5 ms·

Stripe Checkout

55 points by theBashShell 6y ago

BluSyn 6y ago
Seems like a direct response to shopify. I like the competition. Interesting how the design language is so similar, too. Seems there's been a solid convergence in the payment space around simplified payment flows. As a developer and a user I'm very happy with this trend.
- tedmcory77 6y ago
  Shopify is a big customer of theirs....this is interesting. As a shopify store operator, I'm super frustrated at a few things that we can't edit. This looks like it's not editable, but BETTER from a conversion standpoint, which could be a significant impact to profits.
- AlchemistCamp 6y ago
  It is surprising that only high volume or otherwise special customers can offer region-based pricing.
- cj 6y ago
  > As a developer and a user I'm very happy with this trend. From the perspective of a dev starting a new app, it's a great trend. From the perspective of a dev maintaining a Stripe integration first built in 2014, the breaking changes and migrations haven't always been fun. Stripe circa 2016 "just worked". Today, we regularly run into stripe issues (ie. irregularities in webhook data structure) as a result of new edge cases introduced when Stripe has added new functionality + features. Then again, I think we're at a point in technology where we basically need to assume that nearly 100% of an application's code will need a significant refactor (or complete rewrite) at least every few years in order to remain maintainable.
  - auchenberg 6y ago
    Hi, Kenneth here from Stripe. I'd love to chat with you about the problems you have with webhooks. How can I best reach you? My email is auchenberg@stripe.com
    - cj 6y ago
      bp@brandonpaton.com We're not actively having problems. It was a few months ago. Refreshing myself on the technical details of the payload inconsistency and its cause would take a couple hours. But I believe it was related to us using a 3rd party service (that integrates with Stripe) sending out emails to customers whose charges failed, with a form to collect updated credit card info. The form for updating cc info used payment intents (may be using the wrong term) which is delivered differently than the (old) payment sources type. The edge case being now there exists 2 groups of customers, 1 group who have a payment method attached under the new payment method / payment intent architecture, and a 2nd group with payment methods attached using the original / old method. Webhooks often include the payment method, and the data structure for the payment method differs depending on how the payment method was attached to the customer.
- CharlesW 6y ago
  > Seems like a direct response to shopify. How so? To me it looks like Stripe is just providing a checkout experience, while Shopify is a complete ecommerce system for online and retail stores.
- jontro 6y ago
  I would rather think it's in competition with https://www.klarna.com/us/business/products/checkout/ https://www.klarna.com/us/business/products/checkout/ or https://docs.adyen.com/checkout https://docs.adyen.com/checkout
flibble 6y ago
Starting to compete directly with a lot of their customers. Big change in strategy.
- CharlesW 6y ago
  How so? Are there checkout-experiences-as-a-service vendors that use Stripe under-the-hood?
  - codegeek 6y ago
    yes many.
  - eshyong 6y ago
    It seems like payment/e-commerce companies in general are shifting towards offering "express checkout" experiences nowadays - Shopify, Paypal, Amazon Pay, are a couple prominent examples. My former employer Affirm was also very concerned about owning the checkout experience/acquiring users up-funnel. It's a smart move, really.
    - bobthepanda 6y ago
      We always hear about how payment networks manage to nickel and dime merchants to produce lots of revenue, so it was probably only a matter of time before other players in the process wanted a piece of that action.
  - Ensorceled 6y ago
    Many SaaS have product pages as a value add-on for their SaaS offering, so competitors, but not in the very limited way you stated.
- bdcravens 6y ago
  Checkout has existed since 2013. http://web.archive.org/web/20130113004155/https://stripe.com/docs/checkout http://web.archive.org/web/20130113004155/https://stripe.com...
AlchemistCamp 6y ago
I really wish Stripe would either support Elixir or drastically improve the quality of their docs. As it is, every guide I see assumes the use of one of their few officially supported languages. It doesn't have to be that way. For a web API, the strings sent back and forth in HTTP requests and responses can be generated by any server-side language. Edit: Here is an example, the first guide linked from that page: https://stripe.com/docs/payments/accept-a-payment?integration=checkout https://stripe.com/docs/payments/accept-a-payment?integratio... As you'll notice there's a toggle for language in Step 1 "Set up Stripe". The options are: Ruby Python PHP Java Node Go .NET. Note that CURL is not an option. The entire guide presupposes you're using one of 6 languages Stripe has blessed. This has been the case for every guide on every similar Stripe product announcement I've seen shared here over the past year and a half.
- CharlesW 6y ago
  > It's a web API and the strings sent back and forth in HTTP requests and responses can be generated by any serverside language. And Elixir doesn't handle that well? Or it's hard to translate examples written in other languages to Elixir? (I don't use Elixir so I'm not grasping the problem.)
  - AlchemistCamp 6y ago
    Elixir's great at that stuff. I wrote a wrapper library for the specific functionality I needed, basically just building up from Plug.Conn.Query.encode/1. > Or it's hard to translate examples written in other languages to Elixir? Well, the first line, "gem install stripe" is a bit tough to translate into a language that doesn't have an official Stripe library :) The issue is that the official library does things behind the scenes that the guides don't mention (such as setting up headers, tokens for webhooks, etc).
- dbalatero 6y ago
  Not sure exactly what you're asking for based on the comment. Just an official Elixir library? The docs have raw curl requests in addition to the languages, which just show the HTTP method, url, and raw params–those can be thrown into any HTTP request library that Elixir might have.
joshuakelly 6y ago
Correct me if I'm wrong here, but there doesn't seem to be anything new with this release but a landing page?
- janzer 6y ago
  The blog post[1] (which seems like a better link than the landing page) says, "Today, we’re adding support for coupons, tax rates, and two new payment methods". 1. https://stripe.com/blog/checkout https://stripe.com/blog/checkout
- edwinwee 6y ago
  Stripe Checkout has been around since 2014, but along with the new page, there are a bunch of new updates today (coupons, tax rates, and more payment methods). More in the blogpost: https://stripe.com/blog/checkout https://stripe.com/blog/checkout.
  - bdcravens 6y ago
    Since January 2013 according to the Wayback Machine: http://web.archive.org/web/20130113004155/https://stripe.com/docs/checkout http://web.archive.org/web/20130113004155/https://stripe.com...
iou 6y ago
What's new here? This was released a while back? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19739630 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19739630
sdesalas 6y ago
As much as i loved integrating Stripe before i have to say it is pretty expensive for micro-transactions in Europe (less than 5€). They charge a base fee of 0.25€ +1.4% so this pretty much kills the business margin. We went with a local payments company in Spain (paycomet) because they could offer a flat 17€ fee a month.
- edwinwee 6y ago
  (I work at Stripe.) We're working on microtransactions in Europe! We can support most use cases in Spain today, and we can look into hooking it up for you if you email me at edwin@stripe.com.
  - sdesalas 6y ago
    Thanks edwin but its a bit late, we've done the integration already.
ve55 6y ago
Stripe checkout has existed for awhile, which might not be obvious seeing it on the frontpage of HN. It does make Stripe integration much quicker, which usually takes quite awhile especially when many users only need basic functionality when starting out. However it's still intended for people that know how to do at least a little development, so I wouldn't call it a competitor to Shopify and so on.

