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The lowdown on Stripe: JSON-based HTTP API PHP, Ruby, Python and JavaScript Support Setup in 5 minutes. No branding requirements or redirects. 5% + $0.30 p

The lowdown on Stripe: JSON-based HTTP API PHP, Ruby, Python and JavaScript Support Setup in 5 minutes. No branding requirements or redirects. 5% + $0.30 per transaction. US Based Sellers Only. Recurring Billing Support. Data Portability if you ever want to leave. You pay all initial fees (5% + $0.30) if you issue a refund. You will only receive money at the end of the next month.

deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
- jedsmith 16y ago
  Edit: Oh, deleted. Now I'm really curious. (The parent originally claimed that launch pricing is going to be cheaper. Cat out of the bag, much?)
  - 3kMarlin 16y ago
    Well I doubt it'll be any lower than the industry standard of 2.9% + $0.30 for < $3k/month. If it is, that would be pretty disruptive. What will be more interesting is if they can match both Amazon and PayPal's microtransaction rate of 5% + $0.05 for products under $10 (Amazon) to $12 (PayPal).
seldo 16y ago
Other neat features: WS callbacks (aka webhooks) that notify you before a recurring payment happens, and after success/failure. Incremental billing support, so you can e.g. tack on overage charges or small micro-charges to the next upcoming bill without needing a separate transaction for each one. Depending on your business model this could save you a lot of transaction fees.
lancewiggs 16y ago
Sounds like one problem is solved - but the big one for many is that "US Sellers only." Fix that one and expect demand to go nuts.
barrydahlberg 16y ago
+ .Net support please. Not that it matters being US only.
haploid 16y ago
5% is horrendously expensive. Just the other week I was ragging on Braintree for being very slighty above wholesale merchant rates. Stripe is quite literally double Braintree's rates, with no value-add. And on top of that, they hold the float for up to thirty days? Good luck, guys. You're going to need it.
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
- Scramblejams 16y ago
  Does Braintree eliminate the need for a merchant account, with all the complexity that entails? Do they offer a developer API that's super-friendly to write for, allowing for weird use cases like processing payments from native BlackBerry apps without exposing you to PCI requirements or risks of publicly exposing your API keys by shipping them in apps?[1] And most importantly, is it a piece of cake to communicate directly with Braintree's founders? 'Cause that's what I've seen so far from Stripe. They're incredibly responsive and helpful. They even changed their SSL cert provider for me because older BlackBerries had a rough time with their prior cert provider. Not to rag on Braintree, they've sounded like a good choice for a long time, but Stripe's changing some of the rules of the game. Killing the need for a merchant account is a really big deal and I'm happy to pay their rate. [1] This isn't a rhetorical question, actually. I'd be interested in whether you can do this with Braintree.
  - haploid 16y ago
    I can't speak to Braintree because we don't use them. I do believe that they will set up a merchant account for you as a proxy or agent, IIRC. But I can speak to the economics of all this "complexity" of which you speak. We currently use CyberSource for our gateway and associated banks for our Merchant Accounts, and we maintain several accounts. Each account takes less than a day to set up, with our representatives at each company. Integrating with the CyberSource API takes roughly 20 developer-hours. An increase in transaction costs to 5%+0.30, would cost us roughly the salary+benefits+taxes+overhead of two fulltime developers, per year. That's a cost that's simply unacceptable. There is also the issue of "killing the need for a merchant account", being problematic from a number of legal/accounting angles( tracing this transaction from A to M, entity separation and identifcation ), as well as customer service angles( what is this PAYCSTRIPE_TCMERCH charge on my card?? ).
perlgeek 16y ago
If that's the payment/billing API, I hope it goes over https and not http...

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

jedsmith 16y ago
Edit: Oh, deleted. Now I'm really curious. (The parent originally claimed that launch pricing is going to be cheaper. Cat out of the bag, much?)
- 3kMarlin 16y ago
  Well I doubt it'll be any lower than the industry standard of 2.9% + $0.30 for < $3k/month. If it is, that would be pretty disruptive. What will be more interesting is if they can match both Amazon and PayPal's microtransaction rate of 5% + $0.05 for products under $10 (Amazon) to $12 (PayPal).

seldo 16y ago

Other neat features: WS callbacks (aka webhooks) that notify you before a recurring payment happens, and after success/failure. Incremental billing support, so you can e.g. tack on overage charges or small micro-charges to the next upcoming bill without needing a separate transaction for each one. Depending on your business model this could save you a lot of transaction fees.

lancewiggs 16y ago

Sounds like one problem is solved - but the big one for many is that "US Sellers only." Fix that one and expect demand to go nuts.

barrydahlberg 16y ago

+ .Net support please. Not that it matters being US only.

haploid 16y ago

5% is horrendously expensive. Just the other week I was ragging on Braintree for being very slighty above wholesale merchant rates. Stripe is quite literally double Braintree's rates, with no value-add. And on top of that, they hold the float for up to thirty days? Good luck, guys. You're going to need it.

deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
Scramblejams 16y ago
Does Braintree eliminate the need for a merchant account, with all the complexity that entails? Do they offer a developer API that's super-friendly to write for, allowing for weird use cases like processing payments from native BlackBerry apps without exposing you to PCI requirements or risks of publicly exposing your API keys by shipping them in apps?[1] And most importantly, is it a piece of cake to communicate directly with Braintree's founders? 'Cause that's what I've seen so far from Stripe. They're incredibly responsive and helpful. They even changed their SSL cert provider for me because older BlackBerries had a rough time with their prior cert provider. Not to rag on Braintree, they've sounded like a good choice for a long time, but Stripe's changing some of the rules of the game. Killing the need for a merchant account is a really big deal and I'm happy to pay their rate. [1] This isn't a rhetorical question, actually. I'd be interested in whether you can do this with Braintree.
- haploid 16y ago
  I can't speak to Braintree because we don't use them. I do believe that they will set up a merchant account for you as a proxy or agent, IIRC. But I can speak to the economics of all this "complexity" of which you speak. We currently use CyberSource for our gateway and associated banks for our Merchant Accounts, and we maintain several accounts. Each account takes less than a day to set up, with our representatives at each company. Integrating with the CyberSource API takes roughly 20 developer-hours. An increase in transaction costs to 5%+0.30, would cost us roughly the salary+benefits+taxes+overhead of two fulltime developers, per year. That's a cost that's simply unacceptable. There is also the issue of "killing the need for a merchant account", being problematic from a number of legal/accounting angles( tracing this transaction from A to M, entity separation and identifcation ), as well as customer service angles( what is this PAYCSTRIPE_TCMERCH charge on my card?? ).

perlgeek 16y ago

If that's the payment/billing API, I hope it goes over https and not http...