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Stripe Atlas

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191–200 of 402 posts

Re: Stripe Atlas

#191

Post by adamt »

ashmud wrote: post #140
glossyscr wrote: post #82

I just checked the prohibited businesses https://stripe.com/de/prohibited-businesses I am fine with most of them being prohibited but at some points it's getting quite restricted: 1. Virtual currency that can be monetized, re-sold or converted to physical or digital products or services or otherwise exit the virtual world 4. Sexually-oriented or pornographic products or services 9. Engaging in deceptive marketing pra…

> 15. Age restricted products or services (which are the most products/services) Wouldn't you need to be the age of majority to use Stripe at all?

Note in there are a lot of prepaid cards (that can be mastercard/visa cards) that focus on children.

E.g. Osper (https://osper.com/) in the UK is a pre-paid Mastercard that targets 8-18 year olds.

Re: Stripe Atlas

#192

Post by flashm »

I always wonder with things like this, when will we be able (with an online business) to essentially say that your business has no fixed abode, and therefore you won't be paying any country any tax.

If everyone was using bitcoin or some other anonymous currency it would be pretty straightforward assuming that was how you took payments.

Your only trouble would be remitting money into your own tax jurisdiction - but then you may not have one of those either, assuming your were floating about the world.

Re: Stripe Atlas

#193

Post by adarsh_thampy »

asadlionpk wrote: post #72
Liron wrote: post #59

Stripe Payments was Exhibit A of overcoming Schlep Blindness to come up with a killer value prop; looks like Stripe Atlas is Exhibit B. http://paulgraham.com/schlep.html

That is exactly what I was thinking. Though I am not sure how Stripe will be able to focus on both these schlep problems considering their work isn't finished yet (expanding to all countries).

Expanding to more countries will be a problem. Take India for instance. Tons of regulations and you cannot do a recurring charge. It's easier for Stripe to get people to incorporate in the US and become their customer rather than try to expand to India, comply with all the crazy laws, and then accept Indian customers.

Re: Stripe Atlas

#194

Post by swampthing »

lexap wrote: post #147

In terms of the startup incorporation, how does this compare to Clerky? As a pre-incorporation startup based in CA, which is preferable?

This is really optimized for startups outside of the US, which often have trouble setting up US bank accounts (and thus using Stripe). As a result, the legal side of things gets you far enough to do that - but doesn't cover the whole company formation process like we do.

Re: Stripe Atlas

#195

Post by pm90 »

Olscore wrote: post #95

While I don't have much to add, this is very interesting and almost feels patriotic (as an American.) Stripe is, in a way, hacking the global economy and luring entrepreneurs to the do business in the United States. While this iteration may fall short of perfection, or open questions, it also opens up some imagination and interesting ideas or possibilities. Could this be the beginning of startups offering citizens of…

This is an excellent point. I would be very interested if this (and similar tools which will undoubtedly rise) will force the governments of nations worldwide to be more business friendly.

Re: Stripe Atlas

#196

Post by tim333 »

amgin3 wrote: post #31

Is there really a market for this? Why would anyone outside the US want to open a US company when you can just as easily open a company and bank account in a tax-free country with little/no oversight?

If you open an LLC as a foreigner there is basically no US tax and little oversight. And setting up a company and bank account in a tax haven tends to be pretty expensive. (Price list here - http://www.offshoreformations247.com/offshore-jurisdictions/ - Delaware is the cheapest)

Re: Stripe Atlas

#197

Post by swampthing »

koolba wrote: post #6

Interesting angle. For a while I've wondered why nobody does a tech/startup version of "Company in a box". This looks like it's exactly that. Incorporation, payment processing, the works. Is Stripe getting a cut of the eventual revenue from the service providers that are providing the offerings? What's the incentive on their side? Or are they just hoping to scrape by on the transaction fee revenue (which are way less…

To answer your question of why nobody's done a "company in a box" - the gating difficulty is in getting banks to accept companies more or less carte blanche, which gets even more difficult when international companies / founders are involved.

Re: Stripe Atlas

#198

Post by marcosdumay »

amalag wrote: post #99
kiloreux wrote: post #52

I live in Algeria, and we can't use credit cards here, my bank account doesn't support debit cards transfer and if I veer receive 10$ from outside the country, then I'm in for 1 day of questioning the resources for those money, This is a great use case for my country and great initiative from Stripe, Thank you.

How would you receive the money from the US bank account then?

My guess is only once the balance gets big enough to justify a day lost to bureaucracy.

Re: Stripe Atlas

#199

Post by kintamanimatt »

prodmerc wrote: post #45
amgin3 wrote: post #31

Is there really a market for this? Why would anyone outside the US want to open a US company when you can just as easily open a company and bank account in a tax-free country with little/no oversight?

Because then you can do business in the US (largest English speaking client base) without any trouble? And accepting debit cards (especially US cards) is still quite hard in most of the world afaik, aside from the UK, so this is a godsend to any entrepreneurs who want a real chance at success. This was actually the dream just half a decade ago, to incorporate in the US without having to actually get a visa and go the…

Accepting cards from most locations isn't actually difficult any longer with Stripe, Braintree, Paymill, and others. US cards aren't special in terms of being able to accept them; they're just regular Visa/MC/Amex/Discover/whatever cards.

The neglected payment methods are the country specific ones. Some major countries have very low credit-card penetration, for example in the Netherlands. The common internet payment method there is iDEAL which is a kind of two factor authenticated bank transfer. Even debit cards in the Netherlands have two distinguishing features: there isn't a PAN number on the card which makes it impossible[0] to use online in the way you'd use an embossed Visa/MasterCard, and the Dutch banks all issue their debit cards under the Maestro and V-Pay schemes.

[0] Not really, but very few people know what their debit card's PAN number is. It's possible to calculate the hidden PAN number as it's usually just a regular Maestro card, or to just scan it off the card using NFC and an appropriate app.

Re: Stripe Atlas

#200

Post by yeahrightfam »

tmfrancis wrote: post #168
yeahrightfam wrote: post #110

This means nothing for me (and should also mean nothing for the targeted audience of the post). I've been constantly ignored from Stripe since they launched their beta in Mexico (actually way before that, I subscribed years before, when Stripe launched in the US). I can't do business with them because I'm not part of their secret club, while at the same many businesses here somehow get access and start using them. Th…

The whole purpose of Stripe is to make basic tools for starting an internet business more broadly available and without barriers. The core of our strategy is to eliminate gatekeepers and secret clubs. We’re openly available in 18 countries today (you can see the complete list stripe.com/global) and hundreds of thousands of businesses use Stripe after openly signing up. Because businesses’ livelihoods and revenue are…

"The whole purpose of Stripe is to make basic tools for starting an internet business more broadly available and without barriers."

Well, I didn't have to publicly shame PayPal and wait for years to get invited to use their platform. So I guess they fill better the whole purpose of your company.

Stripe was appealing to me (and a whole lot of other developers) because of the developer experience you introduced back then, you kind of felt that Stripe was cool and was made with you in mind. After this experience I felt betrayed (and many others I know).

Taking a step back an evaluating all the choices I currently have Stripe is the most expensive one (no volume discounts). PayPal improved their APIs and are now easier to use, and the things you can implement with them are amazing (chained payments, subscriptions, reserved charges, preauthorizations, etc...) I know you can do some of those things with Stripe too, but not all. And your newer product has the amazing feature of being taxed on another country and then deal with double taxation schemes and all the fiscal issues that come attached?

No thanks Stripe, you've lost your cool.

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