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Taking payments online in Europe in 2013

jamesmaskell.co.uk

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Re: Taking payments online in Europe in 2013

#111

Post by jmaskell »

steve8918 wrote: post #110
jmaskell wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There were two big problems with the banks: 1. A number of wine investment companies took card payments but never bought the wine. So the bank was liable for the money lost in those situations - and as a result that put a blanket ban on all fine wine companies. We were able to talk Barclays around on this. 2. Storage of wine would be handled by a third party warehouse. If they screwed anything up (e.g. broke the case…

2) If you're talking about chargebacks, it would be YOU that the buyers would be charging back the money from, not the warehouse, since you were the merchant that accepted the payment. And am I right in that you are basically saying that the buyers take on all risk of storage at the warehouse facility? If so, you should probably outline that as well, including what the insurance policy of the warehouse, covers, etc.

I should have been more accurate - the bank would be liable if the customer charged back and couldn't reclaim the money from Vinetrade (e.g. we'd ceased trading).

There isn't huge risk for the buyers - all wine in the warehouses is insured at full replacement value. It's more of a hypothetical "what if" or worst case scenario.

Re: Taking payments online in Europe in 2013

#112

Post by jusben1369 »

mmahemoff wrote: post #94
buro9 wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been getting "soons" since November. I asked only a few days ago how soon is soon, to which no-one will actually answer. But the Stripe guy did say that he agreed that we shouldn't wait... go implement something else, and then they will help people move to them post-launch. So don't not launch something in the UK because you're waiting for Stripe. Launch with GoCardless, launch with PayMill, hell... launch with…

I'm thinking of using PayPal, but only for a one-off 1-year (or N-years) subscription payment, so there's no legacy to deal with once Stripe arrives, and a simpler integration. At the cost of losing some of those early subscribers later on.

At the risk of being repetitive check out Spreedlycore as another way to work with or switch between gateways as solutions you prefer become available. https://spreedlycore.com/

Re: Taking payments online in Europe in 2013

#113

Post by mmahemoff »

mmahemoff wrote: post #94
buro9 wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been getting "soons" since November. I asked only a few days ago how soon is soon, to which no-one will actually answer. But the Stripe guy did say that he agreed that we shouldn't wait... go implement something else, and then they will help people move to them post-launch. So don't not launch something in the UK because you're waiting for Stripe. Launch with GoCardless, launch with PayMill, hell... launch with…

I'm thinking of using PayPal, but only for a one-off 1-year (or N-years) subscription payment, so there's no legacy to deal with once Stripe arrives, and a simpler integration. At the cost of losing some of those early subscribers later on.

jusben, they don't seem to handle subscriptions.

Re: Taking payments online in Europe in 2013

#114

Post by stevoski »

jusben1369 wrote: post #103
stevoski wrote: post #74

Every time I see an article along these lines, I can't figure out why software startups don't just use a third-party payment processor like FastSpring or Avangate. It makes all these complications go away. Outsource anything you can, especially the things that others can do much better than you because it is their core business. Payment processing is definitely one of those things. I started my software company in Ge…

PayPal, PayMill, Braintree etc are all 3rd party payment processors. So I don't quite understand your distinction. I believe FastSpring may mean you avoid having to get a merchant account directly so perhaps that's the difference you see? The biggest objection I've heard is the 9% flat rate they take vs 3% and 30 cents per transaction that you'd roughly see from a payment processor.

The cost for a payment processor 3% and 30 cents per transaction PLUS the costs (time-related, development-related, support-related) to manage to obtain a merchant account, deal with VAT, fraud detection, a nice customer experience, and many other things. For startups you end up way ahead by NOT rolling your own solution to this and other problems.

Re: Taking payments online in Europe in 2013

#115

Post by slash-dot »

PanMan wrote: post #2

Anybody used Paymill yet? Their docs all look fairly straightforward, and I'm strongly considering them for a project, but I'm interested in the experience of others.

We will be using Paymill for our upcoming project. We haven't yet gone live, but the api was very easy to use and it seems to work very well. One downside for us is that they only accept Visas and Mastercards.

Re: Taking payments online in Europe in 2013

#116

Post by Strom »

mootothemax wrote: post #102
mrkmcknz wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So I sell a simple SaaS service and asked my accountant one question. Do I charge VAT. Here is his reply: " Vat rules You need to identify B2B and B2C UK, EC and outside EC customers. A vat registration number is usually accepted as evidence of B2B. 1 All sales outside the EC have no vat implications and are ‘outside the scope of vat’. 2 All sales to UK customers (B2B and B2C) have UK vat to apply to them and are sta…

All B2B sales to EC customers have no vat and are ‘outside the scope of UK vat’. Interesting. I was under the impression that EC B2B sales were zero-rated only for companies that are VAT-registered. This is why we grab and validate a VAT number for each EC company that we issue an invoice for. That said, God only knows how this might tie into the living hell which is Polish bureaucracy.

I'm quite sure it's exactly as you mentioned - the B2B payer needs to be VAT-registered. That's how it works in Estonia, anyway.

Re: Taking payments online in Europe in 2013

#117

Post by drcongo »

kristofferR wrote: post #70
nhangen wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because it's a company founded by the Samwer brothers. A simple Google search of that name will tell you all you need to know.

They're absolute masters of market research, delivery and execution. They don't rip off sites (i.e downloading the HTML and changing the logo) or anything unethical like that, they create real competitive businesses from scratch extremely fast without compromising the quality. Ideas aren't worth that much (the majority of their businesses are actually "old" ideas like ecommerce), execution and speed is what matters.…

Despite being the person who said I was loathe to use it, I agree with this to a degree. I feel icky about doing it, but right now they're the only people offering a sane solution in Europe, I respect them for bringing it to market here.

Re: Taking payments online in Europe in 2013

#119

Post by jbrooksuk »

GoCardless isn't supported by Shopify which is a big pain. Braintree does so I'm awaiting an email from them now so I can start to open my online shop.

I recently blogged[1] about the need for Stripe to come to Europe whilst the market is there. Until GoCardless, Braintree Payments start making the API just as good as Stripes, then the need for them to come here is here.

[1]. http://james.brooks.so/blog/stripe-in-europe/

Re: Taking payments online in Europe in 2013

#120

Post by gambiting »

return0 wrote: post #51

Unfortunately PayPal is pretty much an unregulated bank and there are a number of horror stories about them closing accounts, freezing funds and making life very difficult for entrepreneurs. Actually, in Europe, paypal IS a registered, regulated bank in Luxembourg. That, to me, makes it more credible.

No normal bank can hold your founds for 180 days for "review". If any bank in any EU country tried to do that, they could get sued to hell. Yet paypal can get away with it, but how? I don't know.
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