Pay-per-use

With pay-per-use active, the guest pays before the capture begins. It is meant for public installations — trade fairs, funfairs, bars — where the guest pays rather than the host.

The Stripe access belongs to the device and lives under Access and accounts. Here you set whether and how payment is taken. Setting up Stripe, PayPal and several booths is described in Setting up pay-per-use.

Three payment models#

The difference lies in the fees: Stripe charges a fixed amount per payment (around 0.25 EUR for EU cards) plus a percentage. For a 3 EUR session, a single payment loses around a tenth to fees; for a 20 EUR top-up it is just under 3 percent.

With Allow one-off payment without a code the credit model also offers single payment — for guests who only want to take one picture.

Prices#

Each capture mode has its own price, 0 means free of charge. That way an AI portrait can cost more than a photo.

A print costs a base price per job plus a price per copy. The copies included only apply to prints right after the session; a print from the gallery always costs. On the tablet showing the gallery nothing is printed then — the guest prints at the photo booth.

Price tiers#

With a code the price can be tiered: guests who do many sessions pay less from a certain session on. Counting is per code, across all photo booths with the same Stripe key. Without a code, i.e. with single payments, the base price always applies.

• Type of tiers: a discount in percent on the mode's price or a fixed price per tier and mode.
• Up to three tiers, each from session — for example 10 % from the 5th session and 20 % from the 10th. A tier with “from” 0 stays unused.
• Price tiers for prints: the same per copy. The base price per order stays; included copies do not count. If an order crosses a tier boundary, each copy costs the price of its tier.

The overview before code entry lists the tiers. After the code is entered, the booth shows the price that applies to the next session.

The flow on screen#

With Show overview before code entry a first screen explains the process in three steps and lists the prices per capture mode and for printing. From there guests go on to code entry, to topping up or, if allowed, to a single payment. New events show the overview by default.

With a credit code:

1. The guest taps the start screen and enters the code. A hand scanner reading the code from the phone types it in like a keyboard.
2. The booth shows the credit and the price.
3. In the mode selection each tile shows its price. Whatever the credit no longer covers is greyed out.
4. The charge is made as soon as the result is on screen. If a session is cancelled before that, it costs nothing.
5. At the end the booth shows the remaining credit and offers Another session without typing the code again.

With single payment the guest pays after choosing the mode, because only then is the price known.

Topping up#

The amounts appear as buttons, up to four. With Allow a custom amount the guest sets the amount between the smallest and largest custom amount.

The payment page at the photo booth opens directly on screen or appears as a QR code for the phone. The QR code is usually the better choice: the card number is not typed in public, Apple Pay and Google Pay work, and the booth is free again sooner. After paying on the phone, Stripe takes the guest to the return URL — the phone cannot reach the booth's local address.

If Offer top-ups at the photo booth is off, the booth only accepts codes. The notice for guests without a code then tells them where credit is available — for example at a tablet used as a top-up station, see Setting up pay-per-use.

After payment the booth shows the new code in large type. The guest remembers it or takes a photo. If they entered an email address when paying, the code is also on Stripe's receipt.

Reservation#

With a reservation the guest does not pay in advance but authorises a maximum amount. Stripe reserves it on the card or with PayPal; money is only taken when settling and only for the part used, the rest is released. On screen everything works as with a credit code: enter the code, do the session, and at the end the booth shows what is still available.

The amounts to reserve appear as buttons, up to four; there is no free amount here. Settle decides when the money is taken:

• when the photo booth is closed, at the latest after the deadline — the booth settles this event's reservations before it closes. Suits an evening with one booth.
• after the deadline — for events over several days and several booths that do not finish at the same time.

The deadline until settlement counts from the reservation, at most 144 hours. Any running booth with the same Stripe key settles — also after switching events and at the next program start.

Open reservations lists all codes on this Stripe account that have not been settled yet, with amount, settlement time and expiry. If one expires in less than two days, a notice appears.

Usage below 0.50 EUR cannot be charged; the reservation is then released in full. The same applies to a reservation whose payment the booth never confirmed: if the guest left before the confirmation, they never saw the code.

Codes#

A code has eight characters without easily confused letters and digits (no 0/O, no 1/I). After five wrong codes, entry is blocked for a minute; each further block lasts longer.

Code is valid “only at this event” is the normal case. “At all events of this Stripe account” suits credit that should work across several events, for example a trade fair over three days with one event per day.

When the network fails “allow sessions, charge later” keeps the queue moving: the booth remembers charges it cannot make right now and makes them as soon as Stripe answers again. A wrong code, however, only shows up when the charge is made later.

Managing codes#

Under Manage codes the booth shows the credit, the event, the status and the latest transactions for a code — no matter at which booth it was topped up.

• Block stops a code, for example when a guest has lost it. Unblock releases it again.
• Refund remaining credit deducts the credit and refunds it to the original payment. Whatever cannot be refunded, for example on a free code, is back on the code afterwards.
• Create free code issues a code with credit without anyone paying — as a prize or as compensation.

Close event settles open reservations and ends all codes of the event; afterwards none of them starts a session. The remaining credit is handled as set under Remaining credit:

Demo mode and test run#

In demo mode the payment is only simulated: no money changes hands, and no Stripe account is needed. That suits trade fairs and demonstrations. Codes from demo mode only work at this booth.

For a real test run, a Stripe test key (starting with sk_test_ or rk_test_) belongs under Access and accounts. Everything then runs as it will later, only with Stripe's test cards instead of real money.