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

Introducing Snapcash

blog.snapchat.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

141–150 of 207 posts

Re: Introducing Snapcash

#141

Post by who_are_you »

evilduck wrote: post #109
thatmatt wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the point is that they ARE sending eachother money, just in less efficient ways. Looking at how people use snapchat it isn't as much about ephemeral as it is about speed. It's much easier to send a picture to someone in snapchat as the flow is better, and it doesn't leave a stupid photo on your phone (and on several cloud backups) that you didn;t want to stick around forever (e.g. check out this awesome car,…

> and it doesn't leave a stupid photo on your phone (and on several cloud backups) that you didn;t want to stick around forever (e.g. check out this awesome car, you don't need a copy of that) You should probably research Snapchat's history and behaviors.

the OP's argument sounds more like one of convenience though -- I don't really care if there's a cached copy of my awesome car picture somewhere.. I just don't want to see it in my main photo app.

Re: Introducing Snapcash

#142

Post by Aeoxic »

Negitivefrags wrote: post #131
jordanthoms wrote: post #112

Meanwhile, everybody outside the US is trying to figure out how it's taken so long for easy person-to-person payments to happen there. Here in NZ, you've been able to pay directly to someone's bank account number for free for as long as I can remember, and my bank introduced payments to mobile numbers, facebook accounts, and email addresses 3 years ago. (Oh and it's totally safe to broadcast your account number to ev…

As someone else from NZ I would like to second this. We got a US bank account for our company and I was surprised how archaic the US banking industry is. Another thing very interesting in NZ/AU is EFTPOS. EFTPOS is like the credit card system only with no transaction costs. Any shop in NZ/AU will take it. The original business model for EFTPOS was that the user pays a fixed charge per transaction. I think it was some…

> There is no reason not to pay for even the most trivial purchase with EFTPOS so I haven't carried cash around in my entire life.

Unfortunately, there is a reason to still carry some cash in Australia: EFTPOS minimums. Airport stores are notorious for this, but it's quite widespread.

"Oh sorry, we have a $10 minimum on EFTPOS."

"... You're a coffee shop."

This stemmed from the fixed price per charge being charged to the merchants. The less you pay, the higher percentage that charge is of the total bill you're paying, resulting in them making slightly less profit.

In reality, those charges have been abolished by almost all, if not all, banks in Australia. It's now just a game of trying to make you buy $7 worth of miscellaneous stuff for your coffee. No thanks, I'll go elsewhere.

Re: Introducing Snapcash

#143

Post by Negitivefrags »

Aeoxic wrote: post #142
Negitivefrags wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone else from NZ I would like to second this. We got a US bank account for our company and I was surprised how archaic the US banking industry is. Another thing very interesting in NZ/AU is EFTPOS. EFTPOS is like the credit card system only with no transaction costs. Any shop in NZ/AU will take it. The original business model for EFTPOS was that the user pays a fixed charge per transaction. I think it was some…

> There is no reason not to pay for even the most trivial purchase with EFTPOS so I haven't carried cash around in my entire life. Unfortunately, there is a reason to still carry some cash in Australia: EFTPOS minimums. Airport stores are notorious for this, but it's quite widespread. "Oh sorry, we have a $10 minimum on EFTPOS." "... You're a coffee shop." This stemmed from the fixed price per charge being charged to…

Right, I suspect that the difference is that there never were any charges per transaction to the merchant in NZ. I've never seen a shop that had a minimum size for an EFTPOS transaction here.

On the other hand there are a lot of shops that either have a minimum transaction size, or a surcharge, on Credit Card transactions.

Re: Introducing Snapcash

#144

Post by jackgavigan »

I suspect that the impetus behind this wasn't Snapchat thinking "Hey, we should add a payments feature!", so much as some Square bizdev guy convincing Snapchat to add payments.

Payments is a highly competitive and commoditised market, which means that margins are under intense pressure (what I like to call a "Race to Zero"). The industry will "consolidate" around a few winners, and those winners will be the companies that successfully execute on the strategy of "Reduce the incremental cost per transaction to as close to zero as possible, and pump up the volume".

Everyone is desperate for volume, so every payments company is desperately trying to strike up as many partnerships like this as they can. Any app or website that has lots of users is a prime target.

Re: Introducing Snapcash

#145

Post by wtracy »

jackgavigan wrote: post #144

I suspect that the impetus behind this wasn't Snapchat thinking "Hey, we should add a payments feature!", so much as some Square bizdev guy convincing Snapchat to add payments. Payments is a highly competitive and commoditised market, which means that margins are under intense pressure (what I like to call a "Race to Zero"). The industry will "consolidate" around a few winners, and those winners will be the companies…

Interesting. I would have expected the impetus to be Snapchat thinking, "We have lots of users. How do we monitize them?"