55 points by theBashShell 6y ago

Seems like a direct response to shopify. I like the competition. Interesting how the design language is so similar, too. Seems there's been a solid convergence in the payment space around simplified payment flows. As a developer and a user I'm very happy with this trend.

tedmcory77 6y ago
Shopify is a big customer of theirs....this is interesting. As a shopify store operator, I'm super frustrated at a few things that we can't edit. This looks like it's not editable, but BETTER from a conversion standpoint, which could be a significant impact to profits.
AlchemistCamp 6y ago
It is surprising that only high volume or otherwise special customers can offer region-based pricing.
cj 6y ago
> As a developer and a user I'm very happy with this trend. From the perspective of a dev starting a new app, it's a great trend. From the perspective of a dev maintaining a Stripe integration first built in 2014, the breaking changes and migrations haven't always been fun. Stripe circa 2016 "just worked". Today, we regularly run into stripe issues (ie. irregularities in webhook data structure) as a result of new edge cases introduced when Stripe has added new functionality + features. Then again, I think we're at a point in technology where we basically need to assume that nearly 100% of an application's code will need a significant refactor (or complete rewrite) at least every few years in order to remain maintainable.
- auchenberg 6y ago
  Hi, Kenneth here from Stripe. I'd love to chat with you about the problems you have with webhooks. How can I best reach you? My email is auchenberg@stripe.com
  - cj 6y ago
    bp@brandonpaton.com We're not actively having problems. It was a few months ago. Refreshing myself on the technical details of the payload inconsistency and its cause would take a couple hours. But I believe it was related to us using a 3rd party service (that integrates with Stripe) sending out emails to customers whose charges failed, with a form to collect updated credit card info. The form for updating cc info used payment intents (may be using the wrong term) which is delivered differently than the (old) payment sources type. The edge case being now there exists 2 groups of customers, 1 group who have a payment method attached under the new payment method / payment intent architecture, and a 2nd group with payment methods attached using the original / old method. Webhooks often include the payment method, and the data structure for the payment method differs depending on how the payment method was attached to the customer.
CharlesW 6y ago
> Seems like a direct response to shopify. How so? To me it looks like Stripe is just providing a checkout experience, while Shopify is a complete ecommerce system for online and retail stores.
jontro 6y ago
I would rather think it's in competition with https://www.klarna.com/us/business/products/checkout/ https://www.klarna.com/us/business/products/checkout/ or https://docs.adyen.com/checkout https://docs.adyen.com/checkout

flibble 6y ago

Starting to compete directly with a lot of their customers. Big change in strategy.

