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Ask HN: What are some low cost payment processing alternatives to Stripe?

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Re: Ask HN: What are some low cost payment processing alternatives to Stripe?

#81

Post by notwhereyouare »

NavyG wrote: post #76
notwhereyouare wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve used stax in the past. It is cheaper than stripe, but you’re also paying a monthly fee. In our case, it was $120 a month for a physical terminal in the office. I don’t know what the differences are for API transactions. It wasn’t something we were doing. We are now with mxmerchant and they are okay? I’ve never seen a credit card merchant go down and not take transactions, but in the 1.5 years we’ve used them, th…

Interesting, have you also tried online payments (card not present) with them? If so how is the reliability in that case?

We didn’t. I spent like 30 minutes investigating and then we didn’t go that route with them.

Nothing against them, just went a different route

Re: Ask HN: What are some low cost payment processing alternatives to Stripe?

#82

Post by carlosjobim »

withinboredom wrote: post #48
Roark66 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly, and it works well. Unfortunately as a customer you don't have the level of protection with these services a CC or a specialised top up "virtual" debit card has. Charge backs etc. It's one of the reasons why these alternative payment methods are a lot less risky to process and therefore cheaper for the merchants. So it makes me wonder why global companies like Google are so "credit card" centric. For example.…

> Unfortunately as a customer you don't have the level of protection with these services a CC or a specialised top up "virtual" debit card has. Generally, you'd have to have your bank account hacked to have a reason to reverse a charge on these types of systems. It happens, but very, very rarely and the banks have a lot of reasons to make sure it doesn't happen. That or you gave money to a scammer and that's your own…

You perfectly illustrated why credit cards are better for customers. There is fraud protection, which you don't have with other payment methods.

Bank transfers and other direct methods are only an advantage for the seller and gives no advantage to the customer. That's why businesses that don't accept credit cards lose customers.

> You can't do that with credit cards.

Yes, you can. Stripe has same-day payouts, as do many more.

Re: Ask HN: What are some low cost payment processing alternatives to Stripe?

#83

Post by dubcanada »

NavyG wrote: post #78
dubcanada wrote: post #60

Have you considered going to one of the archaic platforms and getting a proper merchant account? Moneris, banks (Chase, Wells Fargo), etc? Pretty much all of them will probably offer better support (a customer support line) and cheaper transaction fee. You lose the developer friendliness, so you'll have to debate if that matters to you. To me it never did. Or you could take a look at stax https://staxpayments.com/

Yess I am willing to trade off developer friendliness. Have you personally used stax or any of these archaic platforms?

I have used Moneris, and one provided by Costco and a bank before. They are all terrible SOAP garbage, but they work. I cannot recommend any for the US market as I am Canadian, maybe others have suggestions?

Re: Ask HN: What are some low cost payment processing alternatives to Stripe?

#84

Post by davetron5000 »

cj wrote: post #43
buf wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been using braintree for 9 years on one of my projects, and while it does "work", there doesn't seem to be much innovation happening, sadly. I use them for their direct integration with paypal, who owns them

What features are missing? In contrast, I almost feel like Stripe is innovating too much. I wish they stopped product development, no more redesigns, no more API breaking changes, it already "just works" so why rewrite and "improve" everything endlessly.

Their engineers need promotions so how else can they get them?

Re: Ask HN: What are some low cost payment processing alternatives to Stripe?

#85

Post by davetron5000 »

bibosj wrote: post #46

Full disclosure, I work for Stripe. The question you want to ask is why are these alternatives cheaper than Stripe? What is the tradeoff.

I dunno, the OP may want to work with a processor that provides transparent and clear customer service.

Re: Ask HN: What are some low cost payment processing alternatives to Stripe?

#86

Post by withinboredom »

carlosjobim wrote: post #82
withinboredom wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Unfortunately as a customer you don't have the level of protection with these services a CC or a specialised top up "virtual" debit card has. Generally, you'd have to have your bank account hacked to have a reason to reverse a charge on these types of systems. It happens, but very, very rarely and the banks have a lot of reasons to make sure it doesn't happen. That or you gave money to a scammer and that's your own…

You perfectly illustrated why credit cards are better for customers. There is fraud protection, which you don't have with other payment methods. Bank transfers and other direct methods are only an advantage for the seller and gives no advantage to the customer. That's why businesses that don't accept credit cards lose customers. > You can't do that with credit cards. Yes, you can. Stripe has same-day payouts, as do m…

Hmm. I think we are talking past each other. There isn’t a need for fraud protection because people can’t get access to your bank account. Bank accounts where I am aren’t like they are in the US.

