Pin is Australia’s first all-in-one payment API • Hacker News Board

Re: Pin is Australia’s first all-in-one payment API

#61

Post by grecy » Thu, Jun 07, 2012, 9:13 PM UTC

10dpd wrote: post #47

Can someone explain why a separate payment system is needed for Australian developers? My nieve understanding is that credit cards are global from a consumer perspective (i.e. a credit card will work in any country in the world). Are things different from a developer perpective? If so, why?

> My nieve understanding is that credit cards are global from a consumer perspective (i.e. a credit card will work in any country in the world).

As someone who has credit cards from 3 different countries, I can tell you that's very wrong. I'd like to think my CC works anywhere, but oftentimes when they ask for a ZIP and I don't have one, that's a deal breaker. Sometimes when the person sees the card is from another country (name of country is in the bank name) they refuse to use it, even when it matches my accent and driver's license.

Also it would have been nice if VISA had a global "credit rating" instead of a separate one for each country. Unfortunately, I now have zero credit in my new country, which is painful when I have amazing credit in my previous country. (all VISA cards)

Re: Pin is Australia’s first all-in-one payment API

#62

Post by steveh73 » Thu, Jun 07, 2012, 9:30 PM UTC

Great! Do you plan an having a hosted payment page ala DPS or PayPal though? I'd much prefer never seeing my customers credit card number at all.

Also please let me know if you're planning on adding support for NZ too, the situation for accepting payments here is just as dire.

Re: Pin is Australia’s first all-in-one payment API

#63

Post by steveh73 » Thu, Jun 07, 2012, 9:38 PM UTC

veb wrote: post #57

PostOnce wrote: post #24

What are the fees? Does it work in New Zealand?

+1 there's absolutely no reason why they cannot get it working for New Zealand -- considering most of our banks are actually owned by Australians, and typically use the same systems!

I'm not sure on the backend, but they don't seem to on the frontend - CBA and ASB's web interfaces are very very different, at least.

Re: Pin is Australia’s first all-in-one payment API

#64

Post by noveltyaccount » Thu, Jun 07, 2012, 9:39 PM UTC

mattmanser wrote: post #22

Something sticks out like a sore thumb in that API. Where's the param signing with a secret key?

I was thinking about this too--what access does that API key give someone? Even if it's just to charge a card, it's a risk since it can be used by bad people to validate stolen credit cards.

Either I put my secret key in the javascript and initiate the request in the browser (thus leaking my secret key), or I accept the inputs onto my server and forward the request to Pin, thus increasing PCI compliance burden because now sensitive data is passing through my server.

I'd like this more if it functioned closer to Braintree's transparent redirect. https://www.braintreepayments.com/developers/api-overview No sensitive data ever touches my servers (customer's POST goes to Braintree, and then they redirect to my server with a query string token that I use to validate the tx with Braintree).

Re: Pin is Australia’s first all-in-one payment API

#65

Post by steveh73 » Thu, Jun 07, 2012, 9:50 PM UTC

oceanic wrote: post #35

ishi wrote: post #8

I really wish there was something like this that worked globally, other than PayPal.

The major problem with financial transactions is that each country (or I guess, _most_ countries) have different laws regarding banking, fiduciary responsibility etc. Paypal/Amazon/GCheckout work globally because they use CC and charge handsomely for the privilege. Companies like Pin, Stripe and Dwolla are trying to cut out the idea of merchant accounts (which create the major hassle for a lot of small practitioners)…

Amazon and Google Checkout don't work globally (for sellers)

Re: Pin is Australia’s first all-in-one payment API

#66

Post by zizee » Thu, Jun 07, 2012, 9:55 PM UTC

Awesome news. Like many Australian devs I have been feeling a distinct lack of love from other payment solutions. And now I see in a comment above that braintree is on its was as well.

Who knows, maybe VCs will start investing in Aussie based startup as well?

Re: Pin is Australia’s first all-in-one payment API

#67

Post by mvboeke » Thu, Jun 07, 2012, 10:36 PM UTC

boundlessdreamz wrote: post #41

mvboeke wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would be curious to know why you think this looks more promising than Braintree. Disclosure: I work at Braintree. I'm not trying to shill here - I'm genuinely curious about how people think about our stuff vs. other payments companies.

Kinda offtopic: But since you work at braintree, please have a look at my comment http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4069105

I responded to the original thread.

Re: Pin is Australia’s first all-in-one payment API

#68

Post by djtidau » Thu, Jun 07, 2012, 11:31 PM UTC

mvboeke wrote: post #37

djtidau wrote: post #11

I can't tell you how happy I am to see this. I was excited to hear about Braintree expanding to Australia a couple of days ago, but this is much more promising. Do you have plans to incorporate recurring charges as well? I've added myself to the invite list.

I would be curious to know why you think this looks more promising than Braintree. Disclosure: I work at Braintree. I'm not trying to shill here - I'm genuinely curious about how people think about our stuff vs. other payments companies.

Mostly on my end it is because it is because they are a new player in the game and need to make an impact (be it via lower pricing or other value-added means) and also because they are an Australian company. I'm also hoping that this will bring a little more competition to this space in our country as it has been stagnant for quite some time.

In saying that, 'more promising' was probably a poor choice of words and I am not discounting Braintree at all. As an early stage startup your pricing took me back a little but not enough to sway me away. I have signed up to your mailing list to be made aware of when you guys launch here and am also looking forward to checking out your offering.

Thanks for the interest. It is always good to see companies provide a presence on these forums and certainly accentuates your products to me.

Re: Pin is Australia’s first all-in-one payment API

#69

Post by toast76 » Fri, Jun 08, 2012, 12:06 AM UTC

jusben1369 wrote: post #53

cynix wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

None of the other services you listed have a monthly fee. But I guess we Australians should be used to being ripped off by now.

"But I guess we Australians should be used to being ripped off by now" With such a "dog beaten" attitude I'd say it's self fulfilling. Perhaps wait to see what those fees are, relative to your other options in Australia, before drawing such a depressing conclusion?

$50/mth and 3% + 50c per transaction

Re: Pin is Australia’s first all-in-one payment API

#70

Post by davidlumley » Fri, Jun 08, 2012, 12:07 AM UTC

cynix wrote: post #29

treelovinhippie wrote: post #14

OMFG THANKYOU!!! We've been ridiculously disadvantaged with no Stripe, Dwolla, WePay, Square etc. So many startups have been launched and funded (in the states) that were possible primarily due to Stripe integration. Not much of a choice here other than PayPal.

None of the other services you listed have a monthly fee. But I guess we Australians should be used to being ripped off by now.

I'm very interested to understand why they have a monthly fee - surely having an easy to implement payment API would mean AU developers flock to it given our lacklustre other choices?