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Stripe migrates Stripe Subscriptions users to more expensive Stripe Billing

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Re: Stripe migrates Stripe Subscriptions users to more expensive Stripe Billing

#51

Post by polote »

alooPotato wrote: post #12

We (Streak yc s11) signed up for Stripe way back in the day and have just been paying their standard payment processing fees for years. We haven't upgraded our API version or used any of their new billing features or anything like that. Basically we get the same value from Stripe we did from the day we integrated. I thought our pricing was going to be grandfathered but this change will cost us tens of thousands of do…

> Unfortunately, we're kind of hostage to it.

The day you decided to go with Stripe you started being hostage of them, but this is not a bad thing, this is business, you choose a partner, they are allowed to change the terms if the contract permit it.

People on HN always think they deserve to be treated better than others

Re: Stripe migrates Stripe Subscriptions users to more expensive Stripe Billing

#52

Post by smabie »

loceng wrote: post #38
edwinwee wrote: post #29

Edwin from Stripe here. It’s worth distinguishing between charging money on Stripe (for which you incur payments pricing) and using Stripe Billing (which is a separately-paid product). Stripe Billing has had this pricing for a few years. For some longtime users of Subscriptions, we originally didn’t change their pricing but are doing so now. We think charging a separate fee for our Billing product is fair, given comp…

The economies of scale that Stripe is now benefitting from doesn't make your reasoning sit with me very well.

How about: they're increasing the price to X because that's what they want to charge. They think price X will help maximize the long-term value of the company.

Re: Stripe migrates Stripe Subscriptions users to more expensive Stripe Billing

#53

Post by byteofbits »

We recently finished moving our "Recurring Billing" stack from Stripe to Recurly after we found a tonne of problems with the Stripe billing setup. We still use Stripe as a Payment Gateway but we migrated off of their "Billing" product.

I think a lot of those problems related to us being a European business and Stripe not quite being there yet in regards to Tax and Invoicing but now we have switched it's really shocking to me how steep of a price Stripe is placing on a somewhat lacking billing system here. I always assumed their Billing product was there to lock people in to the payment gateway and make it harder to have Interchange++ pricing negotiations.

What's particularly sad is that I have fond memories of the early days of Stripe when I was genuinely excited to use their recurring charge product because the developer experience was so nice.

Today with VAT MOSS, SCA and a larger team the Billing product is neither easy nor powerful for us.

One saving grace for anyone else who finds themselves with an expensive / insufficient Stripe integration is that they make migration out very easy. We were able to get the whole process done with no downtime or missed billing - so it's definitely possible even when dealing with complex billing arrangements.

Re: Stripe migrates Stripe Subscriptions users to more expensive Stripe Billing

#54

Post by tebbers »

onassar wrote: post #36
edwinwee wrote: post #29

Edwin from Stripe here. It’s worth distinguishing between charging money on Stripe (for which you incur payments pricing) and using Stripe Billing (which is a separately-paid product). Stripe Billing has had this pricing for a few years. For some longtime users of Subscriptions, we originally didn’t change their pricing but are doing so now. We think charging a separate fee for our Billing product is fair, given comp…

Thanks for jumping in here so quick. I'm sure it'll be a tough thread, but something about this response rubs me the wrong way. It doesn't seem like it's really addressing the change (eg. why is it worth _existing_ customers to be paying an extra 0.5%? The fact that Stripe added features for new customers doesn't really impact those of us who have been with you for 5-10 years). Additionally, I don't recall getting an…

I don't think this is a pricing increase? It's just their pricing for Stripe Billing. It's been 0.5% since at least 2018 which is when I started using it. I'm not sure why this has suddenly exploded on HN.

Re: Stripe migrates Stripe Subscriptions users to more expensive Stripe Billing

#56

Post by troughway »

polote wrote: post #51
alooPotato wrote: post #12

We (Streak yc s11) signed up for Stripe way back in the day and have just been paying their standard payment processing fees for years. We haven't upgraded our API version or used any of their new billing features or anything like that. Basically we get the same value from Stripe we did from the day we integrated. I thought our pricing was going to be grandfathered but this change will cost us tens of thousands of do…

> Unfortunately, we're kind of hostage to it. The day you decided to go with Stripe you started being hostage of them, but this is not a bad thing, this is business, you choose a partner, they are allowed to change the terms if the contract permit it. People on HN always think they deserve to be treated better than others

>People on HN always think they deserve to be treated better than others

Y..you mean we won't all be millionaires when we grow up?

Re: Stripe migrates Stripe Subscriptions users to more expensive Stripe Billing

#57

Post by loceng »

lukevdp wrote: post #47
grumple wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why are you hostage to it? How much dev time would switching to a different transaction processor take? This seems like it should be a very competitive space.

It’s not just dev time, that would be easy. It’s getting every customer to re-enter their credit card details which won’t happen without a significant uptick in arrears, and depending on the type of customer, churn.

Indeed, there needs to be laws for data portability to allow a true free market mechanism so then if a company isn't providing reasonable value for their fees, people will be mobile and can shift away without friction; Facebook has survived because lack of adequate data and network portability.

Re: Stripe migrates Stripe Subscriptions users to more expensive Stripe Billing

#58

Post by fastball »

edwinwee wrote: post #29

Edwin from Stripe here. It’s worth distinguishing between charging money on Stripe (for which you incur payments pricing) and using Stripe Billing (which is a separately-paid product). Stripe Billing has had this pricing for a few years. For some longtime users of Subscriptions, we originally didn’t change their pricing but are doing so now. We think charging a separate fee for our Billing product is fair, given comp…

Recurly and Chargebee both provide helpful things like multi-currency support, which AFAIK Stripe Billing does not.

At least this was true last time I looked into this.

Re: Stripe migrates Stripe Subscriptions users to more expensive Stripe Billing

#59

Post by sigwinch28 »

lukevdp wrote: post #47
grumple wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why are you hostage to it? How much dev time would switching to a different transaction processor take? This seems like it should be a very competitive space.

It’s not just dev time, that would be easy. It’s getting every customer to re-enter their credit card details which won’t happen without a significant uptick in arrears, and depending on the type of customer, churn.

Not anticipating this scenario is a collective failing of everyone in the business who deals with third party integrations.

Re: Stripe migrates Stripe Subscriptions users to more expensive Stripe Billing

#60

Post by ddevault »

As a Stripe user, it has never been smart to use recurring charges, or most of Stripe's other advanced, hands-off features. It's much, much better to just store payment source IDs and run charges in a cronjob. This gives you the flexibility to leave Stripe more easily when they make changes you don't like. Keep your integrations lean, dependencies are a liability.
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