It’s interesting that most are taking the Reddit post at face value, even though if the transaction were by a fraudster, the fraudster would probably have no compunction about lying on the internet.
TIFU by using Stripe as a payment processor for my small business
321–330 of 461 posts
Re: TIFU by using Stripe as a payment processor for my small business
#322(I work for Stripe, and since many of my colleagues are currently sleeping, taking the liberty of saying this on their behalf.) We are looking into things. As someone who ran businesses for a long time myself, it would be very alarming to me if customers felt they were being ignored while repeatedly talking to people who work for us. If that ever happens, please bring in literally anyone at Stripe, inclusive of other…
> Our email addresses are often available through a quick search of HN Your customer service strategy is really "go to a small internet forum that only some startup nerds know about and find my email address"?
I doubt it's the general strategy. Patrick might be assuming that frequenters of HN are less likely to be bad actors and people that legitimately are slipping through the cracks.
Re: TIFU by using Stripe as a payment processor for my small business
#323Earlier quoted context omitted.
Also: Stripe publicly emphasized the possibility that their customer might be a dirty rotten liar. I feel it is only fair to point out that Stripe might be a dirty rotten liar, too.
It turns out the poster did, in fact, omit extremely material info from their original post. They sold a used company van via credit card via their stripe account: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32264886 This is not something the business sells, and a huge chargeback risk
Isn't the obviously correct behavior by Stripe to suspend that transaction, without interrupting others? Clearly they are able to identify transactions on a case-by-case basis.
Re: TIFU by using Stripe as a payment processor for my small business
#324Earlier quoted context omitted.
Without taking away from your point, deep in the Reddit comments the OP states Stripe put a hold on the account after billing the sale of a literal company truck through Stripe and not via selling their normal store merchandise. https://reddit.com/r/smallbusiness/comments/wa1zob/_/ihyq7tl... As usual, there’s always an undisclosed fact that changes the narrative and explains the ban. Whether this should trigger Strip…
Maybe there's more to the story, but executing transactions which do not conform to Stripe's fraud detection model is not an offense that should be punished.
no the entire store account should not be blocked, at least not for a first offense, but I could understand that the transaction is blocked, and that it might that quite some time to figure out what is going on
Re: TIFU by using Stripe as a payment processor for my small business
#325Earlier quoted context omitted.
Pasted below: TIFU by using Stripe as a payment processor for my small business. I used Stripe for about a year to run a small cell phone store in Denver, CO area. In the case of my business, I never had an issue processing my small payments for cell phones, ranging from a couple hundred dollars up to $1000. All of a sudden, we run a charge for $3300 because our primary processor in my business was down, and we had a…
At first glance thought this was a case of a zealous flagging system but upon careful re-reading, I realize this doesn't seem to be an isolated case meaning this guy isn't the only one that had this happen. Which makes me question just how credible Stripe's market valuation is. It's far likely that as we exit the era of cheap capital and expensive debt, the dominoes have begun to fall and companies are doing everythi…
>Any other payment processor that pulls this will immediately be sued, so why are they risking this knowing that TOS isnt the law?
What are you talking about? PayPal has been doing this, and worse, for a little over 20 years and has a $100B valuation on the public markets.
Re: TIFU by using Stripe as a payment processor for my small business
#326The OP later clarified that it wasn't a normal transaction. They sold a "cheap company van" using their stripe business account. That seems like a huge liability, since a used car seems extremely likely to cause a chargeback. I don't think dealerships would accept a credit card payment (other than deposit) for this reason. https://www.reddit.com/r/smallbusiness/comments/wa1zob/dont_...
A paper-titled transaction seems like it should have one of the lowest chargeback risks. A copy of the purchase and sale specifying "as-is", plus signed title should be pretty clear cut evidence against a chargeback.
It's also not terribly surprising that someone who develops familiarity with one tool will then apply that tool to new situations. The main problem here is the ever-growing financial censorship regime / decommodification push that insists companies should be prying into their customers' business.
Re: TIFU by using Stripe as a payment processor for my small business
#327Earlier quoted context omitted.
At first glance thought this was a case of a zealous flagging system but upon careful re-reading, I realize this doesn't seem to be an isolated case meaning this guy isn't the only one that had this happen. Which makes me question just how credible Stripe's market valuation is. It's far likely that as we exit the era of cheap capital and expensive debt, the dominoes have begun to fall and companies are doing everythi…
> Any other payment processor that pulls this will immediately be sued, so why are they risking this knowing that TOS isnt the law? What are you talking about? PayPal has been doing this, and worse, for a little over 20 years and has a $100B valuation on the public markets.
What do you think I'm talking about?
That didn't stop them getting sued. Up to certain amounts Paypal/any US processor, whill automatically forfeit in small claims court.
So what OP could do is sue Stripe in their civil small claims court and Stripe won't bother sending a lawyer out as doing so would be expensive.
Up to about $10k this should be possible. I've had many success by taking shady companies that screwed me to small claims and won by simply counting on them not showing up.
Re: TIFU by using Stripe as a payment processor for my small business
#328Re: TIFU by using Stripe as a payment processor for my small business
#329Earlier quoted context omitted.
It turns out the poster did, in fact, omit extremely material info from their original post. They sold a used company van via credit card via their stripe account: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32264886 This is not something the business sells, and a huge chargeback risk
Isn't the obviously correct behavior by Stripe to suspend that transaction, without interrupting others? Clearly they are able to identify transactions on a case-by-case basis.
I read their account. They only complain of Stripe holding "the" money, from the car. Did they say Stripe locked their account or did any other restrictions?
https://www.reddit.com/r/smallbusiness/comments/wa1zob/dont_...
I read a few of their comments their complain seems to be about the $3000 and needing to wait 120 days to get it.
They also say you can't call, but at least for me I'm able to call Stripe here: https://support.stripe.com/?contact=true
Re: TIFU by using Stripe as a payment processor for my small business
#330If it was, say, a $30000 charge I could give Stripe the benefit of doubt, but $3300 is a pretty ordinary amount for any retailer. Could be e.g. a laptop sale, or three phones? When I see Stripe's apology here it will not be enough for me - not at least without a detailed blog post / postmortem. Until/if that moment happens, I'll regard Stripe as an untrustworthy entity and will recommend doing the same to do anyone I…
> When I see Stripe's apology here it will not be enough for me I'm actually just starting a business using Stripe for handling payments, and this makes me very concerned. Is there an alternative service one could use? Is there a way not to give these shady companies power to steal all my money?
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