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Stripe raises $600M at nearly $36B valuation

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Re: Stripe raises $600M at nearly $36B valuation

#411
post #75

Stripe cofounder here. This isn't really new -- it's an extension of our last round ( https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/19/fintech-start-up-stripe-notc... ). That said, we've seen a big spike in signups over the past few weeks. If any HN readers have integrated recently and have feedback, we're always eager to hear it. Feel free to email me at patrick@stripe.com and I'll route to the right team(s). As always, thank you to…

When will you bring back crypto payments?

Re: Stripe raises $600M at nearly $36B valuation

#412
post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm both a Stripe and a Paypal user. I wish Stripe made recurring payments as easy to implement as Paypal.

Having experience implementing and working with people that have used both, I'd love to hear why you think PayPal handles subscriptions better than Stripe.

In Paypal you just create a subscription button and you are done. Paypal takes care of creating the customer profile, etc. In Stripe there are a few more hoops to jump.

Re: Stripe raises $600M at nearly $36B valuation

#413
post #406
post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All of what you provided as proof was what I submit too. I've won 100% of the disputes where it was pretty clear the person wanted to just grab the content for free and then do a charge back. The problem is Stripe not blocking the real fraudulent transactions where a bad actor stole someones credit card and signed up with that. These are the ones where I've lost 100% of the time (for good reason since it was fraud).…

Can I ask how do you win those? I've lost many of these via PayPal. Customer can claim goods not working all the way to "not my card, my kid bought it without my consent". I asked PayPal for their advice, and on that advice I keep email confirmation, IPs and timestamps of download, login, registration and payment IPs, billing address, etc. -- doesn't seem to help when I submit it all as evidence.

I'm not sure how it works with PayPal since I only had to do this for Stripe but:

First I reach out to the person over email and kindly ask them why they disputed the charge with a number of things we can do as an alternative.

If they don't reply within a few days then I contest the dispute with piles of evidence that the user indeed signed up to my platform and downloaded / consumed the content.

Re: Stripe raises $600M at nearly $36B valuation

#414

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Among other things, it appears that Paddle 1. reserves the right to unilaterally vary the contract in any way, with immediate effect and without actively notifying the merchant 2. ensures that if anything goes wrong, any legal action against it by its merchants would have to be taken in another country and under another legal system, even if Paddle operates in the merchant's own country 3. takes extensive control of…

I've taken a look at the terms, and it seems to me like they are more for when Paddle acts as your ecommerce store rather than just your payment gateway. This is where the right to demo and sell the product shows up, because without that, you wouldn't be able to use Paddle to sell your product. Again, this is not the same as what Stripe is offering, it's more akin to Gumroad, Podia, and the like. Also, while I unders…

I've taken a look at the terms, and it seems to me like they are more for when Paddle acts as your ecommerce store rather than just your payment gateway.

That might have been the intent, but I see nothing in the terms that restricts the scope of those I mentioned to that situation.

And the general "we can change anything we like and you can't easily sue us ever" would be inappropriate even in that situation.

I assume their legal teams have scoured through Paddle's terms of use

I respectfully suggest that this is an extremely dangerous assumption when you're talking about a binding legal agreement and the future of your business.

I've occasionally had a real lawyer look at the terms for some very popular online services that we were considering using, particularly when I thought they looked risky, and received formal advice along the lines of, "Run away. Don't walk. Run."

Re: Stripe raises $600M at nearly $36B valuation

#415
post #75

Stripe cofounder here. This isn't really new -- it's an extension of our last round ( https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/19/fintech-start-up-stripe-notc... ). That said, we've seen a big spike in signups over the past few weeks. If any HN readers have integrated recently and have feedback, we're always eager to hear it. Feel free to email me at patrick@stripe.com and I'll route to the right team(s). As always, thank you to…

Patrick, good to see you responding I'd like to add a few points, especially those considering Stripe vs Paypal This: Billing through PayPal is playing with fire. They can and do freeze accounts and it can take months to get the issue resolved. We are very thankful to Stripe because Paypal left us high and dry We found out they were calling up our customers and pretty much forcing them to do disputes They also locked…

Awful. Happened to my friends too. The funniest part is, they still get away with it. But the consumers have choice and I am glad they are choosing Stripe over PP.

Also, if anyone at PayPal reads it: screw you, I will never give you a damn cent.

