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Our (Braintree) fees are competitive. We have a higher monthly minimum than some, if that's what you're referencing, but otherwise if a merchant is processing a

Our (Braintree) fees are competitive. We have a higher monthly minimum than some, if that's what you're referencing, but otherwise if a merchant is processing a few thousand dollars a month our fees are right in line. We are different than others in the industry. We engage in a meaningful way with our customers. We educate them on the risks, nuances and best practices. We try to properly assess risk upfront instead of surprising afterwards. We proactively help them lower fees. We assist with PCI Compliance and credit card data security. We don't hold stored credit card data hostage. We don't hide fees and then deny that we hid them in the first place. We answer our phones and respond to email very quickly. Our goal always been for our customers to conclude that we're the best payments provider they've ever worked with and many of our customers maintain that opinion which we're always very pleased to hear.

SwellJoe 16y ago
Your fees look much lower than last I looked (I also seem to recall I had to contact someone at Braintree to get rates last time I was shopping...I don't think it was prominent on the website as it is now). Anyway, I take it back, Braintree does appear to be competitive with PayPal Payments Pro and others.
jhancock 16y ago
Braintree does even out on fees once the merchant hits a few thousand dollars a month in transactions. After grueling research, I wanted to use Braintree for a number of reasons, many of which you've pointed out. But the thing I am bootstrapping may take 6-24 months to get to the point where the Braintree minimums aren't putting me in the red. My calculations showed I might have had $3,000 to $5,000 in fees stacked up with Braintree before my volume caught up. A Braintree salesman did try to work with me and agree to reduce _some_ of the fees for the first 3 months, but the numbers still didn't work out Its a startup, I have no idea when Google will decide I'm worthy of being indexed. I have no idea how many experiments I have to run before I hit a sweet spot. So I begrudgingly went with PayPal Standard. Now, I have a few subscribers and I'm going to upgrade to PayPal Pro since that's only $29 a month fee, which is better than most. I have to roll the dice and hope I get the service I need from PayPal if it comes to it.
- percept 16y ago
  I'm not there yet but came to the same conclusion. There's a need startups have that only PayPal seems to fill (unfortunately). I see FastSpring responded in this thread that recurring billing is coming, so maybe that will become a viable option: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1413905 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1413905
jmm 16y ago
I can see why Braintree would have no interest in businesses that are destined to maintain smallness, but they're missing out on getting into bed with some young companies whose payment volume will eventually pop. And leaving the door open for a more nurturing payment portal to grab young companies (and presumably keep them). So it might be wise to for Braintree to loosen up the fees a bit for promising young companies - an incubator program for payments of sorts. At least for the YC/HN community :) Though, honestly, looking at their pricing, Braintree ins't crazy expensive even for a company that gets $0 sales out of the gate... $99 initial setup, $35 monthly, $10 for cc storage, $75 as a zero sales "penalty". Setup delay seems to be an issue here as well, but that just seems like Braintree doing its diligence. http://www.braintreepaymentsolutions.com/pricing http://www.braintreepaymentsolutions.com/pricing
- jeffepp 16y ago
  Still, for a startup, with potentially 3-6 months of low sales, its nearly $750 wasted. Many of us would allocate the funds somewhere other than "minimum fees" and "low sales penalties" If we fail then we stop using Braintree, authorize or paypal (then use them again on the next startup). But if we succeed, we will continue to be a customer (and recommend them to our friends on HN) for a long, long time. Seems like a slam-dunk to me.

SwellJoe 16y ago

Your fees look much lower than last I looked (I also seem to recall I had to contact someone at Braintree to get rates last time I was shopping...I don't think it was prominent on the website as it is now). Anyway, I take it back, Braintree does appear to be competitive with PayPal Payments Pro and others.

jhancock 16y ago

Braintree does even out on fees once the merchant hits a few thousand dollars a month in transactions. After grueling research, I wanted to use Braintree for a number of reasons, many of which you've pointed out. But the thing I am bootstrapping may take 6-24 months to get to the point where the Braintree minimums aren't putting me in the red. My calculations showed I might have had $3,000 to $5,000 in fees stacked up with Braintree before my volume caught up. A Braintree salesman did try to work with me and agree to reduce _some_ of the fees for the first 3 months, but the numbers still didn't work out Its a startup, I have no idea when Google will decide I'm worthy of being indexed. I have no idea how many experiments I have to run before I hit a sweet spot. So I begrudgingly went with PayPal Standard. Now, I have a few subscribers and I'm going to upgrade to PayPal Pro since that's only $29 a month fee, which is better than most. I have to roll the dice and hope I get the service I need from PayPal if it comes to it.

percept 16y ago
I'm not there yet but came to the same conclusion. There's a need startups have that only PayPal seems to fill (unfortunately). I see FastSpring responded in this thread that recurring billing is coming, so maybe that will become a viable option: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1413905 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1413905

jmm 16y ago

I can see why Braintree would have no interest in businesses that are destined to maintain smallness, but they're missing out on getting into bed with some young companies whose payment volume will eventually pop. And leaving the door open for a more nurturing payment portal to grab young companies (and presumably keep them). So it might be wise to for Braintree to loosen up the fees a bit for promising young companies - an incubator program for payments of sorts. At least for the YC/HN community :) Though, honestly, looking at their pricing, Braintree ins't crazy expensive even for a company that gets $0 sales out of the gate... $99 initial setup, $35 monthly, $10 for cc storage, $75 as a zero sales "penalty". Setup delay seems to be an issue here as well, but that just seems like Braintree doing its diligence. http://www.braintreepaymentsolutions.com/pricing http://www.braintreepaymentsolutions.com/pricing

jeffepp 16y ago
Still, for a startup, with potentially 3-6 months of low sales, its nearly $750 wasted. Many of us would allocate the funds somewhere other than "minimum fees" and "low sales penalties" If we fail then we stop using Braintree, authorize or paypal (then use them again on the next startup). But if we succeed, we will continue to be a customer (and recommend them to our friends on HN) for a long, long time. Seems like a slam-dunk to me.