Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Paypal alternatives for vendors outside the US?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 70 posts

Re: Ask HN: Paypal alternatives for vendors outside the US?

#51

Post by simi_ »

namenotrequired wrote: post #29

Nationally many countries have their own local market leader. In the Netherlands, iDeal is the most popular (and the most user friendly of those I've tried). http://www.ideal.nl For moving money internationally and between currencies there is TransferWise, which I personally mainly use for c2c payment but they also support business accounts and I've used it to pay companies on occasion too. With a TransferWise invite…

I was going to recommend TransferWise too, more of a second hand recommendation since I haven't used it but I've had several friends praise it.

Re: Ask HN: Paypal alternatives for vendors outside the US?

#52

Post by RedSocks112 »

MarkCole wrote: post #5

For European businesses Paymill might be an alternative. It works pretty much exactly the same as Stripe, just available in more/different countries. http://www.paymill.com

Meh. My application with paymill has been in the works for over a month now (following google wallet digital goods shut down). Requests for updates are ignored. Documentation isn't great. It is a shame as on paper they do seem quite good...

Re: Ask HN: Paypal alternatives for vendors outside the US?

#54

Post by steven2012 »

Shizka wrote: post #25

Great question! I recently launched a startup where we ended up using Paypal because we simply couldn't find any good alternatives. It is a huge drawback from our point of view and we really want an alternative. There just doesn't seem to be one. We wanted to set up a payment flow where a consumer would transfer the money to us, and after the delivery of the product we would transfer it to the seller. Strripe offers…

At least in the US, what you are attempting to do would probably run into a bunch of regulations. Not only are you probably aggregating funds, which smacks into money laundering regulations, but VISA/MC rules say you can't charge a card before the product ships. If what you are trying to do is some sort of escrow service, again at least in the US, that requires a license.

Re: Ask HN: Paypal alternatives for vendors outside the US?

#55

Post by Shizka »

steven2012 wrote: post #54
Shizka wrote: post #25

Great question! I recently launched a startup where we ended up using Paypal because we simply couldn't find any good alternatives. It is a huge drawback from our point of view and we really want an alternative. There just doesn't seem to be one. We wanted to set up a payment flow where a consumer would transfer the money to us, and after the delivery of the product we would transfer it to the seller. Strripe offers…

At least in the US, what you are attempting to do would probably run into a bunch of regulations. Not only are you probably aggregating funds, which smacks into money laundering regulations, but VISA/MC rules say you can't charge a card before the product ships. If what you are trying to do is some sort of escrow service, again at least in the US, that requires a license.

Thanks for the answer. Ouch, that makes sense and it is probably something similar in Europe.

Do you have any idea for how to ensure that the person has the funds when we need to charge the card?

And do you know how vendors like Airbnb handles this?

Re: Ask HN: Paypal alternatives for vendors outside the US?

#58

Post by scoot »

Shizka wrote: post #55
steven2012 wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least in the US, what you are attempting to do would probably run into a bunch of regulations. Not only are you probably aggregating funds, which smacks into money laundering regulations, but VISA/MC rules say you can't charge a card before the product ships. If what you are trying to do is some sort of escrow service, again at least in the US, that requires a license.

Thanks for the answer. Ouch, that makes sense and it is probably something similar in Europe. Do you have any idea for how to ensure that the person has the funds when we need to charge the card? And do you know how vendors like Airbnb handles this?

Do you have any idea for how to ensure that the person has the funds when we need to charge the card?

You preauthorise the card for the amount at purchase, then complete the transaction on shipment.

Re: Ask HN: Paypal alternatives for vendors outside the US?

#59

Post by chrowe »

Hey, I'm the CEO at Paddle.com (mentioned in your initial post). Wondering what we can be doing to make withdrawing your Paddle earnings easier. We opperate in a very similar way to Fastspring - in that you sell your products wholesale to us and we become the merchant of record (and it seems you're already familiar with us).

Would love to see how we can help you out (we're a little cheaper than FS too if that's a deciding factor for you).

Re: Ask HN: Paypal alternatives for vendors outside the US?

#60

Post by chrowe »

jakobegger wrote: post #41
zone wrote: post #36

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Paddle.com. It seems to be open to any business worldwide and it offers a Stripe modern looking payment form.

They have pretty annoying sales people. Contacted me out of the blue and didn't leave me alone until I responded in a rather impolite manner.

Hey - CEO of Paddle.com here. Really sorry one of our sales guys was a little overzealous :( we'll make sure we do better in future.
Post reply on HN