Every time I login I have to verify my identity (or use faceid on my phone). The bank account is basically unhackable without my physical presence.

Thus using something like ideal, there’s no need for fraud protection because it makes damn sure it’s you and asks like 4 times that you are sure.

Re: Ask HN: What are some low cost payment processing alternatives to Stripe?

#87

Post by withinboredom »

packagethieves wrote: post #54
withinboredom wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Unfortunately as a customer you don't have the level of protection with these services a CC or a specialised top up "virtual" debit card has. Generally, you'd have to have your bank account hacked to have a reason to reverse a charge on these types of systems. It happens, but very, very rarely and the banks have a lot of reasons to make sure it doesn't happen. That or you gave money to a scammer and that's your own…

> That or you gave money to a scammer and that's your own fault (but they'll still help you). Is it really that merchant-friendly / anti-consumer? I have used chargebacks when merchants fail to deliver as promised, even when most people wouldn’t call them “some scammer”. For instance recently a package was shipped that didn’t include one of many items. I asked for a refund, they claimed it was in the package. No worr…

So you’re one of those people. I refuse to do business with people who do chargebacks without reason. I wish there was a list of them.

Re: Ask HN: What are some low cost payment processing alternatives to Stripe?

#88

Post by carlosjobim »

withinboredom wrote: post #86
carlosjobim wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You perfectly illustrated why credit cards are better for customers. There is fraud protection, which you don't have with other payment methods. Bank transfers and other direct methods are only an advantage for the seller and gives no advantage to the customer. That's why businesses that don't accept credit cards lose customers. > You can't do that with credit cards. Yes, you can. Stripe has same-day payouts, as do m…

Hmm. I think we are talking past each other. There isn’t a need for fraud protection because people can’t get access to your bank account. Bank accounts where I am aren’t like they are in the US. Every time I login I have to verify my identity (or use faceid on my phone). The bank account is basically unhackable without my physical presence. Thus using something like ideal, there’s no need for fraud protection becaus…

Yes, we're talking past each other. What credit card fraud protection means is that if you purchased something and didn't receive your product, or didn't receive the product as specified, you will get your money back from the credit card company. If you purchase something with a bank transfer and you didn't receive the product you can call the bank, but they won't give you your money back. With credit cards you have some protection against being scammed.

Re: Ask HN: What are some low cost payment processing alternatives to Stripe?

#89

Post by withinboredom »

carlosjobim wrote: post #88
withinboredom wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmm. I think we are talking past each other. There isn’t a need for fraud protection because people can’t get access to your bank account. Bank accounts where I am aren’t like they are in the US. Every time I login I have to verify my identity (or use faceid on my phone). The bank account is basically unhackable without my physical presence. Thus using something like ideal, there’s no need for fraud protection becaus…

Yes, we're talking past each other. What credit card fraud protection means is that if you purchased something and didn't receive your product, or didn't receive the product as specified, you will get your money back from the credit card company. If you purchase something with a bank transfer and you didn't receive the product you can call the bank, but they won't give you your money back. With credit cards you have…

Ah. That makes sense. Yeah, bank transfers aren’t really protected from that use case. Usually you just contact the merchant and have them refund you. I’ve never used a chargeback.

Re: Ask HN: What are some low cost payment processing alternatives to Stripe?

#90

Post by khemdhaliwal »

mbStavola wrote: post #73
khemdhaliwal wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey mbStavola, Khem from the Paddle team here. We see quite a few sites switch over from Stripe Tax - offloading tax (including the filing) is our core competency (rather than bundling loads of tools together) and we'd charge per transaction for everything to save you paying unnecessary fees. Happy to chat if you'd like to learn more :)

I'd absolutely love to switch to Paddle, the product seems great. Unfortunately, my business is a marketplace which I don't believe Paddle supports. Happy to be wrong on that though! Are there any plans to have a marketplace offering?

Unfortunately not sadly - we'd love to but the tax categories prevent us from working with any site where the products aren't yours. This is because it takes on all the tax liability.

Stripe are awesome for that (can appreciate the costs stack up internationally though). At your avg transaction size I'm not sure I'd know anything cheaper that's worth the extra work.

Best of Luck!

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