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Ask HN: How does onlyfans.com work around the “no porn” Stripe rule?

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Re: Ask HN: How does onlyfans.com work around the “no porn” Stripe rule?

#71

Post by justinholmes »

pottertheotter wrote: post #64
capableweb wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> How do you find out what payment processor(s) a given site uses? I'm a developer so looking at what kind of request the application is doing when interacting with anything involving payments. In the case of OnlyFans it was easy as they make direct requests to Stripe. In other cases, I've looked at the data structures stored in the current page by using the JS console and compare it to the API docs of various paymen…

I'm not a web developer but I always assumed that happened on the backend, so it wouldn't be visible. I guess not?

Most websites can't/shouldn't store the card number, they embed Stripe JavaScript that sends card number to Stripe and get a token id to use on the backend later on. Can't store CCV or number without passing PCI compliance.

Re: Ask HN: How does onlyfans.com work around the “no porn” Stripe rule?

#72

Post by gruez »

us0r wrote: post #51
preinheimer wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

+1 to the rules coming down from Visa & MC. Amex doesn't allow adult. There's a bit more nuance there, as the rules actually come from the bank issuing your merchant account, rather than some master "Visa" entity. So if you're a big player in the adult game you're going to work to find the right banks willing to issue you merchant accounts. Those banks will also have a compliance department which will look at your co…

Visa is absolutely a master entity that dictates nearly everything including consumer credit reporting requirements and minimum credit lines. They publish an 886 page "public" version which is actually kind of an interesting read: https://usa.visa.com/dam/VCOM/download/about-visa/visa-rules...

> They publish an 886 page "public" version which is actually kind of an interesting read:

yet a search for "adult" only yield one result, and it's in the context of a card for minors.

Re: Ask HN: How does onlyfans.com work around the “no porn” Stripe rule?

#73

Post by larrik »

edwinwee wrote: post #57
larrik wrote: post #48

That's a good question, since Stripe backed out at the VERY last minute for a customer of mine who sells alcohol over the internet, despite repeated assurances it would be fine.

Stripe can typically support alcohol businesses (assuming they hold the appropriate licenses). Could you get in touch at edwin@stripe.com and we can take another look?

This was quite a few years ago, and it'd likely be hard to make a case to switch back.

Re: Ask HN: How does onlyfans.com work around the “no porn” Stripe rule?

#74

Post by saagarjha »

soylentcola wrote: post #63
saagarjha wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do they not ask for a CVV or any other verification?

We did something surprisingly similar once as stupid kids/teens and it was in the days before CVV. Just touch tone to enter a card number (although we did this little experiment from a payphone using a 1-800 (toll free) sex line). Typically, you entered a card number after some initial "pitch". AFAIK, 1-900 numbers only worked by billing you on your phone bill.

Guess I'm showing my youth, because I've never seen a credit card be used without a CVV. And I think that's a poor security model…

Re: Ask HN: How does onlyfans.com work around the “no porn” Stripe rule?

#75

Post by Exuma »

techsin101 wrote: post #65
mrdumas wrote: post #56

Since, I know a friend in this industry, let me explain what's going on here. Yes, OnlyFans uses Stripe, but that's not the entire story. In the adult/porn world, there's a high amount of chargebacks and fraud relative to low-risk industries like SaaS software. If you pass a certain chargeback threshold in the adult industry, your account is terminated, and no payment processor will do business with you. To reduce th…

loading across multiple providers won't alter the chargeback ratio so what is the point?

Because MIDs also look at the total # of chargebacks and will do a manual flag review of your account, so they don't just look at the % ratio but also total number.

Re: Ask HN: How does onlyfans.com work around the “no porn” Stripe rule?

#76

Post by tzs »

justinholmes wrote: post #71
pottertheotter wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not a web developer but I always assumed that happened on the backend, so it wouldn't be visible. I guess not?

Most websites can't/shouldn't store the card number, they embed Stripe JavaScript that sends card number to Stripe and get a token id to use on the backend later on. Can't store CCV or number without passing PCI compliance.

For the CVV you can't store it even if you have passed PCI compliance. You are only allowed to collect it for a specific transaction, and are required to forget it when that transaction is complete.

Re: Ask HN: How does onlyfans.com work around the “no porn” Stripe rule?

#77

Post by preinheimer »

gruez wrote: post #72
us0r wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Visa is absolutely a master entity that dictates nearly everything including consumer credit reporting requirements and minimum credit lines. They publish an 886 page "public" version which is actually kind of an interesting read: https://usa.visa.com/dam/VCOM/download/about-visa/visa-rules...

> They publish an 886 page "public" version which is actually kind of an interesting read: yet a search for "adult" only yield one result, and it's in the context of a card for minors.

and as with all things, interpretation is key.

Re: Ask HN: How does onlyfans.com work around the “no porn” Stripe rule?

#78

Post by nasalgoat »

techsin101 wrote: post #65
mrdumas wrote: post #56

Since, I know a friend in this industry, let me explain what's going on here. Yes, OnlyFans uses Stripe, but that's not the entire story. In the adult/porn world, there's a high amount of chargebacks and fraud relative to low-risk industries like SaaS software. If you pass a certain chargeback threshold in the adult industry, your account is terminated, and no payment processor will do business with you. To reduce th…

loading across multiple providers won't alter the chargeback ratio so what is the point?

It spreads the chargebacks across multiple processors, who don't talk to each other so don't know about the chargebacks on the other processors.

Re: Ask HN: How does onlyfans.com work around the “no porn” Stripe rule?

#79

Post by PeterisP »

techsin101 wrote: post #65
mrdumas wrote: post #56

Since, I know a friend in this industry, let me explain what's going on here. Yes, OnlyFans uses Stripe, but that's not the entire story. In the adult/porn world, there's a high amount of chargebacks and fraud relative to low-risk industries like SaaS software. If you pass a certain chargeback threshold in the adult industry, your account is terminated, and no payment processor will do business with you. To reduce th…

loading across multiple providers won't alter the chargeback ratio so what is the point?

You can direct most of the payments towards the cheap-but-prudish processors, and the really adult stuff towards a processor that accepts almost anything but is more expensive.

Re: Ask HN: How does onlyfans.com work around the “no porn” Stripe rule?

#80

Post by vehementi »

nasalgoat wrote: post #78
techsin101 wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

loading across multiple providers won't alter the chargeback ratio so what is the point?

It spreads the chargebacks across multiple processors, who don't talk to each other so don't know about the chargebacks on the other processors.

That still does not affect the ratio
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