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Bolt: An End-To-End Payments Stack with Zero Fraud

bolt.com

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Re: Bolt: An End-To-End Payments Stack with Zero Fraud

#41

Post by rbres »

jacksnipe wrote: post #34
juskrey wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it always the case that more variables are necessary better? After some sweet spot, with more variables false correlations increase exponentially.

I believe that scaling would be quadratic; but yes, more features (variables) isn't always better. However, you can't know which features carry information until you collect and analyze them. For a problem like fraud -- where "expert" input probably would not allow you to figure out which features you need ahead of time -- it was almost certainly more reasonable to gather all the data and then, after the fact, perfor…

++ exactly right

- Collect as much as possible

- Figure out what features are worthwhile

- Focus on those features

Our competitors have an extremely narrow lens into all the data around a transaction. We've found things that they'll never find or even have access to in the first place. Blog posts to come here as well.

Re: Bolt: An End-To-End Payments Stack with Zero Fraud

#42

Post by Cyberdog »

rbres, first off, thank you for sticking around and answering our occasionally snarky questions.

Second, what is meant by "Amazon-like checkout?" If that "YOUR BRAND" thing on the front page is a screenshot/representation of the service, it appears to be an AJAXy overlay over the normal site similar to what one of PayPal's three dozen or so integration methods does. I wouldn't qualify that as "Amazon-like" since it doesn't well integrate with the rest of the site in terms of look and feel.

Re: Bolt: An End-To-End Payments Stack with Zero Fraud

#44

Post by rbres »

ABCLAW wrote: post #36
rbres wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the starting processing rate for any major processor: - https://www.braintreepayments.com/braintree-pricing - https://stripe.com/us/pricing All of our clients (typically larger businesses) provide proof of lower rates with their existing processors and get those rates 100% matched. We do not negotiate processing, we just match the industry.

No, it isn't? Those are the prices for two providers that aren't even close to lowest-cost providers in the space. They compete on service, not price. I can get .9 to 2.0% (depending on the industry of my business) off the shelf from at least 6+ sources. And that's before any interchange rebate programs, volume discounts, or specially negotiated interchange waivers past a certain fee per quarter.

And if you provide us a quote for that rate, we'll 100% match it. We can go as low as anyone else, and are trying to avoid the insanity of negotiating processing rates.

Re: Bolt: An End-To-End Payments Stack with Zero Fraud

#46

Post by Cyberdog »

ABCLAW wrote: post #36
rbres wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the starting processing rate for any major processor: - https://www.braintreepayments.com/braintree-pricing - https://stripe.com/us/pricing All of our clients (typically larger businesses) provide proof of lower rates with their existing processors and get those rates 100% matched. We do not negotiate processing, we just match the industry.

No, it isn't? Those are the prices for two providers that aren't even close to lowest-cost providers in the space. They compete on service, not price. I can get .9 to 2.0% (depending on the industry of my business) off the shelf from at least 6+ sources. And that's before any interchange rebate programs, volume discounts, or specially negotiated interchange waivers past a certain fee per quarter.

So your complaint is that a payment processor competing on service, not price, is priced similarly to other processors competing on service?

Re: Bolt: An End-To-End Payments Stack with Zero Fraud

#47

Post by rbres »

mamcx wrote: post #43

Available outside US? Where?

You can accept credit cards anywhere in the world, in 50+ different currencies.

However, for now, settlement only to a US or Canadian bank account. We can do an instant transfer from a US/Canadian bank to an intlt account, but if you want to avoid US taxes and settle directly to an international bank, we do not support that. Our team is hard at work to support it in the next year.

Re: Bolt: An End-To-End Payments Stack with Zero Fraud

#48

Post by mholt »

rbres wrote: post #35
mholt wrote: post #29

Was your domain recovered from a phishing site? It's blocked at my university.

Bolt.com has a huge history, including video-sharing that may have gotten it on those types of lists several years back. We've had it for close to 3 years though.

Thanks. I'm willing to bet my school's IT dept hasn't updated any of their network software in like 5 years, so that's not surprising. It's specifically tagged as phishing.

Side-note: The link on HN goes to plain HTTP, hopefully you have HTTPS all set up!

Re: Bolt: An End-To-End Payments Stack with Zero Fraud

#49

Post by rbres »

thruflo22 wrote: post #21

This looks like a really well positioned and differentiated entrance into the payment provider market. Eliminating fraudulent chargebacks addresses a serious pain point for a large market segment. It’s an angle that allows it to answer the “why not just use Stripe” from day one — which is a really hard question to answer with a just launched service. Congratulations.

Kind words are always appreciated :-)

Re: Bolt: An End-To-End Payments Stack with Zero Fraud

#50

Post by numbsafari »

huhtenberg wrote: post #40
rbres wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

CEO of Bolt here. We'll be writing more about this in the future. In short, our fraud detection is really really good (although not perfect). However, the fraud that ends up making it through the pipeline is so minimal that we cover it fully. So, for a small fee as an online business you never have to pay for / deal with fraudulent chargebacks again. There are other companies that do this, but none of them also do pa…

Say, I got myself a credit card number of someone from Toronto, Canada and I am checking out through your system using a botnet-based Toronto exit node. Similar scenario, but this time I am an actual owner of that Canadian credit card, but I'm using Tor (or VPN) with an exit in Romania. Can you elaborate how your 200+ variables will be able to block first and allow second purchase?

You mean if you aren’t automatically blocked because you are coming from a TOR exit node and that user has never done that before?
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