CharlesW 6y ago
How so? Are there checkout-experiences-as-a-service vendors that use Stripe under-the-hood?
- codegeek 6y ago
  yes many.
- eshyong 6y ago
  It seems like payment/e-commerce companies in general are shifting towards offering "express checkout" experiences nowadays - Shopify, Paypal, Amazon Pay, are a couple prominent examples. My former employer Affirm was also very concerned about owning the checkout experience/acquiring users up-funnel. It's a smart move, really.
  - bobthepanda 6y ago
    We always hear about how payment networks manage to nickel and dime merchants to produce lots of revenue, so it was probably only a matter of time before other players in the process wanted a piece of that action.
- Ensorceled 6y ago
  Many SaaS have product pages as a value add-on for their SaaS offering, so competitors, but not in the very limited way you stated.
bdcravens 6y ago
Checkout has existed since 2013. http://web.archive.org/web/20130113004155/https://stripe.com/docs/checkout http://web.archive.org/web/20130113004155/https://stripe.com...

AlchemistCamp 6y ago

I really wish Stripe would either support Elixir or drastically improve the quality of their docs. As it is, every guide I see assumes the use of one of their few officially supported languages. It doesn't have to be that way. For a web API, the strings sent back and forth in HTTP requests and responses can be generated by any server-side language. Edit: Here is an example, the first guide linked from that page: https://stripe.com/docs/payments/accept-a-payment?integration=checkout https://stripe.com/docs/payments/accept-a-payment?integratio... As you'll notice there's a toggle for language in Step 1 "Set up Stripe". The options are: Ruby Python PHP Java Node Go .NET. Note that CURL is not an option. The entire guide presupposes you're using one of 6 languages Stripe has blessed. This has been the case for every guide on every similar Stripe product announcement I've seen shared here over the past year and a half.

CharlesW 6y ago
> It's a web API and the strings sent back and forth in HTTP requests and responses can be generated by any serverside language. And Elixir doesn't handle that well? Or it's hard to translate examples written in other languages to Elixir? (I don't use Elixir so I'm not grasping the problem.)
- AlchemistCamp 6y ago
  Elixir's great at that stuff. I wrote a wrapper library for the specific functionality I needed, basically just building up from Plug.Conn.Query.encode/1. > Or it's hard to translate examples written in other languages to Elixir? Well, the first line, "gem install stripe" is a bit tough to translate into a language that doesn't have an official Stripe library :) The issue is that the official library does things behind the scenes that the guides don't mention (such as setting up headers, tokens for webhooks, etc).
dbalatero 6y ago
Not sure exactly what you're asking for based on the comment. Just an official Elixir library? The docs have raw curl requests in addition to the languages, which just show the HTTP method, url, and raw params–those can be thrown into any HTTP request library that Elixir might have.

joshuakelly 6y ago

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but there doesn't seem to be anything new with this release but a landing page?

janzer 6y ago
The blog post[1] (which seems like a better link than the landing page) says, "Today, we’re adding support for coupons, tax rates, and two new payment methods". 1. https://stripe.com/blog/checkout https://stripe.com/blog/checkout
edwinwee 6y ago
Stripe Checkout has been around since 2014, but along with the new page, there are a bunch of new updates today (coupons, tax rates, and more payment methods). More in the blogpost: https://stripe.com/blog/checkout https://stripe.com/blog/checkout.
- bdcravens 6y ago
  Since January 2013 according to the Wayback Machine: http://web.archive.org/web/20130113004155/https://stripe.com/docs/checkout http://web.archive.org/web/20130113004155/https://stripe.com...

iou 6y ago

What's new here? This was released a while back? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19739630 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19739630

sdesalas 6y ago

As much as i loved integrating Stripe before i have to say it is pretty expensive for micro-transactions in Europe (less than 5€). They charge a base fee of 0.25€ +1.4% so this pretty much kills the business margin. We went with a local payments company in Spain (paycomet) because they could offer a flat 17€ fee a month.

edwinwee 6y ago
(I work at Stripe.) We're working on microtransactions in Europe! We can support most use cases in Spain today, and we can look into hooking it up for you if you email me at edwin@stripe.com.
- sdesalas 6y ago
  Thanks edwin but its a bit late, we've done the integration already.

ve55 6y ago

Stripe checkout has existed for awhile, which might not be obvious seeing it on the frontpage of HN. It does make Stripe integration much quicker, which usually takes quite awhile especially when many users only need basic functionality when starting out. However it's still intended for people that know how to do at least a little development, so I wouldn't call it a competitor to Shopify and so on.