5 ms·

Low pricing is not a moat.

klelatti 6y ago
Why? If you have scale and the cost base that enables you to sustain the pricing profitably in can be very, very difficult for competitors to enter your market.
- abalone 6y ago
  You’re assuming the low pricing is profitable and in this case it probably is not (and it’s not that low). Stripe’s play here is to upsell premium services.
0xy 6y ago
This is totally wrong, considering Stripe has enormous negotiating leverage. My employer never bothers switching to any competitor because Stripe match any deal that their competitors present to us. Could you, a single person and $500m of seed funding match Stripe's prices? Not without hemorrhaging cash. One of Amazon's moats is low pricing as well, which can only be achieved with eye-watering scale (their margins are 0% in some categories, they make it up by delaying payments to vendors and pocketing the interest).
- ianhawes 6y ago
  Fun fact: I presented Stripe an opportunity to meet or beat a proposal by Braintree. They countered with a microscopic fee decrease and wanted to lock us into a 2 year deal. Not only was the offer from Braintree way better, they gave us a better deal on PayPal fees as well. Stripe’s focus on their supplementary offerings, like Billing (which used to be effectively free) and Checkout show that they’re trying to eat more of the transaction percentage. Try mentioning PayPal button on a Stripe Checkout page and you will be muted from talking in their YouTube broadcast. Overall, I’m bearish on Stripe and look forward to shorting them on the public market, whenever that day comes.
  - klelatti 6y ago
    I think that's known as pricing discipline! The opposite of chasing business no matter what the margin. It'll probably go down very well with potential investors.
  - modified001 6y ago
    But did you switch to Braintree.
    - ianhawes 6y ago
      Yes I did.
- abalone 6y ago
  > considering Stripe has enormous negotiating leverage What negotiation are you referring to? Interchange pricing is fixed; they are not negotiating discounts on that. If you mean Stripe has VC funding to be a loss leader then, correct, but that’s not a moat. Moats are what protect profitable businesses. The resultant scale could be a moat but Stripe is still a small slice of the payment processing market. Their play here is to upsell premium services. Developer friendliness and moderate pricing (it’s actually not that low) are hooks to get in the door of startups.
jgalt212 6y ago
Low pricing was Amazon's moat. Then the tech bubble crashed and they had to raise prices. Then AWS came along and pricing for non-AWS services didn't matter a thing as AWS margins were so high Amazon could do whatever it wanted in other business lines.
- lotsofpulp 6y ago
  Not having to charge sales tax was Amazon’s moat.
- abalone 6y ago
  Prime was and is a genuine moat.

Why? If you have scale and the cost base that enables you to sustain the pricing profitably in can be very, very difficult for competitors to enter your market.

abalone 6y ago
You’re assuming the low pricing is profitable and in this case it probably is not (and it’s not that low). Stripe’s play here is to upsell premium services.

0xy 6y ago

This is totally wrong, considering Stripe has enormous negotiating leverage. My employer never bothers switching to any competitor because Stripe match any deal that their competitors present to us. Could you, a single person and $500m of seed funding match Stripe's prices? Not without hemorrhaging cash. One of Amazon's moats is low pricing as well, which can only be achieved with eye-watering scale (their margins are 0% in some categories, they make it up by delaying payments to vendors and pocketing the interest).

ianhawes 6y ago
Fun fact: I presented Stripe an opportunity to meet or beat a proposal by Braintree. They countered with a microscopic fee decrease and wanted to lock us into a 2 year deal. Not only was the offer from Braintree way better, they gave us a better deal on PayPal fees as well. Stripe’s focus on their supplementary offerings, like Billing (which used to be effectively free) and Checkout show that they’re trying to eat more of the transaction percentage. Try mentioning PayPal button on a Stripe Checkout page and you will be muted from talking in their YouTube broadcast. Overall, I’m bearish on Stripe and look forward to shorting them on the public market, whenever that day comes.
- klelatti 6y ago
  I think that's known as pricing discipline! The opposite of chasing business no matter what the margin. It'll probably go down very well with potential investors.
- modified001 6y ago
  But did you switch to Braintree.
  - ianhawes 6y ago
    Yes I did.
abalone 6y ago
> considering Stripe has enormous negotiating leverage What negotiation are you referring to? Interchange pricing is fixed; they are not negotiating discounts on that. If you mean Stripe has VC funding to be a loss leader then, correct, but that’s not a moat. Moats are what protect profitable businesses. The resultant scale could be a moat but Stripe is still a small slice of the payment processing market. Their play here is to upsell premium services. Developer friendliness and moderate pricing (it’s actually not that low) are hooks to get in the door of startups.

jgalt212 6y ago

Low pricing was Amazon's moat. Then the tech bubble crashed and they had to raise prices. Then AWS came along and pricing for non-AWS services didn't matter a thing as AWS margins were so high Amazon could do whatever it wanted in other business lines.

lotsofpulp 6y ago
Not having to charge sales tax was Amazon’s moat.
abalone 6y ago
Prime was and is a genuine moat.