suited to Irish technology companies, agencies, e-commerce sellers, SaaS businesses, and digitally-engaged professional services firms with 1 to 50 staff who already operate online and want a single payments stack from card acceptance through to invoicing, subscription billing, and Tax filing. It is a weaker fit for businesses that take most of their revenue in person on a counter (where SumUp, Square, or a traditional Irish bank merchant terminal will be cheaper at small ticket sizes), and for businesses that need same-day Irish-language phone support (Stripe is email-first, with phone support reserved for higher-volume accounts).

Compliance reference

Compliance vocabulary for Stripe

Irish terms that shape how this software is bought, configured, and audited.

• Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) aka CBI, An Banc Ceannais na hEireann, Central Bank

  Ireland's financial regulator and gatekeeper for banks, payment firms, e-money issuers, MiFID investment firms and insurance providers. Maintains the public CBI register and operates the Fitness and Probity regime for senior staff at regulated firms.

• Electronic Money Institution (EMI) aka EMI, e-money institution, e-money issuer

  A specific Central Bank of Ireland authorisation that permits a firm to issue electronic money (prepaid balances, e-wallets, cards) and provide payment services. EMIs cannot take deposits and customer funds are safeguarded, not insured.

• Fintech aka financial technology, fin-tech, FinTech

  Software and platforms that deliver financial services - banking, payments, lending, insurance, wealth - through technology rather than branch-based incumbents. In Ireland, fintech firms are regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland.

• PSD2 (Payment Services Directive 2) aka Payment Services Directive 2, PSD II, Directive (EU) 2015/2366

  The EU directive governing payment services and payment service providers across the EEA. Transposed into Irish law by SI 6/2018 (European Union (Payment Services) Regulations 2018). Created the open banking and Strong Customer Authentication regimes.

• SEPA Direct Debit Business-to-Business (SDD B2B) aka SEPA DD B2B, SDD B2B, SEPA B2B Direct Debit

  The SEPA Direct Debit scheme variant for business-to-business collections. Faster settlement than SDD Core and no eight-week refund right once the debtor's bank has authorised the mandate, making it the standard for predictable B2B receivables.

See the full Irish compliance glossary →

Company facts

About the company

Founded

2010

HQ

San Francisco, United States

Employees

8,000 (2022)

Pros and Cons

Best For