Questions, answered plainly
TheTin is the cashless collection tin. Someone scans your QR, pays in seconds, and the money goes to your Stripe account. TheTin never holds it.
Getting started
What is TheTin?
A permanent page and printable QR code for face-to-face giving. Put it on a collection tin, a poster, or a plate. A passer-by scans and pays through embedded Stripe Checkout, on your page — no redirect to another screen — using an available payment method, and the gift goes to your own Stripe account.
What is cashless giving?
Giving without handing over notes or coins — typically a scan or a card payment instead of a tin of cash. How that compares with EFTPOS and bank transfer is on Cashless giving.
Does TheTin hold my money?
No. Payments go to the recipient’s Stripe account. TheTin never holds funds. Stripe pays out to the bank on Stripe’s schedule.
Who is TheTin for?
Churches and charities first — offerings, appeals, foyer collections. Anyone collecting occasionally can use one too.
How do I get started?
- Create an account with an email and password, or Google or Microsoft sign-in.
- Claim your main page address (this becomes your public URL and QR).
- Connect Stripe so you can receive money.
- Print the poster and put the QR where people give.
The profile form collects full name, phone, address, and a country from TheTin’s country selector.
Do I need a Stripe account?
Yes, to receive money. People who give do not need a TheTin or Stripe account.
You can create a Stripe account during setup, or link one you already have. Stripe — not TheTin — checks identity, bank details, and whether it will onboard you. TheTin never asks for bank, ID, or card details; those stay with Stripe’s hosted onboarding.
Stripe is a well-known payments company. You get your own Stripe account and dashboard. Businesses around the world — from local organisations to large platforms — use it to take cards, Apple Pay, and Google Pay.
We use Stripe because it is a proven payments service: card networks, Apple Pay and Google Pay, identity and bank checks, payouts, and fraud tools. Stripe’s pricing is pay-as-you-go — no monthly Stripe fee just to accept payments, their processing fee only when money moves.
TheTin currently offers New Zealand, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Stripe then decides whether it will onboard you there. TheTin does not collect date of birth or impose a separate 18+ gate. Age and verification rules are Stripe’s. See Stripe’s age requirement and country availability.
How this works with Stripe
Payments use Stripe Connect Standard and direct charges. Each recipient has (or creates) their own Stripe account. The gift goes there, then to their bank on Stripe’s payout schedule. You can disconnect TheTin and keep the Stripe account.
Can I link the same Stripe account to two TheTin accounts?
No. One TheTin account can own several pages (your main page plus sub-pages) that all share the one live Stripe account you choose. You may connect more than one Stripe account to the same TheTin account over time, but each Stripe account can only be linked to one TheTin account. If you try to connect a Stripe account that's already linked elsewhere, the connection fails.
Pausing payments in TheTin does not free that Stripe account for another TheTin login. Disconnecting Stripe does not free it either. Once a Stripe account is linked to a TheTin account, it stays with that account.
If you want to cut a Stripe account off TheTin completely, revoke TheTin from that Stripe account in your Stripe Dashboard. If you want to cut all your Stripe accounts off TheTin and stop using TheTin, close your TheTin account.
Payments & money
How does a payment work?
- Someone scans your QR or opens your TheTin page.
- They choose an amount and pay through embedded Stripe Checkout, on your page — no redirect to another screen.
- The gift goes to your Stripe account. TheTin never holds it.
- Stripe pays out to your bank on Stripe’s schedule.
You see the payment in your TheTin dashboard and in Stripe.
What payment methods can givers use?
Stripe Checkout may offer:
- Credit and debit cards
- Apple Pay
- Google Pay
What a giver actually sees depends on Stripe, your Stripe account, country, currency, device, and browser. Not every giver will see every method every time.
Apple Pay and Google Pay may appear when Stripe and the giver’s device allow them. They are not guaranteed on every phone.
Is a gift anonymous?
Not to the recipient. Stripe collects the giver’s name and email for the receipt, and TheTin shows those in the recipient’s dashboard — not on the public page, and never in a payment alert. Givers do not need a TheTin account. See the Privacy Notice.
Where does the money go?
Straight into your Stripe account. TheTin never holds the money. We only take our small fee when someone pays. Stripe then pays out to your bank.
When will I receive the money?
TheTin does not hold the money and does not set payout timing.
- The payment lands in your connected Stripe account when Stripe confirms it.
- Stripe then pays out to your bank on Stripe’s payout schedule.
Check payout timing in your Stripe Dashboard, or Stripe’s payouts documentation.
How much does TheTin cost?
TheTin’s fee is 1c–99c NZD per payment — no signup fee, no monthly bill from us. The same rule for everyone. That is 1% of the amount, rounded half up, never less than 1¢ and never more than 99¢.
