Earlier quoted context omitted.
current generation blockchain networks will absolutely have lower fees than traditional finance
No chance. This makes zero sense.
Er, it’s a fact. Anything post 2020 is a fraction of a cent.
Stripe acquires Lemon Squeezy
181–190 of 220 posts
Re: Stripe acquires Lemon Squeezy
#182Earlier quoted context omitted.
No chance. This makes zero sense.
Er, it’s a fact. Anything post 2020 is a fraction of a cent.
For exactly what? Show the lowest cost provider in "traditional finance" and the cost using some blockchain for an end to end transaction that someone actually wants to do. What you are going to find is that the underlying cost structure for a few updates to a few relational dbs is about zero. The fees paid for some transactions having are a result of using the most convenient method possible. With a little bit of elbow grease you will find very cheap providers of everything in traditional finance, they'll just be a little more annoying to use.
Re: Stripe acquires Lemon Squeezy
#183Earlier quoted context omitted.
Instead you should advocate for payment network neutrality. Visa and MasterCard should be required by US law not to discriminate against transactions, and enforcement should move from the private sector to, well, law enforcement. Like with ACH/FedNow. That might actually get us somewhere productive.
Terrible idea. Plus, banks aren't allowed to just close their eyes and allow all money movement via ACH.
Terrible idea on what basis? Why would it be bad to require all lawful transactions to be processed by an infrastructure provider?
Private toll roads don't get to discriminate against traffic. Internet providers don't get to discriminate against traffic. Why should payment network providers? Once you're big enough and important enough, you're quasi-state.
Re: Stripe acquires Lemon Squeezy
#184Earlier quoted context omitted.
The problem with the ostrich argument is always that it works until it doesn't. Governments have talked about more international cooperation on tax reporting and collection forever. One of these days they're going to start including serious measures for these things as a routine part of trade deals or other big agreements. They have increasingly easy targets as so many online sales now go through a relatively small n…
often problems that impact a small segment is blown out of proportion and this is a classic marketing strategy. throw in anonymous social media handles and boom you created the illusion a need for a problem you dont have or likely have but the reality is if you dont have 1M ARR from EU there really isn't enough on the table to matter. So you owe 1k in Hungary or UAE, they are not getting INTERPOL to bust down your do…
I don't consider failing to meet legal and tax obligations to be merely a "problem that impacts a small segment".
It's true that realistically SMEs have a degree of shielding from the consequences because there are plenty of large enterprises to go after first and they have bigger wallets for the tax man and his limited resources to chase.
But those enterprises also have armies of lawyers and accountants to defend themselves and the scale to treat any lost decisions and resulting penalties as just a cost of doing business. To a small business the cost of responding to a formal audit by the tax man alone can be a major expense and have a deep and long-lasting personal impact on the people running the business. Ask anyone in the UK who's been the wrong side of an IR35 investigation - even one they "won" after several years of fighting with HMRC.
As I said before - the trouble with the ostrich argument is that it works until it doesn't. The argument people are making against mine here is essentially that it's OK not to do your taxes if you can get away with it. If software engineers are excessively risk averse in this then maybe entrepreneurs are excessively risk tolerant. We probably never hear about the acquisition that never happened because of something that showed up in due diligence or the startup that never got that far because it did get bogged down in red tape when something went wrong and never recovered.
The real point here is that it's crazy that anyone even has to have this discussion. Governments should get their acts together and reach agreements where international trade below some reasonable de minimis threshold doesn't incur any international compliance or tax obligations at all and only businesses big enough to be turning over significant amounts of money in a particular area need to do anything special. There should be no need for merchant of record services to exist - at least not from the point of view of ensuring tax compliance for small businesses.
Re: Stripe acquires Lemon Squeezy
#185Earlier quoted context omitted.
> All you're doing is moving the risk from the business to the consumer No, most of the merchant's risk with credit cards is from the design of credit cards. You have to give your payment info to every merchant but if any one of them loses it then anyone who gets it can use it at any other merchant. Then some merchant you've never heard of has bad security, criminals get cards from there and use them to buy things fr…
> If you pay $3 for something and get ripped off, the ability to do a chargeback isn't that relevant to your life and you're just not going to patronize them anymore. That's true. How about if you're paying $3000? Would you like to pay with Bitcoin or a credit card?
If I'm getting a percentage discount for using Bitcoin so the merchant can avoid the credit card fees and I trust the merchant (or the applicable legal system)? The first one.
Notice also that the argument I'm making isn't "you should never use a credit card", it's that cryptocurrency is sometimes better, and it wouldn't hurt if more places accepted it.
Re: Stripe acquires Lemon Squeezy
#186Earlier quoted context omitted.
You can do Non-Union OSS as a US company as well. I’d say the most annoying thing about the EU is their minimum transaction to start filing is very low compared to US Nexus rules.
Why don't they then? I've been trying to tell US merchants they can literally get free EU customers by registering for IOSS and the most I've gotten is a shrug. Many of us are willing to pay for shipping and taxes up front just so their products don't get caught in the "free money for us" exploitation racket that is EU customs.
Which merchants and for what kind of product?
Re: Stripe acquires Lemon Squeezy
#187Earlier quoted context omitted.
Terrible idea. Plus, banks aren't allowed to just close their eyes and allow all money movement via ACH.
Terrible idea on what basis? Why would it be bad to require all lawful transactions to be processed by an infrastructure provider? Private toll roads don't get to discriminate against traffic. Internet providers don't get to discriminate against traffic. Why should payment network providers? Once you're big enough and important enough, you're quasi-state.
On the basis of allowing the people who built the companies to deal with customers they want to deal with, rather than be forced to deal with every type of scumbag on earth.
Toll roads change price based on type of vehicle and don't allow all types of vehicles. Discrimination.
In most jurisdictions internet providers absolutely discriminate on traffic to help resolve congestion, they are allowed to discriminate for VOIP under various circumstances. Discrimination.
Visa and Mastercard don't want a bunch of charge backs, some services are more prone to fraud than others, and they flat out don't want their brand associated with various things. Discrimination.
With few exceptions (race, gender etc etc), discrimination is a net good for the world. People should be allowed to decide who they want to do business with, socialize with etc.
Re: Stripe acquires Lemon Squeezy
#188Re: Stripe acquires Lemon Squeezy
#189Earlier quoted context omitted.
Stripe is selective about which cannabis ancillary businesses they work with. Selective/preferential usage of the TOS.
Just like any contract, every single possible circumstance cannot be enumerated and at some point a judgement call is required.
Two identical business models (software) should either both be supported or both be rejected. They are pretty clearly playing favourites with their VC funded friends.
Re: Stripe acquires Lemon Squeezy
#190Earlier quoted context omitted.
Terrible idea on what basis? Why would it be bad to require all lawful transactions to be processed by an infrastructure provider? Private toll roads don't get to discriminate against traffic. Internet providers don't get to discriminate against traffic. Why should payment network providers? Once you're big enough and important enough, you're quasi-state.
On the basis of allowing the people who built the companies to deal with customers they want to deal with, rather than be forced to deal with every type of scumbag on earth. Toll roads change price based on type of vehicle and don't allow all types of vehicles. Discrimination. In most jurisdictions internet providers absolutely discriminate on traffic to help resolve congestion, they are allowed to discriminate for V…
> Toll roads change price based on type of vehicle and don't allow all types of vehicles. Discrimination.
I suspect they can't capriciously tell you that you're not allowed on the road because they don't want to associate with you, as you are a "scumbag."