All Gig Heaven payments are processed through Stripe, a leading payment provider used by millions of businesses worldwide. Your card details never touch our servers.
When you pay a deposit, you enter your card details on a secure Stripe checkout page. Stripe processes the payment and sends us back a confirmation token. We store the token and a record of what was paid (amount, currency, event), but not your card number, expiry date, or security code. If you pay again later, Stripe asks for card details again (or uses a saved token on your side), but we never see the raw numbers.
Every payment goes through fraud checks on Stripe's side, using your billing address, your card's issuing country, and your IP location, among other signals. If a payment looks unusual we might ask for an additional verification step from your bank before it completes. That's normal and handled by your bank, not by us.
Declines happen for lots of reasons (fraud flags, insufficient funds, card expired, wrong address, bank not recognising the merchant). The Stripe page shows a short reason. For the common fixes, see Failed card payments / payment issues. For cards that simply can't be used online, see Alternative payment methods if you can't pay by card.
Contact your bank first to protect the card, then dispute the payment with us. We can see exactly which booking a charge relates to and refund quickly if it's fraudulent.
The remaining balance (after the deposit) is paid directly to the supplier, not through Stripe. Typical methods are bank transfer or cash. Treat the balance like any other payment to a supplier, and keep a record on your side (a bank transfer reference is usually enough).
If you have any trouble, please contact us.
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