MasterCard's Simplify Commerce • Hacker News Board

greghinch wrote: post #16

To play diplomat, I see a lot of Stripe loyalty / Mastercard hate already brewing here, and I think that's a bit unwarranted. Stripe has certainly earned their place as a cherished service, but I would venture to bet a lot of devs worked quite hard on Simplify as well, so it'd be nice to see discussion on the merits of the offering rather than preconceived notions of the provider. If nothing else, even if 0.05% isn't…

Entering into a price war would kill Stripe: it does not have sustainable low cost advantage.

Re: MasterCard's Simplify Commerce

#57

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Jun 27, 2013, 10:09 PM UTC

pc wrote: post #47

pdog wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Such as?

The live/test switch is a good example. It confuses everyone: you're just switching between the data that's shown, but everyone thinks you're switching the underlying state of your account. It's something we've had on our list to fix for a long time.

[deleted]

Re: MasterCard's Simplify Commerce

#58

Post by CoachRufus87 » Thu, Jun 27, 2013, 10:12 PM UTC

pvnick wrote: post #12

I wouldn't trust anything that comes from Mastercard or Visa directly. I would much rather have the companies' idiosyncrasies and politics abstracted through a 3rd-party service like stripe or balanced. That's just my kneejerk reaction, take it or leave it.

Why not? Millions trust them with one their most important assets: cash.

Re: MasterCard's Simplify Commerce

#59

Post by agilebyte » Thu, Jun 27, 2013, 10:20 PM UTC

kylelibra wrote: post #6

The entrenched payment companies are definitely scared of competition, but by launching clones of their competitors they show they still don't get it.

I think that their target audience are (mom & pop) businesses (about to go online) happy to trust the Mastercard brand, not programmers that get uppity about seeing yet another clone & complaining about an API.

Re: MasterCard's Simplify Commerce

#60

Post by antr » Thu, Jun 27, 2013, 10:21 PM UTC

pc wrote: post #19

greghinch wrote: post #16

To play diplomat, I see a lot of Stripe loyalty / Mastercard hate already brewing here, and I think that's a bit unwarranted. Stripe has certainly earned their place as a cherished service, but I would venture to bet a lot of devs worked quite hard on Simplify as well, so it'd be nice to see discussion on the merits of the offering rather than preconceived notions of the provider. If nothing else, even if 0.05% isn't…

(I built the first version of Stripe and work here.) I think the unfortunate aspect of these clones is that they're lazy. I have huge respect for anyone that innovates in payments -- I know how hard it is, and I'd imagine it's even harder to do that as part of a larger company. What I find disappointing is when a product copies everything about Stripe -- everything from Stripe.js to the "live/test" switch to the "1/2…

The SV expectation/mentality that if someone builds something first they "own" that space is unjustifiable. I'm not say you are saying that, but it is an implicit attitude in the Valley.

Competition (or "clones") were around 100 years ago, continue to exist today and will be around for the next 100 years. Today's innovation is tomorrow's commodity thanks to competition. This is good.

Is it disappointing that MasterCard launched a similar service? Sure, I would too be disappointed and I sympathise.

Having said that, stating that "a product copies everything" is not really true. They can not copy execution, culture, customer service, customer loyalty, etc. You have that on your side.

People think that Ford Motor was one of the first (if not the only) car manufacturer in States in the early 1900s, but it was quite the contrary. The car was a revolutionary technology: it had a combustion engine, it was fast, etc. Over 100 car companies were launched in the early 1900s. All of them car startups. When the technology goes in one direction it is difficult to be the salmon that swims upstream, in the opposite direction. To tell those +100 car startups to "go and innovate, I own the combustion engine on top of four wheels" is simple unrealistic. Expect competition, that's my point.

How did Ford survive having less resources than many others? How did Ford survive the great depression? Execution. It improved the assembly line, vertically integrated to bring more production in-house, etc.

Stripe's case should be no different. Today's technology and innovation is commoditised in months. Execution can't be commoditised. Don't expect competitors to rest on their laurels.