- $1 donation → 1¢
- $5 donation → 5¢
- $20 donation → 20¢
- $50 donation → 50¢
- $99 or more → 99¢
Stripe also charges its normal payment-processing fees separately. Those come from Stripe, on the recipient’s side, before payout. We never see or hold that money.
Those two fees together, on a New Zealand domestic card, using Stripe’s published standard pricing checked (2.65% + NZ$0.30). Stripe controls these charges and may change them. Every combined figure below is about — never a guaranteed total. Cents are rounded half up, the same way TheTin rounds its own fee, so these figures do not understate what you pay. Check Stripe’s current New Zealand pricing.
A $20 gift: TheTin 20¢ + Stripe about 83¢ (2.65% = 53¢, plus 30¢ fixed) = about $1.03 total. The recipient receives about $18.97.
Stripe’s 30¢ fixed charge dominates small gifts, so the combined cost is a larger share of a small amount than of a large one. On the same snapshot, rounding half up: a $5 gift costs about 48¢ in total (about 9.6%); $10 about 67¢ (about 6.7%); $50 about $2.13 (about 4.3%); $100 about $3.94 (about 3.9%).
These figures are New Zealand domestic cards. International cards were 3.5% + NZ$0.30 on that snapshot, plus 2% where currency conversion is required — so about $1.03 is not the figure for every gift.
These figures are GST-inclusive — both Stripe’s fee and ours — so there is nothing further to add.
TheTin fee calculator
Our fee only — not Stripe’s card fee.
On a $1.00 payment · capped at 99¢ NZD
Try $1, $5, $50, $100 — our fee never exceeds 99 cents.
Other currencies
In another currency the same rule uses that currency’s smallest coin — one cent, one penny, one yen — as the minimum, up to whatever 99¢ NZD is worth, rounded down. If we have no usable exchange rate for a currency, our fee is that single smallest coin rather than a guessed conversion or a refused payment.
What fees does Stripe charge?
Stripe’s card processing fee is separate from TheTin’s 1c–99c. Stripe sets it, and it can change. Eligible nonprofits can apply to Stripe for a processing discount — see Churches & charities.
More about Stripe fees (New Zealand snapshot)
Checked against Stripe’s published New Zealand standard pricing. For a New Zealand business on that published standard pricing, ordinary online card payments were 2.65% + NZ$0.30 for domestic cards and 3.5% + NZ$0.30 for international cards, with an additional 2% where currency conversion is required. Stripe also listed no setup or monthly fee for standard payments pricing. Custom pricing, other payment methods, taxes, and account-specific terms may differ.
Check Stripe’s current New Zealand pricing. Stripe controls these charges and may change them after the date above.
What happens if a payment needs to be refunded?
If you gave and want the money back, contact the person or organisation you paid. They refund from their own Stripe account. TheTin never holds the money, so we cannot refund it for you. If that does not work, use your card issuer or wallet provider and the Stripe receipt.
If you are the recipient and you refund a payment, you get our fee back. A full refund returns the whole TheTin fee; a partial refund returns the same proportion. It happens automatically — including for refunds you make in your Stripe Dashboard. Stripe’s card fee follows Stripe’s own rules.
What happens with chargebacks?
Card chargebacks are rare on small gifts. They are handled through the recipient’s Stripe account. Stripe may charge its own dispute fees; those are Stripe’s charges, not TheTin’s, and Stripe may change them.
Stripe New Zealand dispute-fee snapshot
Checked against Stripe’s published New Zealand standard pricing. Stripe listed an NZ$25 dispute-received fee and a further NZ$25 fee for a manual response, returned if the dispute is won but not if it is lost. Check Stripe’s current New Zealand pricing for the rate that applies when a dispute occurs.
Churches & charities
Can churches and charities use TheTin?
Yes. Churches and charities are who TheTin is built for. A church or charity connects its own Stripe account, prints a QR, and collects face-to-face. Individuals collecting occasionally can use the same product. More: Churches, Charities.
Are there Stripe nonprofit discounts?
Our own fee stays 1c–99c NZD per payment for everyone — that does not change if Stripe gives you a discount. The discount is on Stripe’s card processing fee, which Stripe sets.
Stripe offers discounted processing fees for eligible nonprofit organisations that mainly accept donations. New Zealand is one of the countries Stripe lists. Stripe decides who qualifies and what rate you get; TheTin cannot apply for you and cannot promise a rate. Checked against Stripe’s nonprofit fee-discount page.
Stripe’s published criteria, at that check, were all of these:
- Your organisation is a registered nonprofit, with documentation that confirms that status.
- You operate in a country Stripe lists for the discount (New Zealand is listed).
- At least 80% of the payment volume on that Stripe account comes from tax-deductible donations.
Stripe says these do not count toward that 80%: membership fees, tuition, ticket sales, registration fees, and auction payments.
