FAQs

Do gift contributors have to give money?

Not at all! Gravy allows you to ask people for non-financial gifts too through our unique 'Pledge' gifts. Simply add gifts to your collection that people can contribute their time, skills or good will to. We have plenty of ideas suitable for a range of different gifting occasions (for example, a pledge of a "lasagne drop-off" for a baby registry, or a pledge of "dog-sitting while we're on honeymoon" for a wedding registry). And you can create your own - ask for anything you'd like your community's involvement in. - like dog-sitting. Or help painting the house. Bake us a lasagne. Or an awesome playlist. Or even to bake your wedding cake. Think Airtasker-meets-a-registry - with time, energy and love exchanged instead of cash. Because you might not want money at all - but your guests will still want to give you *something*. Gravy is just formalising the beer economy.

How far in advance should we share our collection?

For events where the contributors will be RSVP'ing (weddings/baby-showers/birthdays etc) we recommend sharing your collection when you send out your invitations or event URL. This is usually 2-4 months out from your event. For smaller group gifts with no 'event' we'd suggest at least 2 weeks before you plan to give the gift. This way you have time to collect funds (have them land in your bank account) and purchase the items you intend to put the funds towards (gift card/physical gift/digital gift). You can print the messages and add them to a card, or include a link to the gift recipient collection page that displays all of the gifts and well-wishes.

What currencies does Gravy offer?

We currently facilitate payments in AUD but we’ll be adding more currencies very soon. Watch this space.

What happens if we need to cancel or postpone our wedding? Does Gravy return money to guests?

We’re so sorry if you have to navigate a wedding postponement or cancellation. Unfortunately Gravy is unable to reverse transactions made by your guests. If you are in a position where you feel you need to return money to your guests, you will need to facilitate this yourself.

How do you choose your charity partners?

We've hand-selected charities that we felt were doing fantastic work to help people in need, and that would really benefit from some extra support and awareness. Currently, our official charity partner is Eat Up Australia - an organisation that helps feed more than 12,000 disadvantaged school kids each week. And we're in the process of onboarding more partners shortly. We work very closely and collaboratively with our charity partners and are glad we’ve been able to offer our Gravy mates (AKA, you) the opportunity to give back. If you have a charity close to your heart that you'd like us to reach out to, please do drop us a line at hello@givewithgravy.com.

Does Gravy take any commission or fees from charity donations our guests make?

Gravy does not take any commission or fees from charity donations. Meaning more dollars get to go directly to the charity. The only fee that is incurred is the unavoidable card processing fee Stripe charges to guests to process their donation.

There's a charity I'd like to support but it's not an official Gravy charity partner - can I still add it to my collection?

We are always on the lookout for wonderful charities to add to our Gravy charity partner program, so feel free to email us at hello@givewithgravy.com and let us know which charity you would like to see on Gravy and we'll do our best to get them on board. In the meantime if there's a particular charity you'd like to raise funds for, you can create a custom 'Gift' template for gifters to contribute funds toward. Please be aware, you then have the responsibility of making the charity donation yourself once the gift funds land in your nominated account (it won't happen automatically though Gravy's platform in the way that it does for transactions processed for our official charity partners).

When do we close a collection?

We’d suggest closing your collection a few weeks after contributions stop. You can close your collection in the settings. Here’s what will happen when you close your collection: - Guests won't be able to access your collection any longer. - We'll limit further contributions from being processed. - You will no longer be able to view your collection or contributions page. - Your unique URL will become available for other people to choose. Before you close your collection we'd suggest downloading all your contributions so you have a detailed record of what gifts people have contributed to. You can do this by navigating to your Contributions page, clicking 'view all' in your Recent contributions section, then just click the purple 'export' button in the top right hand corner and you will be able to download a CSV file with all the important details which you can open in Excel or upload to Google Sheets.

Can we make changes to our registry once it is live?

Not vibing your registry homepage image or thought of a new gift or give you’d like to add? No worries. You’re able to update imagery, details of your gift, give or donation funds and even your payout method. The only things you can’t do are delete a Gift, Give or Donation fund once it has received a contribution. You also can’t revise down the number of allocated Gives if you have specified this. e.g. If you have set a cap on only asking for three volunteers to help you move house and these spots have been filled by your guests, you can’t change this down to two spots.

