5 ms·

Ask HN: How does your startup charge customer credit cards?

27 points by llambda 15y ago

I'm wondering what common solutions are used? Are startups rolling their own (is this even feasible, if so what's involved?) or maybe more commonly using some payment solution like Stripe?

there 15y ago
i use activemerchant in my rails app (http://corduroysite.com http://corduroysite.com) that charges cards through braintree. card information is stored in braintree's secure vault and monthly subscription charges are processed on my server using each customer's vault token. braintree got easier recurring billing since i implemented this, but it all works so i'm not about to change it.
jqueryin 15y ago
I have personal experience using a number of solutions for startups. I find the Recurly.JS solution to be one of the absolute easiest to get up and running without any actual programming. It's great for MVPs. http://js.recurly.com http://js.recurly.com * Chargify * Recurly * CheddarGetter * Authorize.NET (and subsequently CyberSource) In addition to what I've mentioned from personal experience, there's a couple of previous posts on this subject worth checking out: * Poll: How do you bill recurring payments? - http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2201363 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2201363 * Ask HN: Recurring Billing Solutions - http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1438929 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1438929 * Recurring Billing For Web Apps - http://thinkvitamin.com/dev/reoccurring-billing-for-web-apps/ http://thinkvitamin.com/dev/reoccurring-billing-for-web-apps...
hessenwolf 15y ago
Mmmmm... we use Paypal, anybody got any comments?
- fezzl 15y ago
  Great choice, especially for non-US startups. We've heard PayPal horror stories, but apart from their "evasive" customer service practices, they are so far so good.
malcolmong 15y ago
Braintree or Stripe
rjsamson 15y ago
We needed a solution for recurring payments and we chose Stripe, which has turned out to be awesome. If you haven't already looked at them, they have a really cool solution - http://www.stripe.com http://www.stripe.com
torontos 15y ago
http://samurai.feefighters.com http://samurai.feefighters.com Doesn't have recurring billing built in (we didnt need it) but I think they might connect to chargify. We ended up choosing Samurai for the lower fees.
axefrog 15y ago
UK here. PayPal Website Payments Pro via Recurly. I rolled my own PayPal solution previously but bugs messing with recurring payments is way too much of a problem to work through if you can avoid it. Better to leave it to the experts.
d3x 15y ago
stripe
robflynn 15y ago
We use Stripe and they've been wonderful.
frankwiles 15y ago
Braintree's API is a dream to work with compared to all of the other payment processors I've ever used. I try to steer all of our clients in that direction whenever possible.
pauldi 15y ago
I integrated http://saasy.com/ http://saasy.com/. It seems a bit pricey compared to other options but they handle things like charge backs and locale specific tax. Whether that justifies the higher commission rate is debatable. Some things I didn't like about it: (1) For new / low volume users there's a mandatory telephone number field. (2) Once the transaction is complete it's not possible to automatically redirect back to your site.
chetane07 15y ago
I use paypal, along with IPN (Instant Payment Notification) to automate delivery upon purchase.
dirkdeman 15y ago
Paypal with IPN integration.
LeBlanc 15y ago
In order to accept credit card information directly on your site, you need to be PCI compliant. This involves paperwork, and once you have significant volume, audits. WePay provides a simple checkout API that you can embed on your own site via iframe. This way you can have the entire checkout process on your own site (unlike most PayPal APIs), but without dealing with the PCI nightmare. http://stage.wepay.com/developer http://stage.wepay.com/developer
- templaedhel 15y ago
  You can also use stripe, which provides a JS solution where the client sends CC details to the stripe server, which is PCI compliment, and you receive a token you can use on your server. The CC numbers never touch your server. there are some other javascript payment solutions I think, but the stripe one is the best I've seen.
bsenftner 15y ago
I use Drupal framework, and their Ubercart subsystem, and the Authorize.net gateway.

27 points by llambda 15y ago

I'm wondering what common solutions are used? Are startups rolling their own (is this even feasible, if so what's involved?) or maybe more commonly using some payment solution like Stripe?

there 15y ago

i use activemerchant in my rails app (http://corduroysite.com http://corduroysite.com) that charges cards through braintree. card information is stored in braintree's secure vault and monthly subscription charges are processed on my server using each customer's vault token. braintree got easier recurring billing since i implemented this, but it all works so i'm not about to change it.

jqueryin 15y ago

I have personal experience using a number of solutions for startups. I find the Recurly.JS solution to be one of the absolute easiest to get up and running without any actual programming. It's great for MVPs. http://js.recurly.com http://js.recurly.com * Chargify * Recurly * CheddarGetter * Authorize.NET (and subsequently CyberSource) In addition to what I've mentioned from personal experience, there's a couple of previous posts on this subject worth checking out: * Poll: How do you bill recurring payments? - http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2201363 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2201363 * Ask HN: Recurring Billing Solutions - http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1438929 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1438929 * Recurring Billing For Web Apps - http://thinkvitamin.com/dev/reoccurring-billing-for-web-apps/ http://thinkvitamin.com/dev/reoccurring-billing-for-web-apps...

hessenwolf 15y ago

Mmmmm... we use Paypal, anybody got any comments?

fezzl 15y ago
Great choice, especially for non-US startups. We've heard PayPal horror stories, but apart from their "evasive" customer service practices, they are so far so good.

malcolmong 15y ago

Braintree or Stripe

rjsamson 15y ago

We needed a solution for recurring payments and we chose Stripe, which has turned out to be awesome. If you haven't already looked at them, they have a really cool solution - http://www.stripe.com http://www.stripe.com

torontos 15y ago

http://samurai.feefighters.com http://samurai.feefighters.com Doesn't have recurring billing built in (we didnt need it) but I think they might connect to chargify. We ended up choosing Samurai for the lower fees.

axefrog 15y ago

UK here. PayPal Website Payments Pro via Recurly. I rolled my own PayPal solution previously but bugs messing with recurring payments is way too much of a problem to work through if you can avoid it. Better to leave it to the experts.

d3x 15y ago

stripe

robflynn 15y ago

We use Stripe and they've been wonderful.

frankwiles 15y ago

Braintree's API is a dream to work with compared to all of the other payment processors I've ever used. I try to steer all of our clients in that direction whenever possible.

pauldi 15y ago

I integrated http://saasy.com/ http://saasy.com/. It seems a bit pricey compared to other options but they handle things like charge backs and locale specific tax. Whether that justifies the higher commission rate is debatable. Some things I didn't like about it: (1) For new / low volume users there's a mandatory telephone number field. (2) Once the transaction is complete it's not possible to automatically redirect back to your site.

chetane07 15y ago

I use paypal, along with IPN (Instant Payment Notification) to automate delivery upon purchase.

dirkdeman 15y ago

Paypal with IPN integration.

LeBlanc 15y ago

In order to accept credit card information directly on your site, you need to be PCI compliant. This involves paperwork, and once you have significant volume, audits. WePay provides a simple checkout API that you can embed on your own site via iframe. This way you can have the entire checkout process on your own site (unlike most PayPal APIs), but without dealing with the PCI nightmare. http://stage.wepay.com/developer http://stage.wepay.com/developer

templaedhel 15y ago
You can also use stripe, which provides a JS solution where the client sends CC details to the stripe server, which is PCI compliment, and you receive a token you can use on your server. The CC numbers never touch your server. there are some other javascript payment solutions I think, but the stripe one is the best I've seen.

bsenftner 15y ago

I use Drupal framework, and their Ubercart subsystem, and the Authorize.net gateway.