Re: Stripe raises $600M at nearly $36B valuation

#416
post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It varies based on the card type, country, and other things. We could expose all of that more directly but the trade-off there is obviously pricing complexity, which we'd like to avoid. In our analysis in making this change, we saw that this simply makes little difference for the vast majority of businesses. For example, if you're processing $100k/year and refund 5% of your payments (which would be on the high end of…

"For example, if you're processing $100k/year and refund 5% of your payments (which would be on the high end of normal), it works out to about $12/month". Patrick, please don't do that. It's scummy maths and unworthy of you. Either "if you're doing $8k/month it work out to about $12/month" or "if you're doing $100k/year it would work out to about $145/year" would be better. Using different units for the two different…

I don't think it's scummy. Revenues are usually measured on an annual basis, fees for many subscriptions come monthly. I believe this gives a good idea on monthly expenses for a business of a certain size.

Re: Stripe raises $600M at nearly $36B valuation

#417
post #305

Stripe user here (Stripe Singapore) since 2016 and processed a loooot of money which was a life-changing thing for me and many other people. Patrick, I appreciate how supportive you are here so I hope you don't mind this turning into Q&A/support type of topic :D 1) Do you plan to lower the currency conversion fees for Singapore? We charge customers in USD but we are forced to convert to SGD and conversion fees adds u…

For 2, a dispute is not a cb - on paypal if someone chargebacks _on their card_, there is an entirely different workflow

When I say "dispute" I mean chargeback. It's the same in Stripe.

Re: Stripe raises $600M at nearly $36B valuation

#418
post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My top issues running my business on Stripe: 1) Many countries still only allow depositing a single currency (i.e. Aus/AUD), doubling the cost of transaction due to the currency conversion, even tripling when we have to convert it back to pay our bills. I always get told either "soon", or "not possible due to the law", despite competitors doing it. 2) If we were an EU company, we'd get charged 1.4%+25c on transaction…

Great feedback... thank you. In case it's useful, some context on them: On (1), we started an FX team this year. (There are a lot of legal complexities here around how the funds move, who has title to what at which moment, and so on.) But we're investing significantly in improving it and it should get better soon. On (2), the core issue is card network pricing rules -- by design, they discriminate on the basis of whe…

A solution, it seems, might be to allow users to get free refunds for up to 5% transactions in current month. Anything above that is paid.

This way regular members are not penalized by big refunders...

Re: Stripe raises $600M at nearly $36B valuation

#419
post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great feedback... thank you. In case it's useful, some context on them: On (1), we started an FX team this year. (There are a lot of legal complexities here around how the funds move, who has title to what at which moment, and so on.) But we're investing significantly in improving it and it should get better soon. On (2), the core issue is card network pricing rules -- by design, they discriminate on the basis of whe…

Isn't FX a done deal based on how TransferWise is able to do it. Maybe you guys can collaborate with them and make payouts in any currency possible atleast in countries where there are no Forex restrictions like Hong Kong.

I love transferwise and use their service for several currencies but it shows how hard it is to get right. E.g. EU customers in the US get a bank account on the name of Transferwise with you as the beneficiary. Even larger invoicing systems in the US can struggle with this as the person is not a US resident, has sole access to the funds and yet the account holder is a US entity.

Customer Service, UX and speed are amazing. But it took me a while to convince US companies to accept this structure.

Re: Stripe raises $600M at nearly $36B valuation

#420

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My top issues running my business on Stripe: 1) Many countries still only allow depositing a single currency (i.e. Aus/AUD), doubling the cost of transaction due to the currency conversion, even tripling when we have to convert it back to pay our bills. I always get told either "soon", or "not possible due to the law", despite competitors doing it. 2) If we were an EU company, we'd get charged 1.4%+25c on transaction…

German checking in. One of the reasons why it’s hard to get us to use a CC is that many of us don’t have credit cards. And why would we? (Except for online payments and other fringe cases.) However, Stripe offers SEPA direct debit, which is usable with any European bank account and may work better for you. EDIT: This seems to have sparked some confusion. I'm not saying Germans don't do card payments, I was only speak…

That was a decade ago. Esp with more traveling (car rentals and many hotels abroad require credit cards), penetration of CC in Germany is very high now. Usage isn't, many like to use their debit card or cash. But even older folks I know all have a credit card they get out a few times a year if no other payment method is available.
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