How Payments Work

Meetup Art lets organisers sell event tickets and artists sell artwork to buyers anywhere in the world. To do that safely we route money through established, regulated payment platforms — never holding card details ourselves. This page explains, in plain English, how money flows in (pay-ins, when a buyer pays you) and out (payouts, when we send your earnings to your bank), and what each platform costs for UK, EU and international users.

Two separate fee layers

It helps to think of two distinct costs that sit on top of every sale:

1. The Meetup Art platform fee — our cut for running the marketplace. This is tier-based (see the table below) and is the only fee that is deducted from your payout.
2. The payment-processor fee — what Stripe, Mollie, PayPal or Apple charge to move the money. The Meetup Art platform fee is sized to cover these processing costs, and the processor's cut is never deducted from you separately. Your payout is simply the sale price minus the single Meetup Art platform fee shown below.

We still publish the processor fees here so you can see the full economics of the platform and understand why money is routed the way it is.

The Meetup Art platform fee

The platform fee depends on your subscription tier and what you are selling. Paid tiers pay a low 2% on event tickets (with a small per-transaction minimum to cover card-processing costs) and a progressively smaller cut on artwork sales.

All ticket sales carry a per-transaction minimum fee of 20p / $0.25 / €0.25 so the platform fee never falls below the processor's fixed per-transaction cost on very cheap tickets. This minimum does not apply to artwork sales. See full tier pricing on the pricing page. Upgrading to a paid tier cuts your ticket fee to a low 2% and lowers your artwork cut — often paying for itself after a handful of sales.

Pay-ins — how buyers pay you

When someone buys a ticket or an artwork, the checkout they see is the organiser's chosen payment provider — the single provider that organiser set up to handle both their checkout and their payouts. You pick your provider once on your Payout Settings page; the options available to you depend on your billing country.

Each organiser runs a single provider for both legs: the same Mollie, Stripe or PayPal account that takes the buyer's payment also receives the organiser's payout. Subscriptions are the exception — they always go through Stripe on the web (or Apple in the iOS app).

Payouts — how you get paid

Your earnings are paid out through the same provider you chose for checkout — one provider runs both legs. Your billing country decides which providers you can choose, limited to the ones that can actually pay you out: Mollie covers the EU and UK, Stripe the EU, UK, US, Canada, Switzerland and the EEA, and PayPal everywhere else that's supported. Anything your country can't use is greyed out, so you can't pick a provider that would fail to pay you. You onboard once with your choice and we handle the rest.

• When you're paid (tickets): ticket earnings become eligible 3 days after the event ends (7 days for multi-session courses), giving a buffer for cancellations and refunds before money leaves the platform.
• When you're paid (artwork): artwork earnings become eligible 14 days after purchase — a longer hold than event tickets, giving the buyer time to receive and inspect the piece and leaving a buffer for returns or disputes before money leaves the platform.
• Batched, not per-sale:payouts are grouped into batches rather than sent one sale at a time. This keeps per-transaction payout fees down, which is part of how we're able to absorb processing costs.
• Some currencies are restricted: payouts in Brazilian Real (BRL), Argentine Peso (ARS) and Malaysian Ringgit (MYR) cannot currently be sent via PayPal. If you're affected, contact us and we'll arrange an alternative.

The payment platforms, their options & fees

Stripe (UK & international cards, subscriptions, payouts)

Stripe handles all web subscriptions, and — for organisers who choose it as their provider — card checkout plus payouts to the UK, US, Canada, Switzerland and the EEA via Stripe Connect Express accounts. Express means Stripe hosts the onboarding and identity checks — you fill in a short form and Stripe verifies you directly.

• UK & EEA cards (indicative): ~1.5% + 20p (standard UK consumer cards); EEA cards similar; premium / commercial cards higher.
• International cards (indicative): ~3.25% + 20p, plus ~2% if currency conversion is required.
• Config implications: Express accounts carry no monthly fee; cross-border self-serve payouts reach the UK, US, EEA, Canada and Switzerland only — which is exactly why Asia and Latin America are routed to PayPal instead.

Official fees: stripe.com/gb/pricing · Connect (payout) pricing

Mollie (EU & UK pay-ins & payouts)

Organisers in the EU (and the UK, who may choose either Mollie or Stripe) can run Mollie for both legs: buyer checkout through cheap local methods and payouts via Mollie Connect. Fees in the EU are typically a flat per-transaction amount rather than a percentage, which is far cheaper on lower-value sales.

• iDEAL (indicative): a flat fee of roughly €0.29 per transaction — no percentage.
• SEPA Direct Debit (indicative): ~€0.25 flat per transaction.
• Cards (indicative): ~1.8% + €0.25 for EEA consumer cards; non-EEA cards higher.
• Config implications: you enable the methods your EU buyers prefer; flat-fee methods like iDEAL/SEPA win on price, which is why EU checkout defaults to them over cards.

Official fees: mollie.com/pricing

PayPal (checkout & payouts for Asia, Latin America & beyond)

For organisers in regions Stripe Connect can't reach, PayPal runs both legs: buyers check out with PayPal, and your earnings are paid to your verified PayPal email, from where you withdraw to your local bank. You only need a valid PayPal account email.

• Checkout (indicative):standard PayPal commerce fees apply on the buyer's payment, absorbed by Meetup Art like every other processor fee.
• Payouts (indicative): ~2% of the payout amount, capped per transaction (the cap varies by currency); cross-border and currency conversion may add a margin.
• Config implications: some payouts settle asynchronously — an item can show as unclaimed until you accept it, or be returned if the email has no PayPal account. BRL, ARS and MYR are not supported for PayPal payouts (see above).

Official fees: PayPal merchant fees · PayPal Payouts

Apple In-App Purchase (iOS subscriptions only)

Apple's App Store rules require that subscriptions bought inside the iOS app go through Apple In-App Purchase — we can't use Stripe there. The same subscription bought via the website uses Stripe at lower cost.

• Commission (indicative):Apple takes 30% in year one, dropping to 15% for subscribers retained beyond a year; small businesses may qualify for 15% under Apple's Small Business Program.
• Tip:subscribing via the website avoids Apple's commission entirely.

Official terms: developer.apple.com/app-store

Currency & conversion

Buyers are charged in their local currency where supported, and payouts are made in your account currency. When a sale and a payout span different currencies, the relevant platform applies a foreign-exchange conversion (typically around a 2% margin — see the linked fee pages). Pricing for subscriptions is shown in GBP, EUR and USD.

Security, refunds & disputes

• We never store card details. Card data goes directly to the PCI-compliant payment platform; Meetup Art only ever sees a reference to the transaction.
• Money only moves on confirmation. Earnings and tier upgrades are only recorded once the payment platform confirms the payment via a verified webhook — never just because a checkout page redirected.
• Refunds & chargebacks are returned to the buyer's original payment method through the same platform that took the payment. For the full rules, see our Refund & Cancellation Policy.

Questions?

If anything about pay-ins, payouts or fees is unclear, or you need help onboarding for payouts in your country, email us at hello@meetup.art and we'll be glad to help.