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Stripe increases fees for EU and UK-based businesses in April

support.stripe.com

11–20 of 244 posts

Re: Stripe increases fees for EU and UK-based businesses in April

#11

Some European alternatives you might be able to find/negotiate better fees with: - mollie (Netherlands) - adyen (Netherlands) - Klarna (Sweden) - Paylike (Denmark) - Mangopay (Luxembourg) - Quickpay (Denmark) (added in edit) The ones I've tried of those, have an OK development experience, maybe not as polished as Stripe, but much better than the alternatives that were around before Stripe (huge hassle back then). Ide…

Given that 3DSecure is required for all European cards we should have been seeing lower fees since that requirement. Instead fees are going up.

Also, as far as I can understand https://stripe.com/docs/disputes/how-disputes-work, Stripe doesn't actually do anything manual in the process, it's all handled by the users bank or automatically by Stripe (notifications, taking fees and so on). So how it got more expensive for Stripe?

Re: Stripe increases fees for EU and UK-based businesses in April

#12
post #2

Something needs to change in the digital payments sector. 1.5% is ok-ish but 3.25% to accept foreign cards in the EU is a lot of money! I understand that costs are higher when using credit cards because of the credit part that introduces risk, but in my case for example I have a debit card that runs also over Mastercard, so either I have the money or I don't. Why should a merchant be charged the same fee of using a r…

It's the chicken and egg problem... If you started a new card provider today, you'd need to get consumers onboard, banks onboard, merchants onboard, and every card machine in the world replaced to accept your new card type.

The closest we get to that is loyalty cards and gift cards that only work in one shop. Some of those have managed to be compatible with a few shops, but nowhere near what would be needed for a consumer to consider it a replacement for visa.

Re: Stripe increases fees for EU and UK-based businesses in April

#13

Some European alternatives you might be able to find/negotiate better fees with: - mollie (Netherlands) - adyen (Netherlands) - Klarna (Sweden) - Paylike (Denmark) - Mangopay (Luxembourg) - Quickpay (Denmark) (added in edit) The ones I've tried of those, have an OK development experience, maybe not as polished as Stripe, but much better than the alternatives that were around before Stripe (huge hassle back then). Ide…

Aren't there open source libraries available that abstract away the payment processor?

Re: Stripe increases fees for EU and UK-based businesses in April

#15
post #6

"Businesses in the EEA who are paying out in USD to a US-domiciled bank account will now incur a 1% fee, with a minimum fee of US$2.50 per payout." This is absurd. A 1% fee to transfer USD to a USD bank account? The alternative is to charge in another currency - which Stripe will put a 2% currency fee on. This is already on top of their expensive transaction costs. Will actively look for alternatives now.

Yeah, this one is a bit over the top. 1% fee for USD to USD transfer. People from Stripe will probably appear in this discussion any moment now. It’ll be interesting seeing them try to explain this one.

I’m sure someone has already posted the thread in a slack channel

Re: Stripe increases fees for EU and UK-based businesses in April

#16
post #2

Something needs to change in the digital payments sector. 1.5% is ok-ish but 3.25% to accept foreign cards in the EU is a lot of money! I understand that costs are higher when using credit cards because of the credit part that introduces risk, but in my case for example I have a debit card that runs also over Mastercard, so either I have the money or I don't. Why should a merchant be charged the same fee of using a r…

> SEPA in EU is already something but it is taking ages for it to become an actual payment platform in everyday's life.

Is there anything stopping merchants from offering different prices to people based on different payment methods?

I assume the reason merchants do not list a discount for paying via SEPA or ACH or debit card or whatever local non credit card (and non Visa/Amex/MC) option, is because merchants benefit from the higher prices that people are willing to pay when using credit cards (compared to the cost of accepting credit cards).

In the US, Target is the only big retailer I know that discounts for using ACH (debiting directly from bank account). They give 5% off.

Re: Stripe increases fees for EU and UK-based businesses in April

#18
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given that 3DSecure is required for all European cards we should have been seeing lower fees since that requirement. Instead fees are going up.

How can a user dispute a transaction if they used 3DSecure?

A dispute is not only for transactions you didn't perform, it is also for situations like not getting the purchased product or similar. So 3DSecure will significantly decrease fraud, not other disputes.

Re: Stripe increases fees for EU and UK-based businesses in April

#19

Some European alternatives you might be able to find/negotiate better fees with: - mollie (Netherlands) - adyen (Netherlands) - Klarna (Sweden) - Paylike (Denmark) - Mangopay (Luxembourg) - Quickpay (Denmark) (added in edit) The ones I've tried of those, have an OK development experience, maybe not as polished as Stripe, but much better than the alternatives that were around before Stripe (huge hassle back then). Ide…

What's the impact of not disputing chargebacks?

If I'm going to be charged 20 euros whether I succeed or not then for small disputes I may not bother spending the time to submit evidence anymore...

Edit: I see that they have a Chargeback Protection product with costs 0.4% per transaction in which case they "cover the disputed amount and waive any dispute fees without needing to submit any evidence" (another comment by smca)... So cynically that sounds like a commercial tactic to sell that product!

Re: Stripe increases fees for EU and UK-based businesses in April

#20
post #2

Something needs to change in the digital payments sector. 1.5% is ok-ish but 3.25% to accept foreign cards in the EU is a lot of money! I understand that costs are higher when using credit cards because of the credit part that introduces risk, but in my case for example I have a debit card that runs also over Mastercard, so either I have the money or I don't. Why should a merchant be charged the same fee of using a r…

It's the chicken and egg problem... If you started a new card provider today, you'd need to get consumers onboard, banks onboard, merchants onboard, and every card machine in the world replaced to accept your new card type. The closest we get to that is loyalty cards and gift cards that only work in one shop. Some of those have managed to be compatible with a few shops, but nowhere near what would be needed for a con…

I totally understand you and you are perfectly right IMHO. This is why I don't understand why isn't there a payment standard, we are in 2023 already, the economic burden of keeping fattening those "old-school" card networks is absurd, it is billions and billions of dollars each year.

Lobbying is the only reason I see that keeps a payment standard from being implemented.

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