4 ms·
If you're still figuring out whether or not people are willing to pay for what it is you're doing, then just use PayPal. Or mail paper invoices. Seriously. W
by jdg 16y ago
If you're still figuring out whether or not people are willing to pay for what it is you're doing, then just use PayPal. Or mail paper invoices. Seriously.
Why would you EVER invest a ton of time in a billing system when you're just starting out? Billing is a HUGE time sinkhole. That applies to integrating with another provider (Chargify) just as much as it applies to not rolling your own.
Billing is not your product. Billing WILL make or break your product though, so once you've figured out that a reasonable number of people are willing to pay for it, then make sure your billing works and works well.
Also, if you can't afford $39/mo on a SaaS billing provider, then you're not serious about your startup and it's still just a hobby.
- blaines 16y agoI'm thinking from a startup's pricing standpoint, not necessarily from the customer's perspective. As someone starting a web service does it make sense? Contrast with basecamp's $1.60 per project on basic and $0.99 per project on premium. My opinion is Basecamp's pricing is much more stable, and makes sense, while chargify still needs to figure things out. Also, I've been using Google Checkout for my startup's billing so far and it works reliably. They do have a subscriptions api and it works well. I absolutely agree billing systems do take a huge amount of time to make, and it'd be silly to concentrate on them instead of the product.