How do I share my gift collection with others?

Once you’ve published your gift collection, simply share the unique URL for the collection with everyone you'd think would like to contribute. You can do this by copy-pasting the link into any digital communications you're sharing (text message, email, Facebook Group, private message, website, e-invites etc). Or you can incorporate the URL in any printed materials or invites.

Is there a difference between unpublishing our registry and closing it?

There sure is. If you decide to unpublish your registry this simply means that your registry will go ‘offline’, meaning gifters won’t be able to view or access it if they typed in the collection URL. They will instead receive a friendly message to check back in soon. You as the collection owner are still able to log in and access your collection, make updates like adding new Gift, Pledge or Charity gifts. These new updates just won’t be visible to your guests until you re-publish your registry. If you decide to close your registry, this basically means you are ‘deleting’ your registry for both yourselves and your guests. When you close your collection, gifters won't be able to access the collection anymore or make gift contributions to it. You will no longer be able to view the collection or contributions made to it (tip: you can download this information prior to closing a collection for safekeeping). And the URL associated with your collection will become available for others to use.

What credit cards do you accept?

Gravy accepts all the usual suspects when it comes to credit and debit cards, including American Express.

Can gifters contribute via bank transfer?

At this stage Gravy only accepts contributions via debit and credit card. However, we are looking to implement this feature soon. Stay tuned.

When can contributors add funds or pledge to the collection?

You’ve got two options to choose from: 1. Anytime: they can contribute to the collection from the moment you publish it 2. Within two weeks of the 'event': you can restrict contributions to your collection until 14 days prior to the event day/date you want all funds in by if you’d prefer to receive contributions within a shorter time window. If you select option 2 and a guest lands on your collection outside of that window wishing to make an earlier contribution (there’s always a keen bean), they’ll be prompted to leave their email and we’ll send them a helpful reminder when your collection is open for gifting. **In the case of wedding registries, keep in mind that most guests contribute in the 72 hours leading up to the wedding (and the 48 hours after!), so you can typically expect to see the majority of gift funds and 'pledge' gifts roll in right as the celebrations are kicking off.

When do I receive the gift funds?

We don’t hold onto your money - all gift funds are transferred securely to your preferred bank account as and when it is gifted. You’ll be able to track all the generous gift contributions within your Gravy dashboard, along with lovely notes of well-wishes from gifters. *For security reasons, you’ll receive the first contribution in your bank account seven days after the initial contribution date. All future payouts may take up to five working days as we batch payments and this is also dependant on the efficiencies of the banks.

Does it cost to use Gravy?

Gravy is completely free to use, no matter how many collections you create. What’s gifted is what’s received: collect $500 in contributions, receive $500 in contributions to the nominated bank account. Gravy doesn't take any sneaky fees - the only fee contributors will pay is a small standard online processing fee of 1.75% + A$1.30c per transaction. Overseas credit and debit cards incur a slightly higher rate of 2.9%+ A$1.30c.

Can you explain the card transaction fee?

Absolutely. The card transaction fees are the unavoidable fees a payment merchant pays for each credit or debit card sale. If guests are using an Australian credit or debit card they will be charged 1.75% + A$1.30c per transaction, overseas credit and debit cards incur a slightly higher rate of 2.9% + A$1.30c.

Why do I need to verify my identity to use Gravy?

Excellent question. When you interact with businesses in-person, identity verification happens all the time. For example: When checking into a hotel, a concierge may ask to make a photocopy of your passport for insurance purposes. Since our payment processor Stripe handles all payments and payouts for Gravy purely online, there is no face-to-face customer interaction. So Stripe needs to verify your identity so they can confirm you are who you claim to be. This is especially important since funds are being transferred into your bank account and these checks also help to reduce fraud. Gravy does not make a copy or store any of your uploaded identification data on our systems, all uploaded identification data is encrypted and stored securely by Stripe.

What kinds of identity documents can I upload?

Our payments partner requires that you upload a valid government-issued photo ID document, e.g. drivers licence, photo card or passport.

