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Stripe migrates Stripe Subscriptions users to more expensive Stripe Billing

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Re: Stripe migrates Stripe Subscriptions users to more expensive Stripe Billing

#141

Post by toomuchtodo »

weego wrote: post #132
edwinwee wrote: post #29

Edwin from Stripe here. It’s worth distinguishing between charging money on Stripe (for which you incur payments pricing) and using Stripe Billing (which is a separately-paid product). Stripe Billing has had this pricing for a few years. For some longtime users of Subscriptions, we originally didn’t change their pricing but are doing so now. We think charging a separate fee for our Billing product is fair, given comp…

We think charging a separate fee for our Billing product is fair, given comparable products in the market (say, Recurly or Chargebee) charge something similar. Copying what other people in the market are doing is the antithesis of what made Stripe so important when it first launched.

Processing margins are thin and they have a valuation ($36B) to justify, so they have to grow product margins where they can ("going upmarket"). Market realities/constraints.

Re: Stripe migrates Stripe Subscriptions users to more expensive Stripe Billing

#142

Post by Cieplak »

TAForObvReasons wrote: post #113
dawnerd wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there anyone left that refunds fees? Paypal stopped last year and AFAIK all of the other processors also keep the fee.

Amazon payments apparently does: https://pay.amazon.com/help/201212280 > If a refund takes place, you will also be refunded the following transaction fees: > - The domestic processing fee (for example, the 2.9% fee) > - The cross-border processing fee (for example, the 3.9% fee) > Note that the Authorization fee and Disputed chargeback fee are non-refundable. So it looks like Amazon Payments holds onto the 30 cents b…

> but for a $100 domestic charge Amazon's 30 cents is much less than the $29.30 that Stripe pockets

Is this true?

Re: Stripe migrates Stripe Subscriptions users to more expensive Stripe Billing

#143

Post by ddispaltro »

TAForObvReasons wrote: post #113
dawnerd wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there anyone left that refunds fees? Paypal stopped last year and AFAIK all of the other processors also keep the fee.

Amazon payments apparently does: https://pay.amazon.com/help/201212280 > If a refund takes place, you will also be refunded the following transaction fees: > - The domestic processing fee (for example, the 2.9% fee) > - The cross-border processing fee (for example, the 3.9% fee) > Note that the Authorization fee and Disputed chargeback fee are non-refundable. So it looks like Amazon Payments holds onto the 30 cents b…

$2.90 + $0.30, you mean?

Re: Stripe migrates Stripe Subscriptions users to more expensive Stripe Billing

#144

Post by onassar »

edwinwee wrote: post #71
onassar wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's because Stripe has for a long time branded themselves as being priced simply. Reading that there is a price increase, I think, warrants a noticeable reaction, since it could mean a new 0.5% cost for every business relying on them. That can be a lot of money for some people, and in general, I'm a bit disappointed that I found out about the Billing product increase through HN. I would have expected to get…

The changes would absolutley not go into effect today—they would start next year, January 15, 2021.

Thanks for the clarification on the date of prices going up

Re: Stripe migrates Stripe Subscriptions users to more expensive Stripe Billing

#145

Post by thebean11 »

TAForObvReasons wrote: post #113
dawnerd wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there anyone left that refunds fees? Paypal stopped last year and AFAIK all of the other processors also keep the fee.

Amazon payments apparently does: https://pay.amazon.com/help/201212280 > If a refund takes place, you will also be refunded the following transaction fees: > - The domestic processing fee (for example, the 2.9% fee) > - The cross-border processing fee (for example, the 3.9% fee) > Note that the Authorization fee and Disputed chargeback fee are non-refundable. So it looks like Amazon Payments holds onto the 30 cents b…

> $29.30

God I hope the decimal is just in the wrong place there

Re: Stripe migrates Stripe Subscriptions users to more expensive Stripe Billing

#146

Post by merlinbeard »

dang wrote: post #116

I've changed the title from "Stripe is now charging 0.5% more for recurring charges", which apparently is misleading, to one that is, though clunky, apparently accurate. If anyone can suggest a better title—that is, accurate and neutral, and preferably with less clunk—we can change it again.

The original title was way more accurate. That is the essence of the change, and the reason why people are so unhappy.

Re: Stripe migrates Stripe Subscriptions users to more expensive Stripe Billing

#147

Post by Alupis »

edwinwee wrote: post #137
larrik wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Stripe Checkout with Fraud detection - which requires you to use their hosted checkout page Does it? In my experience you can just use their Hosted Fields which are actually really great.

You don't have to use Checkout for Stripe's fraud detection, which supports several types of integrations: https://stripe.com/docs/radar/checklist .

I guess the point was, that "feature" was the only value-add we cared about, but not enough to pay thousands more per year for effectively the same service - accepting credit card payments.

Your sales team walked away from the negotiations after a while because we weren't willing to pay significantly more just to have the brand "Stripe" be part of our business. It really was a "but, but, we're Stripe! AI! Why don't you just agree to the terms? AI!!! Did we tell you about the AI!?!?!".

I suppose it was Stripe's loss in the end... and I imagine we're not the only company that had this experience.

I have the impression Stripe's "bread and butter" are small-time shops (partnered with Shopify where 99% of sites generate < $1MM annual), hobbyists, and similar smaller operations that either can't negotiate better rates due to low volume, or don't know they can negotiate better rates due to high volume. Nothing is wrong with that - it just means Stripe isn't a good fit for companies with significant volume.

Re: Stripe migrates Stripe Subscriptions users to more expensive Stripe Billing

#149

Post by pc »

cabalos wrote: post #140
pc wrote: post #93

(Stripe cofounder.) Hi folks -- as Edwin points out elsewhere in the thread, the article title isn't accurate. (I'll update or delete my comment if it's fixed.) [Update: it was changed. It used to read "Stripe is now charging 0.5% more for recurring charges."] You can happily make recurring charges yourself and no additional fees are incurred. Lots of Stripe customers do this and we don't charge anything extra for it…

I feel that spinning this as a several-year grace period is a bit disingenuous. I'm a huge Stripe fan, but this is leaving a bad taste in my mouth. Here's the exact notification that went out on April 6, 2018 in the dashboard: "As a user of Stripe Subscriptions, you will get all the functionality of Stripe Billing's starter plan with no change in price. You can continue using it free of charge on your existing Stripe…

You're right. It would have been a lot better if we'd made explicit that we weren't intending to make a permanent commitment. This is good feedback for the next time we do something like this.

(Our actual thinking was that we'd iterate on the product for a few years until we were confident it was good and worth paying for -- with both large and small companies using and paying for it -- and then revisit.)

Re: Stripe migrates Stripe Subscriptions users to more expensive Stripe Billing

#150

Post by onassar »

pc wrote: post #93

(Stripe cofounder.) Hi folks -- as Edwin points out elsewhere in the thread, the article title isn't accurate. (I'll update or delete my comment if it's fixed.) [Update: it was changed. It used to read "Stripe is now charging 0.5% more for recurring charges."] You can happily make recurring charges yourself and no additional fees are incurred. Lots of Stripe customers do this and we don't charge anything extra for it…

Can you clarify on the term "migrates" in the new title? If we use Stripe Subscriptions, do we need to migrate our system to the new Billing product?
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