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Stripe launches German beta

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Re: Stripe launches German beta

#51

Post by kfk »

frank_boyd wrote: post #40
kfk wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hi, I asked them few questions and they seemed quite professional. Very German, asking for lots of paper, but that kind of make me feel safer. And let's stop with this clone thing. If we are a community striving for execution, we should not be so annoying when people simply take ideas from somebody else and start executing.

I have no problem with cloning, everybody does it if we're being honest. It's just that I'm not sure it's a good idea to give your business data to people whose main business model it is to look for the best ideas/markets/businesses and then to copy them. To me, there seems to be a pretty obvious conflict of interest that might work against you.

I disagree. Do you know who is going to buy stripe? No. You could very well end up in worst hands.

At least with Paymill you are clear on what you get. We have seen their execution already.

Re: Stripe launches German beta

#52

Post by PavlovsCat »

qznc wrote: post #29
skrause wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Credit card usage isn't low here because Germans hate credit, it's because we simply have had better alternatives for ages. Instead of credit cards people use Electronic cash ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_cash ) in stores which is much cheaper for merchants, so they often don't even accept credit cards because of the fees. Online payments and payments of bills are usually done through direct withdrawals…

I always wondered why the US is so opposed to direct debit? It is so much easier and safer than credit cards or sending cheques by mail. The problem is that the rest of the world standardizes on credit cards. You cannot book a hotel or a conference without it. This is probably the only reason, why germans adopt credit cards: International travel.

You cannot book a hotel without a credit card? That's just incorrect.

Re: Stripe launches German beta

#53

Post by mbesto »

wozniacki wrote: post #8
k__ wrote: post #4

Sadly Germans hate credit cards.

Really? I'm certain they hate the notion of credit too which has long been attributed to their post-war mindset. Are other European notions similarly disposed towards credit (and thus credit cards), too?

In general, yes. My friends in the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium and Switzerland all notoriously shy away from CC.

Interestingly my friend in Switzerland couldn't finance his car purchase. You either have to lease or buy the car in cash. Yes, full cash payment. For an American, that's baffling...our whole car industry is based off of credit (and perhaps quite indirectly related to it's demise.)

Re: Stripe launches German beta

#54

Post by pc »

chrisboesing wrote: post #50
pc wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is that you can't synchronously process the payment, which makes the API (and user experience generally) much more complicated.

Do you plan on supporting direct debit in the future or is your focus on expanding to more countries before adding more payment options?

We're thinking about it, but it's not clear to us that we can create an abstraction that fits nicely with everything else. I'm not sure that the additional complexity would be worth it. Definitely open to any suggestions.

Re: Stripe launches German beta

#55

Post by nhaehnle »

frank_boyd wrote: post #12

Honest question to everybody: Would you trust your financial data (= growth data, etc.) to a company like Paymill that's owned by a clone factory (i.e. the Samwers') or do you think that's being paranoid? EDIT: I wasn't asking for downvotes, I was asking for rational comments, explanations, thoughts.

It is a good question, though in this case it could actually cut in the other direction. Stripe is a US company, which means that - from a German perspective - your data is less secure there. Think NSA and industrial espionage, obviously, but also think different data protection standards. The official legislation tends to be better in Europe when it comes to privacy, and this is especially true in Germany.

Re: Stripe launches German beta

#56

Post by StavrosK »

m_st wrote: post #23
patman81 wrote: post #16

I was just about to go with Paymill. It's great to have one more option. Now the rest of Europe please.

What speaks against Paymill? Are there any problems with them? They support a lot more countries than Stripe right now. Edit: Just read that its from the Samwers. Might be enough to wait for Stripe then.

When I tried to use them, they required me to mail in a bunch of paperwork. Stripe doesn't.

Re: Stripe launches German beta

#57

Post by StavrosK »

frank_boyd wrote: post #40
kfk wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hi, I asked them few questions and they seemed quite professional. Very German, asking for lots of paper, but that kind of make me feel safer. And let's stop with this clone thing. If we are a community striving for execution, we should not be so annoying when people simply take ideas from somebody else and start executing.

I have no problem with cloning, everybody does it if we're being honest. It's just that I'm not sure it's a good idea to give your business data to people whose main business model it is to look for the best ideas/markets/businesses and then to copy them. To me, there seems to be a pretty obvious conflict of interest that might work against you.

I don't have anything against Paymill, but I think you may have a point there. The probability of someone who clones businesses for a living cloning yours is higher than of someone who doesn't. How much more, though, I couldn't say.

Re: Stripe launches German beta

#58

Post by MrBuddyCasino »

k__ wrote: post #4

Sadly Germans hate credit cards.

Germans pay by card all the time (I think you know them as debit cards?), we just don't use credit cards, because there is no advantage of doing so. Every "giro" account comes with one, and you can use it at the ATM and at the cash register.

I think this is because historically, wire transfers between most banks in Germany have been easy and cheap for decades, while it is different in the US, as I understand it.

Re: Stripe launches German beta

#59

Post by PavlovsCat »

levosmetalo wrote: post #49
microtonal wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe, but it's certainly not hard to get a credit card in Germany. I moved from The Netherlands to Germany on August 1 and I got a credit card with my bank account at no extra cost. A really big difference here however is that for daily groceries people tend to pay in cash and for lower amounts they'll refuse use of a debit card, while in The Netherlands practically everyone pays with a debit card all the time. It w…

It has to do with privacy. Germans are quite fond of keeping up personal information personal, and they just don't want that bank can keep track of their purchases. That's the main reason why people here prefer cash as a method of payment. Of course, when paying or order something online, you need to provide your shipping address anyways, so credit cards brings at least a benefit of possible dispute if anything goes…

That's one reason. Another one, for me, is that I'd feel bad about being too lazy to simply withdraw some cash from the ATM and carry it around with me. To me it's like walking around with an umbrella in light rain, refusing to eat a piece of bread that dropped on the ground, or the recentish plague of luggage with wheels. I consider it the hobbitification of humans, and I'm not playing.

Then there is the fact that people who pay digitally tend to hold up the queue. Just plop down some cash and take the change, will ya. Gah.

Re: Stripe launches German beta

#60

Post by Concours »

pc wrote: post #14
Concours wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you guys/girls, we have being waiting for this for a while now, we almost went with Paymill , so this is some awesome news. What's the issue with being able to accept Dollars only with a US Bank account, would you fix this after the beta or is it supposed to stay like this? ...or have I misunderstood something?

We'll add USD -> Euro German bank account very soon. Want to drop Thairu an email (thairu@stripe.com) and we'll ping you once it's ready?

Great, thanks
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