3 ms·
It is a fair bit, but for any credit or debit card transaction they’re actually taking on the risk of essentially fronting the cost of the transaction. Well rea
by elcritch 6y ago
It is a fair bit, but for any credit or debit card transaction they’re actually taking on the risk of essentially fronting the cost of the transaction. Well really their partnering bank does, but if something happens they’re left covering that cost. They also have to split the profit with their collaborating bank and possibly the credit card companies. Nowadays I suspect the risk isn’t all all that high, or at least not 2.9 less slim profit margin high. So in the end 2.9% isn’t highway robbery but they’re also not working on slim margins.
- xoxoy 6y agocostco offers payment processing for 1.99% + 25c (vs 2.9 + 30c), so quite a bit cheaper. my point is that it’s entirely possible to offer the same thing for cheaper if your main concern is cost, especially for higher volume merchants, and not optimizing for developer experience https://www.costco.com/merchant-account.html https://www.costco.com/merchant-account.html
- stu2b50 6y agoYour point is a complete non-sequitar though? How'd it go from "Patrick is very active on HN/with developer communication!" to "yeah but Stripe is expensive"? AFAIK they see themselves as a "premium" processor, not as a cheap one.
- xoxoy 6y agojust a reference to the company’s valuation - and how lack of regulation around interchange fees and payment processing fees has meant very high costs that would be a lot lower if the US were more like EU
- stu2b50 6y agoI don't see how that's a problem? There's no lack of payment processors, as you have noted, many with lower fees. If you choose Stripe, you're doing so for the dev experience, their ML whatever, better testing suite, integrations, etc. And you're doing that consciously.
- xoxoy 6y agothere’s a high floor due to interchange fees that are set by the networks that processors have no control over.