Re: Introducing Snapcash

#146

Post by Aeoxic »

Negitivefrags wrote: post #143
Aeoxic wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There is no reason not to pay for even the most trivial purchase with EFTPOS so I haven't carried cash around in my entire life. Unfortunately, there is a reason to still carry some cash in Australia: EFTPOS minimums. Airport stores are notorious for this, but it's quite widespread. "Oh sorry, we have a $10 minimum on EFTPOS." "... You're a coffee shop." This stemmed from the fixed price per charge being charged to…

Right, I suspect that the difference is that there never were any charges per transaction to the merchant in NZ. I've never seen a shop that had a minimum size for an EFTPOS transaction here. On the other hand there are a lot of shops that either have a minimum transaction size, or a surcharge, on Credit Card transactions.

First you guys make us look like idiots with our Internet capability, and now with the transaction charges. Slow down a bit and let us catch up, yeah?

> On the other hand there are a lot of shops that either have a minimum transaction size, or a surcharge, on Credit Card transactions.

That also happens here in Australia. I'm fairly sure that's common worldwide.

Re: Introducing Snapcash

#147

Post by elithrar »

Aeoxic wrote: post #142
Negitivefrags wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone else from NZ I would like to second this. We got a US bank account for our company and I was surprised how archaic the US banking industry is. Another thing very interesting in NZ/AU is EFTPOS. EFTPOS is like the credit card system only with no transaction costs. Any shop in NZ/AU will take it. The original business model for EFTPOS was that the user pays a fixed charge per transaction. I think it was some…

> There is no reason not to pay for even the most trivial purchase with EFTPOS so I haven't carried cash around in my entire life. Unfortunately, there is a reason to still carry some cash in Australia: EFTPOS minimums. Airport stores are notorious for this, but it's quite widespread. "Oh sorry, we have a $10 minimum on EFTPOS." "... You're a coffee shop." This stemmed from the fixed price per charge being charged to…

> Oh sorry, we have a $10 minimum on EFTPOS." > "... You're a coffee shop."

I always just ask them to charge me a surcharge instead. Some places "get it", but a few have stared at me blankly. I don't want to a) walk back down the street to an ATM or b) buy a bunch of pastries that I don't want to eat just to pad out my bill.

But otherwise, AU/NZ's EFTPOS system is generally fantastic, although being replaced (anecdotally) by the credit card system since PayPass/PayWave were deployed so quickly here.

Re: Introducing Snapcash

#148

Post by adventured »

jordanthoms wrote: post #112

Meanwhile, everybody outside the US is trying to figure out how it's taken so long for easy person-to-person payments to happen there. Here in NZ, you've been able to pay directly to someone's bank account number for free for as long as I can remember, and my bank introduced payments to mobile numbers, facebook accounts, and email addresses 3 years ago. (Oh and it's totally safe to broadcast your account number to ev…

It's primarily a regulatory problem with how the US financial system is set up and overseen by the Federal Government. It's a hyper regulated industry. Trying to do anything even slightly different in the world of moving money, banking, finance etc is simply a nightmare.

Payment innovation would have been drastically faster, were it not for the obscene regulations that are in place at both the Federal and State levels. PayPal ran into this brick wall while traveling at a high rate of speed, very early into its existence.

Re: Introducing Snapcash

#149

Post by Robadob »

joshstrange wrote: post #83
kevando wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never found that to be an issue getting friends to sign up for Venmo. You don't need to enter any info to accept cash. It was getting them to realize this was cash and not some magic points (because they dont know what venmo is). Snapchat should kill it here because people already understand and trust (for the most part) Snapchat and this is just a new feature - not an entirely new service to learn.

Recently I have been taking the approach of "I sent you $15 for XYZ on Venmo if you want it you need to signup" because it's one of the few ways I can get them to do it. I hate to hold their money hostage like that but if I don't there isn't a great way for me to give them money other than paying for them up to what I owe them the next time we hang out (which I am bound to forget). I agree, I feel like Snapchat/cash…

If I was every paying people money regularly, I always just found sending the money via bacs through online banking to be easiest.

Re: Introducing Snapcash

#150

Post by Aeoxic »

elithrar wrote: post #147
Aeoxic wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There is no reason not to pay for even the most trivial purchase with EFTPOS so I haven't carried cash around in my entire life. Unfortunately, there is a reason to still carry some cash in Australia: EFTPOS minimums. Airport stores are notorious for this, but it's quite widespread. "Oh sorry, we have a $10 minimum on EFTPOS." "... You're a coffee shop." This stemmed from the fixed price per charge being charged to…

> Oh sorry, we have a $10 minimum on EFTPOS." > "... You're a coffee shop." I always just ask them to charge me a surcharge instead. Some places "get it", but a few have stared at me blankly. I don't want to a) walk back down the street to an ATM or b) buy a bunch of pastries that I don't want to eat just to pad out my bill. But otherwise, AU/NZ's EFTPOS system is generally fantastic, although being replaced (anecdot…

> I always just ask them to charge me a surcharge instead. Some places "get it", but a few have stared at me blankly. I don't want to a) walk back down the street to an ATM or b) buy a bunch of pastries that I don't want to eat just to pad out my bill.

Most stare at me blankly and then tell me they can't do that.

You type the value in yourself. It's not difficult. Do it.

Post reply on HN