In New Zealand, proof is usually your registered charity number, or a link to your entry on the Charities Register. Stripe will tell you exactly what to send. A church that is not a registered charity may not qualify — that is Stripe’s decision, not ours.
To apply, use Stripe’s linked page and contact Stripe support from the Stripe account that will receive the gifts. Always check Stripe’s current nonprofit criteria.
Can givers receive tax receipts?
A Stripe receipt or TheTin payment confirmation is not automatically a tax donation receipt. TheTin does not decide whether a recipient is a registered charity or approved donee organisation. Recipients handle their own charity registration, disclosures, donation receipts, accounting, tax, and use-of-funds duties. Givers should ask the recipient for any tax receipt they need.
Your TheTin page
Can I change my page?
You can edit the display name, photos, amounts, and other fields on the page. You cannot rename a main page address after it is claimed — it goes on posters and QR codes.
One main page per account. Nobody else ever receives an old address.
Can I have multiple pages?
Yes. Sub-pages (appeals, groups, events under your main page address) can be created and retired. Every account includes three active sub-pages by default; retiring one frees a slot. The main address stays fixed.
What happens to my page if I delete my account?
After the deadline, your pages and history on TheTin are erased. We keep your page addresses reserved forever so someone else cannot take an old QR and impersonate you. No one else can take them, and you cannot claim them again. Money already paid stays in your Stripe accounts. See How do I delete my account?
Notifications
How do I know when someone has donated?
Under Notifications you can turn on Telegram alerts, a message to your own website, or both. Those are instant.
If you have not turned either on, once a day we email your verified account address a short summary of any payment that day that had no instant alert — amounts and how many, never who gave. Nothing sends on a quiet day. Turning on Telegram or a website callback for those payments going forward is what stops the daily email, one channel at a time. There is no separate off switch for the daily summary.
An instant alert is about the payment, never the person. It can include the amount, currency, TheTin fee, what reaches you where Stripe has told us, status, time, and which page. A refund alert can add the amount refunded in that step and the running total, as Stripe reports it. A giver’s name, email, and optional message are never included.
Stripe can also email you for each successful payment. Turn that on in your Stripe Dashboard if you want it — it is Stripe’s email, not TheTin’s.
Can I receive Telegram notifications?
Yes. On Notifications, open our bot once and tap Start, paste your numeric Telegram user ID (not @username), and enable alerts. We send when a payment lands and when a payment you received is refunded, in full or in part. For help, email Support (support@thetin.nz).
Can I receive website notifications?
Yes. Under Notifications you can give us a website address. When a payment is recorded, TheTin sends a small signed message with the same payment facts as other alerts (never giver identity, bank, or card data). A Send test button is on that page.
For developers: how to verify the message
You get a private signing secret. Each request has
X-TheTin-Signature: sha256=… — HMAC-SHA256 of the
raw body with the secret. Process the message only if it
matches. Node and Python examples are on the Notifications page.
Can I receive email summaries?
Yes. If Telegram and website alerts are off, TheTin emails a daily summary on a day you actually received a payment. Stripe’s own successful-payment emails are separate — turn those on in Stripe if you want one email per payment.
Safety & account
How does TheTin protect payments?
The payment is processed by Stripe, on your Stripe account. TheTin never holds the money and never collects bank, ID, or card details. Pages use structured fields only — you cannot inject your own HTML or scripts. Printed QR codes stay safe because page addresses are never given to someone else, even after you delete your account.
What information does TheTin collect?
For your account: sign-in, profile (full name, phone, address, country), and your pages. For a giver: Stripe collects name and email for the receipt; TheTin shows those only to you in the dashboard, never in a payment alert. See the Privacy Notice.
What happens if a page breaks the rules?
If we find abuse, wrongdoing, or harmful content, we use one of three tools:
- Page takedown — that one page goes dark (not found). You can still sign in and edit it. We can restore it.
- Address removal — that address is gone permanently. It is never given back or to anyone else. This does not freeze your account.
- Account freeze — every page you own goes dark. You can still sign in and edit. We can unfreeze. You cannot claim a new page address while frozen.
None of these delete your content. If you believe this is a mistake, email Support.
How do I delete my account?
Profile → Delete account. You have 7 days to change your mind. Sign in normally and you’ll see a confirmation to restore your account. Click Restore my account and the account is restored. Re-registering the same email does not restore the account.
Permanent deletion happens at least 7 days after you confirm, and may take up to a further day, never sooner. After that, your pages and history on TheTin are erased — there is no way back. Every linked Stripe account is disconnected from TheTin; money already paid stays in those Stripe accounts. We keep your page addresses reserved forever so an old QR cannot pay a stranger. No one else can take them, and you cannot claim them again. See user data deletion.