How does Veriff verify my identity documents?

Veriff verifies your identity automatically, using an AI that analyses a multitude of technological and behavioural indicators, including facial recognition.

Who has access to my verification data?

Our payment partner Stripe will have access to the information that you submit through the verification process. Stripe uses access controls and security standards that are as stringent as those used to handle their own KYC ('Know Your Customer') and payments compliance data. Gravy does not store or keep a copy of any of your uploaded identity documentation.

How long will it take to verify my identity?

It should take no longer than 48 hours for Stripe to verify your identity. If Stripe is having issues verifying your documents, you will be notified via email with the specific error, this error will also be visible in the ID verification section of your Settings. You might then need to re-upload your identity document or upload an alternative.

Is my collection searchable via Google?

No sirree. We know you value your privacy, and here at Gravy we do too. We have limitations in place so that Google is unable to "crawl" (i.e. discover) your collection URL, meaning it won't ever appear in a Google search. Gifters must have the unique URL you created in order to access your gift colletion page.

Why does it take up to two days for the contributed funds to reach my bank account?

This is a security feature of our payments partner Stripe. They want to ensure that the transaction is not fraudulent, so they take additional security steps to check all transactions are legitimate.

Do I receive physical gifts via Gravy?

No - Gravy allows the gathering of funds that can then be put toward physical items if you wish. This way, you have the luxury of shopping at retailers you love, at your leisure. The beauty of Gravy is that you can communicate to gifters what those funds will be put towards - it could be a lemon tree, a piece of art or piano lessons - and then allocate the funds to this gift when you're ready (plus you have the freedom to change your mind too).

Can our overseas friends and family make a contribution to the collection?

Absolutely. The overseas-based nearest and dearest will checkout exactly like Australian gift contributors. The only difference being the card processing fee - if your overseas guests don’t have an Australian bank or credit card they will be charged 2.9% + A$0.30c per transaction (vs. 1.75% + A$0.30c).

Can we set caps or limits on the gift funds we create?

You sure can. We give you the option of creating a gift fund with and without a cap, because we are all about flexibility. This means if you’d prefer to cap your coffee machine fund to $400, when this amount is reached, your guests won’t be able to continue contributing to this gift. On the flip side, if you’d like to receive unlimited contributions towards your honeymoon gift fund, then you can absolutely do this too. In order to publish your registry we do require that you have at least one uncapped gift fund, so we can allocate your contributions if your capped funds max out.

How many gifts should we create?

As many or as few as you like! But since you're asking for our recommendation, we find that 3+ gifts within a collections feels best. Why? Because you can add one or two (or many more) 'Gifts' that you're collecting funds towards, as well as a 'Pledge' or two that gifters can commit to. For example, signing a petition, joining the organ register or buying a stranger a coffee - feel good stuff that will make the gift collection recipient feel all the warm and fuzzies when they realise their community has made these kind gestures on behalf of them.

I'm stuck for gift ideas to add to my collection. Help!

We hear you - solving gift paralysis is one of the reasons we created Gravy in the first place. Which is why we’ve already done the hard work you. There are hundreds of Gift and Pledge templates, searchable under different gift/occasion themes which help provide plenty of inspiration. Each template is completely customisable - update the image or description to make it your own. And if you're really stuck? Email us on the Gravy Good Gift Hotline (hello@givewithgravy.com) and we'll happily help you think of the most meaningful gifts you've ever given or received.

Can you explain the three different gifting types Gravy offers?

We’d love to! Gravy offers three different gifting types, you can ask your guests for any combination of things that represent you both. Your registry should be as unique as your love story. Gifts For the gifts that money can buy. Whether you’re keen to start a honeymoon fund, update your record collection or book in some surf lessons, elegantly ask your guests to contribute toward making it a reality. Gives Gravy allows you to ask guests for non-financial gifts too - like dog-sitting. Or to donate blood on your behalf. Think Airtasker-meets-a-wedding-registry, with time, energy and good deeds exchanged instead of cash. Charity donation If you have a cause close to your heart, Gravy is here to assist you in raising funds to do good. We partner with a collection of amazing charities so your guests can donate on your registry.