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Yes, been there. A few times. Payment processors are awful to work with... and it's sometimes tricky to test with. They really do make you question your desir

Yes, been there. A few times. Payment processors are awful to work with... and it's sometimes tricky to test with. They really do make you question your desire to remain on this planet, let alone continue to work on it! I've found that more documentation they provide just adds to the confusion and contradictions. Sometimes contacting support helps... more often than not, they'll provide you with a key ingredient that isn't even in the documentation! (failing that, for 1.0 just go for a Paypal button)

SamWhited 8y ago
I should try contacting support; thanks. Some of the weird things I've run into are so poorly thought out that I can't believe they'd actually be an intentional part of their product. I've talked to some developers on their IRC channel, but typically (and this is something I strive as hard as possible not to do on my own projects), they were just so used to it that they couldn't understand why anyone wouldn't know how parts of the system worked even if it wasn't documented.
- stickfigure 8y ago
  I've worked with quite a few payments platforms over my career. Most of them are terrible, but even the good ones require adopting their conceptual model. Sometimes that can require some adjustment, especially if you already have preconceived notions of how you want billing to work. Example: I was dumbfounded that Stripe lets you update a balance, but offers no way to do it atomically. Support was clueless. However, on the IRC channel someone suggested creating invoices instead of bumping the balance, which in retrospect is a much better idea than maintaining the history in my database (although it ties me deeper to their system). You really have to "bend like a reed" and conform to their patterns. And whatever you do, don't try to create an abstraction across multiple billing systems until after you've built up some expertise.
  - SamWhited 8y ago
    I think I am actually using it in the way it's meant to be used, is the sad thing. I can't quite get a good read on that from their developers though, so it's hard to tell.

SamWhited 8y ago

I should try contacting support; thanks. Some of the weird things I've run into are so poorly thought out that I can't believe they'd actually be an intentional part of their product. I've talked to some developers on their IRC channel, but typically (and this is something I strive as hard as possible not to do on my own projects), they were just so used to it that they couldn't understand why anyone wouldn't know how parts of the system worked even if it wasn't documented.

stickfigure 8y ago
I've worked with quite a few payments platforms over my career. Most of them are terrible, but even the good ones require adopting their conceptual model. Sometimes that can require some adjustment, especially if you already have preconceived notions of how you want billing to work. Example: I was dumbfounded that Stripe lets you update a balance, but offers no way to do it atomically. Support was clueless. However, on the IRC channel someone suggested creating invoices instead of bumping the balance, which in retrospect is a much better idea than maintaining the history in my database (although it ties me deeper to their system). You really have to "bend like a reed" and conform to their patterns. And whatever you do, don't try to create an abstraction across multiple billing systems until after you've built up some expertise.
- SamWhited 8y ago
  I think I am actually using it in the way it's meant to be used, is the sad thing. I can't quite get a good read on that from their developers though, so it's hard to tell.